I became a fan of actor Sam Elliott many years ago when he starred in the movie “Lifeguard ” enjoyed his made for TV films with Tom Selleck, where they played brothers and his movie role in “Mask,” when he played a motorcycle club leader whose gang helped protect Roy Lee “Rocky” Dennis (December 4, 1961 – October 4, 1978) was an American teenager who had craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, an extremely rare sclerotic bone disorder.

I had the honor of interviewing Elliott when he came through St. Louis in the 1970s to promote a film. He joked about the early role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who appearance in the opening poker game sequence was left on the cutting room floor.

“I was paid for a movie I did not appear in,” he said with a sly smile. His longtinme wife, Katherine Ross, who was in the movie, was once asked why she and her husband did not make many movies together.

“I can’t get him to clean up enough for the kind of movies I make, ” she said.

Elliott and I talked about motorcycles. We both loved to ride them//

Haven’t seen or talked to him recently but his performance in a Lincoln Project ad promoting Kamala Harris over convicted felon Donald Trump is a masterpiece and has Trump in another demented frenzy.

“It’s time to be a man and vote for a woman,” Elliott says.

Amen.