Katharine Juliet Ross is an American film and
stageTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
actress. Trained at the San Francisco Workshop, she is perhaps best known for her role as Elaine Robinson in the 1967 film
The GraduateThe Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...
, opposite
Dustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
, which won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and her role as
Etta PlaceEtta Place was a companion of the American outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , both members of the outlaw gang known as the Wild Bunch. Principally the companion of Longabaugh, little is known about her; both her origins and her fate remain mysterious...
in 1969's
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman...
, opposite
Paul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
and
Robert RedfordCharles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
. She has also established herself as an author, publishing several children's books.
Early life
Ross was born in Hollywood, California, when her father was in the
NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. He had also worked for the Associated Press. Her family later settled in
Walnut Creek, CaliforniaWalnut Creek is an incorporated city located east of the city of Oakland. It lies in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. While not as large as neighboring Concord, Walnut Creek serves as the business and entertainment hub for the neighboring cities within central Contra Costa...
, east of San Francisco. She graduated from
Las Lomas High SchoolLas Lomas High School was founded in 1951 by Acalanes Union High School District, and the new school opened its doors in the fall of 1952 to its first graduating class. Las Lomas was the second of five schools built within the Acalanes Union High School District...
. Ross was a keen horse rider in her youth, and was friends with
Casey TibbsCasey Duane Tibbs was an American cowboy, rodeo performer, and actor.He was born northwest of Fort Pierre, South Dakota. Tibbs held the "World All-Around Rodeo Champion" title twice, in 1951 and 1955. He also won in 1949, 1951–1954, and 1959, the world saddle bronc riding championship and...
, a rodeo rider.
Career
She studied at
Santa Rosa Junior CollegeSanta Rosa Junior College is a community college located in the city of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California. Founded in 1918, it is the tenth oldest community college in the state. Santa Rosa Junior College was modeled as a "junior" version of nearby University of California at Berkeley...
for a year, where she had her introduction to acting in a production of
The King and IThe King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
. She dropped out of the course and moved to San Francisco to study acting. She joined
The Actors WorkshopThe Actors Workshop is one of southern California's oldest film acting programs and is generally associated with the Sanford Meisner and Charles Conrad techniques.-Overview:...
and was with them for three years working as an understudy; for one role in
Jean GenetJean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
's
The BalconyThe Balcony is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. Since Peter Zadek directed its first production at the Arts Theatre Club in London in 1957, the play has attracted many of the greatest directors of the 20th century, including Peter Brook, Erwin Piscator, Roger Blin, Giorgio Strehler, and...
she appeared nude on stage, and in 1964 she was cast by
John HousemanJohn Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
as Cordelia in a production of
King LearKing Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
. While at the Workshop, she began acting bit parts in television series in Los Angeles to earn extra money. She was brought to Hollywood by Metro, dropped, then picked up by Universal.
Her first television role was in
Sam BenedictSam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman....
in 1962. In 1964, Ross appeared in episodes of
The VirginianThe Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
and
GunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, and made her first film,
ShenandoahShenandoah is a 1965 American Civil War film starring James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, and Katharine Ross. The picture was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Though set during the American Civil War, the film's strong antiwar and humanitarian themes resonated with audiences...
, followed by a starring role in
Mister BuddwingMister Buddwing is a 1966 American film drama starring James Garner, directed by Delbert Mann.It is the story of a well-dressed man who finds himself on a bench in Central Park with no idea of who he is...
with MGM in 1965. In 1966, she appeared in the episode "To Light a Candle" of
Barry SullivanBarry Sullivan was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s.Born in New York City, Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football...
's
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Western
The Road WestThe Road West is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 12, 1966 to May 1, 1967 for twenty-nine episodes with rebroadcasts continuing until August 28. The hour-long series, sponsored by Kraft Foods, aired in the 9 p.m...
. That year, she had her first major role in the film
GamesGames is a 1967 psychological thriller, directed by Curtis Harrington and starring James Caan, Katharine Ross, and Simone Signoret.-Plot:...
. Then came her breakout roles in two of cinema's most popular films, Elaine Robinson in
The GraduateThe Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...
(1967) and Etta Place in
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman...
(1969). After appearing as
Dustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
's girlfriend Elaine in
The Graduate, a part for which she received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe as most promising female newcomer, she said that "I'm not a movie star...that system is dying and I'd like to help it along." She also won a BAFTA for her part as an Indian in
Tell Them Willie Boy Is HereTell Them Willie Boy Is Here is a Technicolor movie released in 1969, based on the true story of a Paiute Indian named Willie Boy and his run-in with the law in 1909 in Banning, California, United States....
(1969). She turned down several roles before accepting the part in
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and then turned down several more roles, including a part in
The Towering InfernoThe Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...
