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Katharine Ross

Not to be confused with Katherine Ross.

Katharine Juliet Ross (born January 29, 1940)[a] is an American retired actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award nomination, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.

Katharine Ross
Ross in 1966
Born
Katharine Juliet Ross

(1940-01-29) January 29, 1940 (age 84)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actress
  • author
Years active1962–2019
Spouses
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1960; div. 1962)​
  • John Marion
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1964; div. 1967)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1969; div. 1974)​
  • Gaetano Lisi
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1974; div. 1979)​
  • ​
    (m. 1984)​
Children1

An alumna of The Actors Workshop, Ross made her television debut in 1962. She made her film debut in the Civil War-themed drama Shenandoah (1965), and had supporting parts in Mister Buddwing and The Singing Nun (both 1966) before being cast in Curtis Harrington's Games (1967), a thriller co-starring James Caan and Simone Signoret. At Signoret's recommendation, Ross was cast as Elaine Robinson in Mike Nichols' comedy-drama The Graduate (1967), which saw her receive significant critical acclaim, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA nomination, and Golden Globe win for New Star of the Year. She garnered further acclaim for her roles in two 1969 westerns: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here, for both of which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress.[4]

In the 1970s, Ross had a leading role in the horror film The Stepford Wives (1975), for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Actress, and won her second Golden Globe Award for her performance in the drama Voyage of the Damned (1976). Other roles during this period included the disaster film The Swarm (1978), the supernatural horror film The Legacy (1978), and the science fiction film The Final Countdown (1980). Ross spent the majority of the 1980s appearing in a number of made-for-TV films, including Murder in Texas (1981) and The Shadow Riders (1982), and later starred on the network series The Colbys from 1985 to 1987.[5][6][7]

Ross spent the majority of the 1990s in semiretirement, although she returned to film with a supporting part in Richard Kelly's cult film Donnie Darko (2001). In 2016, she provided a voice role for the animated comedy series American Dad!, and the following year starred in the comedy-drama The Hero (2017), opposite her husband, Sam Elliott.[8]

Early life

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Ross' senior yearbook portrait, from the 1957 Las Lomas High School yearbook (1956; age 16).[9]

Ross was born in Los Angeles on January 29, 1940,[10][11] when her father, Dudley Tyng Ross (1906–1991)[12] was a lieutenant in the Navy.[10][13] A native of Sonyea, New York, he had also worked for the Associated Press.[14][15] Ross's mother, the former Katharine Elizabeth Washburn[16][17] (née Hall;[18] 1909–1993),[19] was born in Indianapolis and later moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.[20][21] She married Ross's father there in 1937.[15] The family resided for a time in Washington, D.C. before moving to Walnut Creek, California.[22][23]

Ross was a keen horse rider in her youth[24] and was friends with rodeo rider Casey Tibbs.[25] She graduated from Las Lomas High School in 1957.[9] Ross studied for one year at Santa Rosa Junior College, where she was introduced to acting via a production of The King and I.[26] While attending SRJC, she met her first husband, the future actor Joel Fabiani.[27] Ross transferred to Diablo Valley College in 1958, and starred in a student film by Jim and Artie Mitchell (of O'Farrell Theatre fame). Eventually moving to San Francisco, she joined The Actors Workshop and was with them for three years.[27] For one role in Jean Genet's The Balcony, she appeared nude on stage.[27]

Career

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With Lee Majors in an episode of The Big Valley (1965)

In 1964, Ross was cast by John Houseman as Cordelia in a stage production of King Lear.[28][29]

While at the Workshop, she began acting in television series in Los Angeles to earn extra money.[24] She was brought to Hollywood by Metro, dropped, then picked up by Universal.[30]

Ross auditioned but was not hired for a role in the film West Side Story (1961).[31] Her first television role was in Sam Benedict in 1962.[32][33]

She was signed by agent Wally Hiller,[34] and in 1964, Ross appeared in episodes of Kraft Suspense Theatre, The Lieutenant, Arrest and Trial, The Virginian, The Great Adventure, Ben Casey, Mr. Novak, Wagon Train, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Run for Your Life, Gunsmoke, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ("Dividing Wall", 1963) as well as playing the love interest of Heath Barkley opposite Lee Majors on The Big Valley (Season 1, Episode 7-"Winner Loses All"). She screen tested for The Young Lovers.[35]

