Katharine Ross

Katharine Juliet Ross (born January 29, 1940)[1] is an American film and stage actress. She starred in three of the most popular films of the 1960s and 1970s: as Elaine Robinson in The Graduate (1967), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress; as Etta Place in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress; and The Stepford Wives (1975). She won a Golden Globe for Voyage of the Damned (1976).

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 4.1 Film 4.2 Television 5 Books 6 References 7 External links

Early life
Ross was born in Hollywood, California, on January 29, 1940 (though many sources cite 1942 or 1943[2][3][4][5][6]) when her father, Dudley Ross, was in the Navy.[7] He had also worked for the Associated Press.[8] Her family later settled in Walnut Creek, California, east of San Francisco, and she graduated from Las Lomas High School in 1957. Ross was a keen horse rider in her youth[9] and was friends with Casey Tibbs, a rodeo rider.[10]

Career
She studied at Santa Rosa Junior College for one year (1957–1958), where she was introduced to acting via a production of The King and I. She dropped out of the course and moved to San Francisco to study acting.[9] She joined The Actors Workshop and was with them for three years (1959–1962)[11] working as an understudy;[12] for one role in Jean Genet's The Balcony she appeared nude on stage,[12] and in 1964 she was cast by John Houseman as Cordelia in a production of King Lear.[13][14] While at the Workshop, she began acting in television series in Los Angeles to earn extra money.[9] She was brought to Hollywood by Metro, dropped, then picked up by Universal.[15]

She unsuccessfully auditioned for West Side Story (1961),[16] then her first television role was in Sam Benedict in 1962.[11] She was picked up by agent Wally Hiller,[17] and in 1964, Ross appeared in episodes of Arrest and Trial, The Virginian, Gunsmoke, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ("Dividing Wall" episode, 1963). She screen tested for The Young Lovers[18] and made her first film, Shenandoah, followed by a starring role opposite James Garner in Mister Buddwing with MGM in 1965.[11] In 1966, she appeared in the episode "To Light a Candle" of Barry Sullivan's NBC Western The Road West.

That year, she starred in the film Games.[9] Then came her breakout roles in two of cinema's most popular films, Elaine Robinson in The Graduate (1967) and Etta Place in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).[19] After appearing as Dustin Hoffman's character's girlfriend Elaine in The Graduate, a part for which she received an Oscar nomination[20] and a Golden Globe as New Star of the Year, she said that "I'm not a movie star...that system is dying and I'd like to help it along."[9] She also won a BAFTA for her part as an Indian in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969).[21] She turned down several roles (including Jacqueline Bisset's role in Bullitt[22]) before accepting the part in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and then turned down several more roles,[23] including a part in The Towering Inferno.[24]

She was dropped by Universal in the spring of 1969 for refusing to play a stewardess in Airport, another role that went to Jacqueline Bisset.[15] She preferred stage acting, and returned to the small playhouses in Los Angeles for much of the 1970s.[23] One of her best-known roles came in 1975's The Stepford Wives, for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Actress.[25] She reprised the role of Etta Place in a 1976 ABC TV movie, Wanted: The Sundance Woman,[19] and then won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her part in 1977's Voyage of the Damned;[26]

She starred in several television movies from the late 1970s,[27] including Murder by Natural Causes in 1979 with Hal Holbrook, Barry Bostwick and Richard Anderson, Rodeo Girl in 1980,[28] Murder in Texas in 1981,[22] and the 1980s television series The Colbys opposite Charlton Heston as Francesca Scott Colby.[29] She played Donnie's therapist in the 2001 film Donnie Darko.[30] Her last acting role to date was as Carly Schroeder's grandmother in the 2006 independent film Eye of the Dolphin. Ross has established herself as an author, publishing several children's books.

In January 2015 she appeared at the Malibu Playhouse in the first of a series titled "A Conversation With", interviewed by Steven Gaydos.[16][17] That February, she appeared with her husband Sam Elliott in Love Letters, also at the Malibu Playhouse.[18]

Personal life
Ross has been married five times. Her first marriage was to actor Joel Fabiani[12] from February 28, 1960, to 1962. She was then married to John Marion from May 2, 1964, to 1967. On June 1, 1969, Ross married the triple Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad L. Hall after meeting him on the set of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.[23] They separated in 1973.[31] She was married to Gaetano "Tom" Lisi from 1975 to 1979; they met when he was a chauffeur and technician on the set of The Stepford Wives.[32][33]

Ross is now married to actor Sam Elliott, whom she met when they co-starred in the 1978 film The Legacy (one of his first film roles was as "Card Player #2" in the opening scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). The couple married in 1984 and have a daughter, Cleo Rose Elliott,[34] born in 1984.[35] In March 2011, Ross obtained a restraining order against Cleo after her daughter allegedly stabbed her repeatedly with a pair of scissors.[36] After both Katharine and Cleo failed to appear at the Los Angeles County Court formal hearing that had been scheduled for the 30th of March, 2011, which would determine the extension of the restraining order, the order was thrown out by the judge.[37]