. She was dropped by Universal in the spring of 1969 for refusing to play a stewardess in
Airport, a role that went to Jacqueline Bisset. She preferred stage acting, returning to the small playhouses in LA for much of the 1970s. One of her best-known roles came in 1975's
The Stepford WivesThe Stepford Wives is a 1972 satirical thriller novel by Ira Levin. The story concerns Joanna Eberhart, a photographer and young mother who begins to suspect that the frighteningly submissive housewives in her new idyllic Connecticut neighborhood may be robots created by their husbands.Two films of...
, for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Actress. She reprised the role of Etta Place in a 1976 ABC TV movie,
Wanted: The Sundance Woman, and then won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her part in 1977's
Voyage of the DamnedVoyage of the Damned is the title of a 1974 book written by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, which was the basis of a 1976 drama film with the same title.The story was inspired by true events concerning the fate of the MS St...
; as of 2011, she, along with
Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
in
Madame SousatzkaMadame Sousatzka is a 1988 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It is based upon the novel of the same name by Bernice Rubens.-Plot synopsis:...
in 1988, are the only Golden Globe winners to not get an Oscar nomination for the same performance.
She starred in several TV movies from the late 1970s, including
Murder by Natural Causes in 1979 with
Hal HolbrookHarold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
,
Barry BostwickBarry Knapp Bostwick is an American actor and singer. He is known for playing Brad Majors in the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, replacing Peter Scolari as Mr. Tyler in the sitcom What I Like About You, and playing mayor Randall Winston in the sitcom Spin City...
and
Richard AndersonRichard Norman Anderson is an American actor in film and television, known to TV audiences as Steve Austin's and Jaime Sommers' boss, Oscar Goldman, in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman TV series and their three subsequent TV movies: The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man...
,
Rodeo Girl in 1980,
Murder in TexasMurder in Texas is a 1981 television film that starred Katharine Ross, Sam Elliott, Farrah Fawcett, and Andy Griffith. The film was directed by William Hale, and was based on a true story; that was written for the TV screen by John McGreevey.-Plot:...
in 1981, and the 1980s television series
The ColbysThe Colbys is an American prime time soap opera, which originally aired on ABC from November 20, 1985 to March 26, 1987. The Aaron Spelling-produced series was a spin-off of Dynasty, which had been the highest rated series for the 1984-1985 U.S. television season...
opposite
Charlton HestonCharlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
as Francesca Scott Colby. More recently, she played Donnie's therapist in the 2001 film
Donnie DarkoDonnie Darko is a 2001 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell...
.
Personal life
Ross has lived in
Malibu, California, since the late 1960s. While at the Actors Workshop in the early 1960s, she lived above a grocer's shop on Stockton Street, and was married to fellow actor
Joel FabianiJoel Fabiani is an American film and television actor.Fabiani was born in Watsonville, California. He co-starred in the British espionage series Department S as Stewart Sullivan in 1969-1970...
for six months. Ross was married to the triple Oscar-winning cinematographer
Conrad HallConrad Lafcadio Hall, ASC was an American cinematographer from Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he was best known for photographing films such as In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty, and Road to...
from June 1970 to 1975, after meeting him on the set of
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They separated in 1973. She was married to Gaetano Lisi (known as Tom) from 1975 to 1979, after they met when he was a chauffeur and technician on
The Stepford Wives. Ross is now married to actor
Sam ElliottSamuel Pack "Sam" Elliott is an American actor. His rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache, and deep, resonant voice match the iconic image of a cowboy or rancher, and he has often been cast in such roles.-Early life:Sam Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training...
, 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, born in 1984, who is now an aspiring musician in Malibu. In March 2011, Ross got a
restraining orderA restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
against Cleo after Cleo allegedly stabbed her repeatedly with a pair of scissors.
Selected filmography
- Shenandoah
Shenandoah is a 1965 American Civil War film starring James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, and Katharine Ross. The picture was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Though set during the American Civil War, the film's strong antiwar and humanitarian themes resonated with audiences...
(1965), as James StewartJames Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
's character's daughter-in-law.
- "The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
"Winner Lose All" (1965) as Maria Montoya
- The Singing Nun
The Singing Nun is a 1966 American semi-biographical film about the life of Jeanine Deckers, a nun who recorded the chart-topping hit song "Dominique". It starred Debbie Reynolds in the title role. It was Henry Koster's final directing job....
(1966), as Nicole
- Mister Buddwing
Mister Buddwing is a 1966 American film drama starring James Garner, directed by Delbert Mann.It is the story of a well-dressed man who finds himself on a bench in Central Park with no idea of who he is...
(1966), as Janet, with James GarnerJames Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
- Games
Games is a 1967 psychological thriller, directed by Curtis Harrington and starring James Caan, Katharine Ross, and Simone Signoret.-Plot:...
(1967), directed by Curtis HarringtonCurtis Harrington was an American film and television director whose work included experimental films, horror films, and episodic television.-Biography:...