Ross made her first film, Shenandoah in 1965 playing the daughter-in-law of James Stewart. She returned to guest starring on shows like The Loner, The Wild Wild West, and The Road West. MGM put her in an unsold TV pilot about Bible stories. She signed a long term deal with Universal, who called her an "American Samantha Eggar",[36] despite some misgivings: "I didn't want a contract in the movies but a lot of people convinced me it was a good thing to do."[37]

MGM borrowed her for supporting parts in The Singing Nun (1966) and Mister Buddwing (1966), the latter starring James Garner.[32]

Mainstream breakthrough

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With James Garner in Mister Buddwing (1966)
 
In Games (1967)

At Universal, Ross starred in a television film with Doug McClure, The Longest Hundred Miles (1967),[24][37] then co-starred in Curtis Harrington's psychological thriller, Games (1967) with Simone Signoret and James Caan, which she later called "terrible".[38]

Ross's breakthrough role was as Elaine Robinson in Mike Nichols's comedy-drama The Graduate (1967), opposite Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. Ross was only eight years younger than Bancroft who played her mother in the film. She had been recommended to director Nichols by Signoret. This part, in which Ross plays a young woman who elopes with a young man who had an affair with her mother, earned Ross an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress,[39] and won her a Golden Globe Award as New Star of the Year. Commenting on her critical accolades at the time, Ross said, "I'm not a movie star... that system is dying and I'd like to help it along."[24]

She later said at this time "I got sent everything in town but Universal wouldn't loan me out."[37] After eight months she was in Hellfighters (1968) playing John Wayne's daughter who romances Jim Hutton.

Ross was cast as a Native American woman in Universal's Western film Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969), starring Robert Redford.[40] In August 1968, she signed a new contract with Universal to make two films a year for seven years.[41] She refused several roles (including Jacqueline Bisset's role in Bullitt)[42] before accepting the part of Etta Place in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), co-starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, which was another massive commercial hit.[43] She was paid $175,000 for her performance in the film.[44] For her roles in both Tell Them Willie Boy is Here and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Ross won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress.[45]

She was dropped by Universal in the spring of 1969 for refusing to play a stewardess in Airport starring Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin, another role that went to Jacqueline Bisset.[30] Because of this, she later lost out to Tuesday Weld on a film she greatly desired to do, an adaptation of Play It as It Lays, because it was a Universal production.[37] Instead, she had a starring role in the drama Fools (1970) opposite Jason Robards.

Semi-retirement and comeback

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Ross dropped out of Hollywood for a while after marrying cinematographer Conrad Hall.[37] She occasionally acted, appearing in Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972), They Only Kill Their Masters (1972), which reunited her with James Garner, and Chance and Violence (1974) with Yves Montand. She refused several more roles,[46] including a part in The Towering Inferno.[47]

Preferring stage acting, Ross returned to the small playhouses in Los Angeles for much of the 1970s.[46] "I'm aware that I have the reputation for being difficult", she later said.[48]

One of her best-known roles came in 1975's film The Stepford Wives, for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Actress.[49]

She reprised the role of Etta Place in a 1976 ABC television film, Wanted: The Sundance Woman, a sequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.[43] Ross subsequently appeared in the drama film Voyage of the Damned (1977) about a doomed ocean liner carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, which earned her her second Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.[50] She was also in The Betsy (1978) and the disaster film The Swarm (1978). Next, Ross co-starred opposite Sam Elliott in the supernatural horror film The Legacy (1978), playing a woman who finds herself subject to an ancestral curse at an English estate. Ross had previously worked with Elliott on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Television

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From 1979 Ross starred in several television movies,[51] including Murder by Natural Causes in 1979 with Hal Holbrook, Barry Bostwick and Richard Anderson, Rodeo Girl in 1980,[52] Murder in Texas (1981) and Marian Rose White (1982).[42] She had a supporting role in The Final Countdown (1980) and Wrong Is Right (1982) but focused largely on television films: The Shadow Riders (1982), a remake of Wait Until Dark (1983), Travis McGee (1982) with Elliott, Secrets of a Mother and Daughter (1983), Red Headed Stranger (1986), and Houston: The Legend of Texas (1986) with Elliott.[53]

