Relationships made in Hollywood aren’t exactly know for their longevity, but Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross are one of the lucky few exceptions. The couple have been married for 38 years, which is quite the benchmark for the movie business.
Elliott, 78, known for his bushy mustache as well as for his cowboy, biker, and military characters, most recently starred in the Yellowstone spinoff, 1883. His roles in the films Tombstone, The Big Lebowski, and A Star Is Born and the television series Justified (2015), among many others (he’s even the voice of forest fire-prevention mascot “Smokey Bear!”) have also made him one of Hollywood’s most famous leading men.
Ross, 83, is best known for her iconic roles as Elaine Robinson in The Graduate (1967), Etta Place in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and Joanna Eberhart in The Stepford Wives (1975). Her previous four marriages—none of which lasted longer than five years—were to Joel Fabiani (1960-1962), John Marion (1964-1967), Conrad L. Hall (1969-1974), and Gaetano Lisi (1974-1979).
Ross and Elliott met in 1978 while filming the horror movie The Legacy in London, in which they played a couple who are among a group of guests terrorized at a creepy English estate. Actually, Elliott had a small role in Butch Cassidy nearly a decade earlier, but he and Ross never met on set. “I didn’t dare try to talk to her then. She was the leading lady. I was a shadow on the wall, a glorified extra in a bar scene,” Elliott told AARP The Magazine in 2015.
The two apparently saw a lot more of each other while making Legacy—in fact, Elliott’s bare posterior in the film was lauded in The Bare Facts, a guide to nudity in film, according to his International Movie Database profile. Asked if she was first attracted to Elliott’s baritone voice, rugged good looks, or mustache, Ross told The Mercury News: “Probably all that and more. We were working together and one thing led to another. And here we are.”
Back then, Ross was on her fourth husband and Elliott had never been married. Ross divorced in 1979 and married Elliott in 1984. Their daughter, Cleo Rose, was born later that year and is now a musician. Elliott nearly passed on his breakout role as Cher’s biker boyfriend in the 1985 film Mask because he and Ross were on their honeymoon in Hawaii, according to the New York Times. After Elliott told his agent he wouldn’t return early to test for the role, Ross called the agent back that night to say she’d get her husband back in time.
Ross must have sensed the role would be a turning point for Elliott. As the Los Angeles Times stated in 1985, “His portrayal of the compassionate biker Gar has received nearly as much critical attention as the performances by the film’s stars, Eric Stoltz and Cher.”
The couple appeared together on screen again in 2017. Elliott stars in The Hero as an aging Western film icon; Ross plays his character’s ex-wife. Both actors have projects in the pipeline: Elliott is slated to appear in several upcoming films, while Ross is starring in the comedy Attachments, currently in post-production.
The two divide their time between homes in California and Oregon. As Elliott toldAARP, marriage is work, but it’s worth it. “We have a common sensibility, but we also work at being together,” he said. “You work past the s–t; you don’t walk away from it. That’s how relationships last.”