, with James CaanJames Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...
and Simone SignoretSimone Signoret was a French cinema actress often hailed as one of France's greatest movie stars. She became the first French person to win an Academy Award, for her role in Room at the Top...
- The Graduate
The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...
(1967), as Elaine Robinson, a college student who discovers that her mother and boyfriend have had an affair
- Hellfighters
Hellfighters is a 1968 American film starring John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Bruce Cabot, Jim Hutton, Jay C. Flippen and Vera Miles. The movie, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, is about a group of oil well firefighters, based loosely on the life of Red Adair...
(1968), as Tish Buckman, playing John WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
's character's daughter.
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman...
(1969), as rural schoolteacher Etta PlaceEtta Place was a companion of the American outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , both members of the outlaw gang known as the Wild Bunch. Principally the companion of Longabaugh, little is known about her; both her origins and her fate remain mysterious...
in the 1890s involved with the eponymous outlaws
- Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here is a Technicolor movie released in 1969, based on the true story of a Paiute Indian named Willie Boy and his run-in with the law in 1909 in Banning, California, United States....
(1969), as Lola, lover of Willie Boy (Robert BlakeRobert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
)
- Get to Know Your Rabbit
Get to Know Your Rabbit is a 1972 American comedy film written by Jordan Crittenden and directed by Brian De Palma.-Synopsis:Corporate executive Donald Beeman, fed up with the rat race, impulsively quits his job and takes to the road as a traveling tap dancing magician under the tutelage of Mr....
(1972), as a nameless woman who falls in love with a tap-dancing magician.
- They Only Kill Their Masters
They Only Kill Their Masters is a 1972 mystery movie starring James Garner and Katharine Ross, with a supporting cast featuring Hal Holbrook, June Allyson, Tom Ewell, Peter Lawford, Edmond O'Brien, and Arthur O'Connell...
(1972), as a murder suspect
- The Stepford Wives
The Stepford Wives is a 1975 science fiction–thriller film based on the 1972 Ira Levin novel of the same name. It was directed by Bryan Forbes with a screenplay by William Goldman, and stars Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman and Tina Louise...
(1975) as Joanna Ingalls Eberhart, a suburban housewife who discovers a terrible secret about her community.
- Voyage of the Damned
Voyage of the Damned is the title of a 1974 book written by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, which was the basis of a 1976 drama film with the same title.The story was inspired by true events concerning the fate of the MS St...
(1976)
- The Legacy (1978)
- The Betsy
The Betsy is a 1978 film made by the Harold Robbins International Company and released by Allied Artists. It was directed by Daniel Petrie and produced by Robert R. Weston and Emanuel L. Wolf with Jack Grossberg as associate producer. The screenplay was by William Bast and Walter Bernstein, adapted...
(1978) opposite Laurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
- The Swarm (1978)
- The Final Countdown (1980), as the secretary to a U.S. Senator in the 1940s
- Wrong Is Right
Wrong Is Right is a black comedy thriller about the theft of two suitcase nukes, featuring the plot conventions of media bias, reality television, government conspiracy, and Islamic terrorism...
(1982)
- Red Headed Stranger
Red Headed Stranger is a 1975 album by American outlaw country singer Willie Nelson. After the wide success of his recordings with Atlantic records, Nelson signed a contract with Columbia Records, a label that gave him total creative control over his works...
(1986)
- The Shadow Riders
The Shadow Riders is a 1982 television film western that first aired in the United States on September 28, 1982. It is based on the novel of the same name by Louis L'Amour, and is directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. The movie reunites actors Tom Selleck, Sam Elliot, and Jeff Osterhage, who also starred...
(1982) (TV) as Kate
- Conagher
Conagher is a 1991 Turner Network Television western film based on a Louis L’Amour novel of the same name, starring Sam Elliott as Conn Conagher, an honest, hardworking cowboy who learns that his fellow ranch hands plan to steal the boss's cattle. Katharine Ross, Elliott’s wife since 1984, stars...
(1991) as Evie Teale. She co-wrote the script with her husband and Jeffrey M. Meyer.
- Home Before Dark (1997) as Rose, the aunt of a girl whose mother attempts suicide.
- Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko is a 2001 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell...
(2001), as a psychiatrist treating the title character (Jake GyllenhaalJacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
), a teen with disturbing visions
- Eye of the Dolphin
Eye of the Dolphin is a 2006 American drama film distributed by Monterey Media and Quantum Entertainmen. The film was written by Wendell Morris and directed by Michael Sellers. It starred Carly Schroeder, Adrian Dunbar, George Harris, Katharine Ross and Christine Adams...
(2007), as Lucy, the grandmother of Alyssa (Carly SchroederCarly Brook Schroeder is an American film and television actress. She is best known for playing Serena Baldwin, the daughter of Scotty Baldwin and Lucy Coe in the General Hospital spin-off Port Charles. She also had a recurring role on the Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire...
)
Books
- 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)
External links
- Profile at TCM
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...