She had a role in the 1980s television series The Colbys opposite Charlton Heston as Francesca Scott Colby, mother of Dynasty crossover character Jeff Colby.[54]

Later career

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Ross co-wrote the teleplay and starred in Conagher (1991) alongside husband Sam Elliott and was in A Climate for Killing (1991), and Home Before Dark (1997).[55]

She played Donnie's therapist in the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko.[56] She was in Don't Let Go (2002), and Capital City (2004) and played Carly Schroeder's grandmother in the 2006 independent film Eye of the Dolphin. She was also in Slip, Tumble & Slide (2015).

In January 2015 she appeared at the Malibu Playhouse in the first of a series titled A Conversation With, interviewed by Steven Gaydos.[31][34] That February, she again co-starred with Sam Elliott in Love Letters, also at the Malibu Playhouse.[35]

In 2017, she appeared as Sam Elliott's former wife in The Hero, in which he played an aging Western star.

Personal life

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Ross has married five times. On February 28, 1960, she married her college sweetheart, Joel Fabiani, though the marriage lasted only two years before ending in divorce.[27]

She married her second husband John Marion in 1964, but they were divorced in 1967.[57]

After completing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Ross married the film's cinematographer, three-time Oscar-winner Conrad Hall, in 1969.[46] They divorced in 1973.[58]

She married Gaetano "Tom" Lisi in 1974 after making The Stepford Wives; they met when he was a chauffeur and technician on the set.[59][60] They divorced in 1979.

Ross married Sam Elliott on May 1, 1984. They had worked together on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and began dating in 1978 after they were reacquainted on the set of The Legacy.[61] On September 17, 1984—four months after her marriage to Elliott and four months before turning 45—Ross gave birth to a daughter, Cleo Rose Elliott.[62][63]

In 2011, Ross filed a restraining order against Cleo Elliott after Cleo allegedly attacked her with a pair of scissors.[64] Ross stated in a court document that her daughter has had violent episodes since childhood.[64]

Filmography

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Main article: List of Katharine Ross performances

Accolades

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Year Institution Category Nominated work(s) Result Ref.
1967 Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress The Graduate Nominated [65]
1969 British Academy Film Awards Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles Nominated [66]
1971 Best Actress in a Leading Role Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
& Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here 		Won [45]
1967 Golden Globe Awards New Star of the Year – Actress The Graduate Won [67]
1976 Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Voyage of the Damned Won [67]
1967 Laurel Awards Best Supporting Actress The Graduate Won
1975 Saturn Awards Best Actress The Stepford Wives Won

