‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ Actor Sampson Set for Surgery

HOUSTON — Will Sampson, the 6-foot-7 actor who gained fame during his film debut as a silent Indian mental patient in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” is hospitalized awaiting a heart-lung transplant.

Sampson, 53, came to Methodist Hospital in Texas in part to be closer to his family, his doctor said. A Creek Indian, he is a native of Okmulgee, Okla.