Sam Elliott had quite the night during the 2023 SAG awards! He won for his role as Shea Brennan in 1883, one of the much beloved Yellowstone spinoffs, and delivered an emotional acceptance speech honoring his cast mates.
Yet what really brought us to tears was when the 78-year-old actor took the time to share some final sweet words about his wife, Katharine Ross. “Thank you to my wife, my beautiful Katharine, my partner through thick and thin, and the mother of our beautiful daughter,” Elliott said.
Watching Elliott and Ross laughing and hugging while they walked the red carpet earlier that night reminded everyone of what a power couple the pair is. Hollywood is known for quickie marriages and even speedier divorces, but these two have been together for 38 years and counting.
Elliott is of course known for his gritty 1883 character (who shares the same bushy mustache 😂). The actor’s deep and steady voice and salt-of-the-earth aura have primed him for starring in everything from Western movies to dark comedies to detective shows. Throughout his 55-year acting career, he’s gained credits in hits including The Big Lebowski, A Star Is Born, Road House, and the TV show Justified. Speaking of that instantly recognizable baritone—he even voiced the forest fire-prevention mascot “Smokey Bear!”
Ross is a well-respected actress in her own right, best known for roles in The Graduate (one of Ree Drummond’s top movies!), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Stepford Wives, and Donnie Darko. She’d been married four times before Elliott, but none lasted more than five years.
As fate would have it, the two technically first met in 1969 on the set of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but Ross was far more established in her career at the time. “I didn’t dare try to talk to her then,” Elliott told AARP The Magazine in 2015. “She was the leading lady. I was a shadow on the wall, a glorified extra in a bar scene.” He’s not exaggerating—Elliott’s credit for the movie is “card player #2.” 😂
Ross and Elliott connected almost a decade later while filming The Legacy, a horror movie about a group of guests terrorized at a creepy English estate. Their love story is one of those Hollywood meet-cutes: they played a couple in a movie, and sparks began to fly off-set! When asked by The Mercury News whether it was his baritone voice, rugged looks, or the mustache that first attracted her, Ross replied, “Probably all that and more.”
They married in 1984, but unlike his wife, Elliot still hadn’t had his big break. That all changed on their honeymoon in Hawaii when Elliot was asked to audition for the movie Mask as Cher’s biker boyfriend. He told his agent he couldn’t get back in time (obviously), but Ross promptly called back to say he’d be there pronto.
So, not only is she a supportive wife but a woman with a good sense of the industry. Elliot received critical attention for his work in the movie, cementing his role in Hollywood. The pair had their first daughter, Cleo Rose, the same year Mask was released. Cleo is now a musician in Malibu.
Elliot and Ross appeared once more on-screen together in 2017 in The Hero, where Elliot starred as an aging Western film star, and Ross played his ex-wife. In an interview with NPR promoting the film, Elliot spoke about his marriage’s longevity. “I think really what it boils down to is we love each other, and we work at it. And I think more importantly than anything, it takes wanting to be married,” he explained. “The two things that I wanted in my life were to have a movie career and to be married, to have a family. And it’s an embarrassment of riches that I’ve got both.”