Notes

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  1. ^ Early in her career, Ross changed her date of birth from January 29, 1940 to "January 29, 1943" for publication.[1] Reference sources began emending this in 2002 after the California Birth Index became accessible,[2] but it would not be taken for granted until well into the post-internet era. As late as 2008, for example, Vanity Fair magazine was still shaving three years off.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Skolsky, Sidney (January 26, 1968). "Hollywood Tintypes". Valley Times.
  2. ^ "Today's Birthdays". The Daily Oklahoman. January 29, 2002.
  3. ^ Kashner, Sam (February 25, 2008). "Here’s to You, Mr. Nichols: The Making of The Graduate". Vanity Fair.
  4. ^ "CalmView: Overview".
  5. ^ "Murder in Texas". TVGuide.com. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  6. ^ "The Shadow Riders". TVGuide.com. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  7. ^ "The Colbys". TVGuide.com. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  8. ^ "The Hero". TVGuide.com. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "El Caballero (1957 Las Lomas High School Yearbook)". 1957. p. 33.
  10. ^ a b "Their First Child". The Peninsula Times Tribune. February 3, 1940. p. 5. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  11. ^ "Katharine Juliet Ross, Born 01/29/1940 in Los Angeles County". California Birth Index. State of California Vitals and Statistics. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016.
  12. ^ Ross, Dudley Tyng (March 9, 1991). "California Death Index, 1940–1997 - Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento". FamilySearch. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  13. ^ "Kentucky New Era - Google News Archive Search".
  14. ^ "California, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940–1945", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGF4-N7GZ : Sun Mar 10 23:21:52 UTC 2024), Entry for Dudley Tyng Ross and Katharine Washburn Ross, 16 October 1940.
  15. ^ a b "Miss Washburn to Be Bride of Dudley Ross". The Peninsula Times Tribune. December 11, 1937. p. 5. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  16. ^ "Katharine Has Name Trouble". Sioux City Journal. February 7, 1965. p. TV-4. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  17. ^ "California, San Francisco County Records, 1824-1997", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL4T-KF3P : Sun Mar 10 08:13:32 UTC 2024), Entry for Dudley T Ross and Katharine E Washburn, 11 Dec.
  18. ^ Ross's mother was born as Katherine Elizabeth Hall on January 21, 1909 in Indianapolis, to Joseph Lloyd Hall and the former Ethel Bock.[1] She would take on her stepfather's surname of Washburn in 1928 at the age of 19. This caused subsequent confusion as differing maiden names were cited in legal records and newspaper articles.
  19. ^ "United States Census, 1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9CG-RB5 : Sun Mar 10 14:02:15 UTC 2024), Entry for Dudley T Ross and Katherine W Ross, 1940.
  20. ^ "United States Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCXV-1LY : Fri Mar 08 20:29:52 UTC 2024), Entry for Dana P Washburn and Betty B Washburn, 1930.
  21. ^ "Sorority Girl: Miss Katharine Washburn". San Francisco Examiner. May 11, 1931
  22. ^ "Plan Rites Here Wednesday For Late Mrs. D.P. Washburn". The Sheboygan Press. June 20, 1944. p. 8.
  23. ^ Pollock, Cheristopher (2013). Reel San Francisco Stories: An Annotated Filmography of the Bay Area. C. Pollock. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-578-13042-2.
  24. ^ a b c d De Paolo, Ronald (March 1, 1968). "Sudden Stardom of the 'Graduate Girl'". Life – via Google Books.
  25. ^ Bradford, Jack (June 18, 1968). "Off the Grapevine". Toledo Blade. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  26. ^ Monaco 1991, p. 466.
  27. ^ a b c d Gold, Herbert (2002). "When San Francisco Was Cool". In James O'Reilly; Larry Habegger; Sean O'Reilly (eds.). Travelers' Tales San Francisco: True Stories. Travelers' Tales. p. 30. ISBN 1-885211-85-6.
  28. ^ Houseman, John (1984). Final Dress. Simon & Schuster. p. 263. ISBN 0-671-42032-1.
  29. ^ Schumach, Murray (May 22, 1964). "Hollywood 'Lear' lures Carnovsky; Actor Blacklisted in '51 to Play Title Role at U.C.L.A." The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  30. ^ a b Champlin, Charles (June 7, 1969). "Katherine Ross: Post-Graduate". The Tuscaloosa News – via Google News.
  31. ^ a b Guldimann, Suzanne (January 12, 2015). "Actress Katharine Ross kicks off interview series at Malibu Playhouse". Malibu Surfside News. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  32. ^ a b Kleiner, Dick (March 25, 1965). "Katherine, or a Rossy Future". Times Daily. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  33. ^ Champlin, Charles (January 22, 1968). "The Graduate's Girl Friend". Los Angeles Times. p. C19.