Filmography
Film

Year

Title

Role

Notes

1965 Shenandoah Ann With Jimmy Stewart. 1966 The Singing Nun Nicole Arlien 1966 Mister Buddwing Janet 1967 The Longest Hundred Miles Laura Huntington 1967 Games Jennifer Montgomery 1967 The Graduate Elaine Robinson Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress Laurel Award for Female Supporting Performance Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—BAFTA Film Award for Newcomer to Leading Film Roles 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Etta Place BAFTA Award for Best Actress (also for Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here) 1969 Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here Lola With Robert Redford. BAFTA Award for Best Actress (also for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) 1970 Fools Anais Appleton 1972 Get to Know Your Rabbit Nameless Woman 1972 They Only Kill Their Masters Kate 1974 Chance and Violence Docteur Constance Weber (Limited release) 1975 The Stepford Wives Joanna Eberhart Saturn Award for Best Actress 1976 Voyage of the Damned Mira Houser Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture 1978 The Swarm Helena 1978 The Legacy Margaret Walsh With Sam Elliott. 1980 The Final Countdown Laurel Scott 1982 Wrong Is Right Sally Blake 1986 Red Headed Stranger Laurie (Limited release) 1991 Conagher Evie Teale (Television film) with Sam Elliott. 1991 A Climate for Killing Grace Hines (Straight to video) 1997 Home Before Dark Rose (Straight to television) 2001 Donnie Darko Dr. Lilian Thurman (Limited release) 2002 Don't Let Go Charlene Stevens (Unreleased) 2006 Eye of the Dolphin Lucy (Limited release) 2013 Wini + George Wini (short)[38]
 * 1968 Hellfighters Tish Buckman With John Wayne.
 * 1978 The Betsy Sally Hardeman

Television

Year

Title

Role

Notes

1962 Sam Benedict Teresa Parelli Episode: "A Split Week in San Quentin" 1963 Kraft Suspense Theatre Janet Bollington Episode: "Are There Any More Out There Like You?" 1963 The Lieutenant Elizabeth Episode: "Fall from a White Horse" 1963 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Carol Brandt Episode: "The Dividing Wall" 1964 Arrest and Trial Marietta Valera Episode: "Signals of an Ancient Flame" 1964 Ben Casey Marie Costeau Episode: "The Evidence of Things Not Seen" 1964 The Virginian Jenny Hendricks Episode: "The Dark Challenge" 1964 1965 Gunsmoke Susan Liz Beaumont Episode: "Crooked Mile" Episode: "The Lady" 1965 Mr. Novak Mrs. Bellway Episode: "Faculty Follies: Part 2" 1965 Wagon Train Bonnie Brooke Episode: "The Bonnie Brooke Story" 1965 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Gloria Episode: "Terror Island" 1965 Run for Your Life Laura Beaumont Episode: "The Cold, Cold War of Paul Bryan" 1965 The Big Valley Maria Episode: "Winner Lose All" 1965 The Loner Sue Sullivan Episode: "Widow on the Evening Stage" 1965 The Wild Wild West Sheila Parnell Episode: "The Night of the Double-Edged Knife" 1966 Preview Tonight Asenath Episode: "Great Bible Adventures: Seven Rich Years and Seven Lean" 1966 The Road West Rachel Adams Episode: "To Light a Candle" 1976 Origins of the Mafia Rosa Mastrangelo Mini-series 1976 Wanted: The Sundance Woman Etta Place / Mrs. Sundance / Annie Martin / Bonnie Doris TV movie 1979 Murder by Natural Causes Allison Sinclair TV movie 1980 Rodeo Girl Sammy Garrett TV movie 1981 Murder in Texas Ann Kurth Hill TV movie with Sam Elliott. 1982 Wait Until Dark Suzy Hendrix TV movie 1982 Marian Rose White Nurse Bonnie MacNeil TV movie 1982 The Shadow Riders Kate Connery/Sister Katherine TV movie with Sam Elliott. 1983 Travis McGee Gretel Howard TV movie with Sam Elliott. 1983 Secrets of a Mother and Daughter Ava Price TV movie 1985–1987 The Colbys Francesca 'Frankie' Scott Colby Hamilton Langdon 49 episodes 1986 Gone To Texas aka Houston: The Legend of Texas Susannah Dickinson TV movie with Sam Elliott. 1988 ABC Afterschool Specials Maggie's Mother Episode: "Tattle: When to Tell on a Friend" 1991 Conagher Evie Teale TV movie with Sam Elliott. 2004 Capital City N/A Unaired pilot

Books
Biography portal California portal Los Angeles portal Film portal iconTelevision portal Grover, Grover come on over! The Teeny, Tiny Farm Bear Island The Baby Animals' Party The Fuzzytail Friends' Great Egg Hunt The Little Quiet Book (with Jean Hirashima, Random House) The Little Noise Book (with Jean Hirashima, Random House) Open the Door, Little Dinosaur (with Norman Gorbaty) Twinkle, Twinkle The Little Bug (with Tom Cooke) Sweetie and Petie (with Lisa McCue)