Sam Christensen

Sam Christensen was an American casting director.

His first credit was for the 1976 made-for-TV movie The Great Houdini, which starred Starsky and Hutch’s Paul Michael Glaser as renowned escape artist Harry Houdini. 

Christensen went on to cast several other television films, including Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, a 1980 miniseries which received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including a win for actor Powers Boothe in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special.

Christensen worked in series television as well, most notably casting 74 episodes of M*A*S*H from 1977 to 1980.

His feature film resumé includes Coma (with Michael Douglas), The Champ (with Jon Voight), A Force of One (with Chuck Norris), Hero at Large (with John Ritter), Defiance (with Jan-Michael Vincent), and Clash of the Titans (with Laurence Olivier).

Christensen later became an acting coach, teaching over 15,000 students over a twenty-year period.

Christensen died January 16, 2019, in North Hollywood, California. He was 70.