  34. ^ a b Tallal, Jimy (January 15, 2015). "Playhouse Series Kicks Off with Katharine Ross". The Malibu Times. Archived from the original on March 23, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  35. ^ a b Gaydos, Steven (February 5, 2015). "Katharine Ross Looks Back on Being a Young TV Star in the '60s". Variety. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  36. ^ Ross, Katharine; Champlin, Charles (October 26, 1966). "A Seedling in Lotusland". Los Angeles Times. p. D1.
  37. ^ a b c d e Reed, Rex (July 30, 1972). "Katharine Ross: A Sensitive Talent: Katharine Ross: Sensitive Talent". The Washington Post. p. F1.
  38. ^ Dutton, Walt (January 20, 1967). "One Actress Who Shall Not Return". Los Angeles Times. p. C12.
  39. ^ Haber, Joyce (September 6, 1968). "Katharine Ross Lands Role in Public Eye". St. Petersburg Times – via Google News.
  40. ^ Fixico, Donald Lee (2008). American Indians in a Modern World. Rowman Altamira. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-7591-1170-7.
  41. ^ Martin, Betty (August 16, 1968). "New Deal for Katharine Ross". Los Angeles Times. p. F11.
  42. ^ a b Graham, Sheila (February 26, 1969). "Katharine Jacqueline Stars on No. 2 Choice". The Pittsburgh Press – via Google News.
  43. ^ a b Andreychuk 1997, p. 142.
  44. ^ Haber, Joyce (July 20, 1975). "Katharine Ross: She's Still a Puzzlement". Los Angeles Times. p. T27.
  45. ^ a b "Film: Actress in 1971". British Academy Film Awards. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020.
  46. ^ a b c Monaco, Paul (2003). The sixties, 1960–1969. University of California Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-520-23804-4.
  47. ^ Mann, Roderick (March 29, 1981). "Katharine Ross seeking post-"Graduate" honors". The Spokesman-Review – via Google News.
  48. ^ Josephson, Nancy (February 20, 1977). "Katharine Ross graduates to a renewed movie career". Chicago Tribune. p. D3.
  49. ^ "Past Saturn Awards". Saturn Awards. The Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy & Horror Films. Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  50. ^ Kleiner, Dick (March 14, 1977). "Katharine Ross – Talent, Luck Gets Actress Parts She Wants". The Sumter Daily Item – via Google News.
  51. ^ Lewis, Dan (June 6, 1981). "Katharine Ross graduates to TV-movies". Nashua Telegraph. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  52. ^ Beck, Marilyn (September 16, 1980). "Marilyn Beck's Hollywood". Tri City Herald. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  53. ^ Smith, Cecil (September 11, 1980). "A Ride on the Wilde Side For 'Rodeo Girl' Ross". Los Angeles Times. p. G1.
  54. ^ UPI (August 23, 1985). "Katharine Ross gets role in 'Dynasty II'". The Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  55. ^ Ross' Western Grit Actress Views Her Louis L'Amour Character on TNT as a True Pioneer: [Home Edition] King, Susan. Los Angeles Times June 30, 1991: 3.
  56. ^ O'Hehir, Andrew (October 30, 2001). "Donnie Darko". Salon. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  57. ^ Carvajal, Edduin (October 26, 2018). "Story of love between Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross, who had 4 husbands before". Amo Mama. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020.
  58. ^ Haber, Joyce (March 19, 1973). "Katharine Moves, Horses and All". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  59. ^ Beck, Marilyn (March 18, 1975). "Hollywood Closeup". The Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved August 10, 2010.[permanent dead link]
  60. ^ Brown, Vivian (January 26, 1977). "Old-fashioned and lucky in films". The Free Lance-Star. Retrieved August 10, 2010.[permanent dead link]
  61. ^ Magruder, Melonie (December 31, 2008). "Straight from her heart". The Malibu Times. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  62. ^ "Cleo Rose Elliott, Born 09/17/1984 in Los Angeles County". California Birth Index. State of California Vitals and Statistics.
  63. ^ "Katharine Ross". People. May 4, 1992. Archived from the original on April 28, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  64. ^ a b "Katharine Ross: Daughter Attacked Me with Scissors". People. March 11, 2011. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016.
  65. ^ "1967 Academy Awards® Winners and History". Filmsite. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020.
  66. ^ "Film: Most Promising Newcomer To Leading Film Roles in 1969". British Academy Film Awards. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020.
  67. ^ a b "Katharine Ross". Golden Globe Awards. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020.

Sources

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  • Andreychuk, Ed (1997). The Golden Corral: A Roundup of Magnificent Western Films. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0393-4.
  • Monaco, James (1991). The Encyclopedia of Film. Perigree Books. ISBN 978-0-399-51604-7.
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