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Katharine Ross

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Katharine Ross
Ross in Mister Buddwing in 1966
Born
Katharine Juliet Ross

(1940-01-29) January 29, 1940 (age 84)
Hollywood, California, United States
Occupation(s)Actress, author
Years active1962–2013
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1960; div. 1962)​

John Marion
​
​
(m. 1964; div. 1967)​

​
​
(m. 1969; div. 1974)​

Gaetano Lisi
​
​
(m. 1974; div. 1979)​

​
(m. 1984)​
ChildrenCleo Rose Elliott (b. 1984)

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).

Early life

Ross was born in Hollywood, California, on January 29, 1940, when her father, Dudley Ross, was in the Navy.[2] He had also worked for the Associated Press.[3] 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[4] and was friends with Casey Tibbs, a rodeo rider.[5]

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.[4] She joined The Actors Workshop and was with them for three years (1959–1962)[6] working as an understudy;[7] for one role in Jean Genet's The Balcony she appeared nude on stage,[7] and in 1964 she was cast by John Houseman as Cordelia in a production of King Lear.[8][9] While at the Workshop, she began acting in television series in Los Angeles to earn extra money.[4] She was brought to Hollywood by Metro, dropped, then picked up by Universal.[10]

She unsuccessfully auditioned for West Side Story (1961),[11] then her first television role was in Sam Benedict in 1962.[6] She was picked up by agent Wally Hiller,[12] 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[13] and made her first film, Shenandoah, followed by a starring role opposite James Garner in Mister Buddwing with MGM in 1965.[6] 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.[4] 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).[14] After appearing as Dustin Hoffman's character's girlfriend Elaine in The Graduate, a part for which she received an Oscar nomination[15] 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."[4] She also won a BAFTA for her part as an Indian in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969).[16] She turned down several roles (including Jacqueline Bisset's role in Bullitt[17]) before accepting the part in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and then turned down several more roles,[18] including a part in The Towering Inferno.[17]

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.[10] She preferred stage acting, and returned to the small playhouses in Los Angeles for much of the 1970s.[18] One of her best-known roles came in 1975's The Stepford Wives, for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Actress.[19] She reprised the role of Etta Place in a 1976 ABC TV movie, Wanted: The Sundance Woman,[14] and then won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her part in 1977's Voyage of the Damned;[20]

She starred in several television movies from the late 1970s,[21] including Murder by Natural Causes in 1979 with Hal Holbrook, Barry Bostwick and Richard Anderson,[citation needed] Rodeo Girl in 1980,[22] Murder in Texas in 1981,[17] and the 1980s television series The Colbys opposite Charlton Heston as Francesca Scott Colby.[23] She played Donnie's therapist in the 2001 film Donnie Darko.[24] 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.[11][12] That February, she appeared with her husband Sam Elliott in Love Letters, also at the Malibu Playhouse.[13]

Personal life

Ross has been married five times. Her first marriage was to actor Joel Fabiani[7] from February 28, 1960 to 1962. She was then married to John Marion from May 2, 1964 to 1967.[citation needed] 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.[18] They separated in 1973.[25] 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.[26][27]

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,[28] born in 1984.[29] In March 2011, Ross obtained a restraining order against Cleo after her daughter allegedly stabbed her repeatedly with a pair of scissors.[30]

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
1968 Hellfighters Tish Buckman With John Wayne.
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 Betsy Sally Hardeman
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)[31]

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

  • 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)

References

  1. ^ According to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905–1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California, ancestry.com; accessed June 24, 2015.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Amory, Cleveland (April 8, 1977). "Katharine Ross has always wanted to play an Indian". The Modesto Bee. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e De Paolo, Ronald (March 1, 1968). "Sudden Stardom of the 'Graduate Girl'". Life. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  5. ^ Bradford, Jack (June 18, 1968). "Off the Grapevine". Toledo Blade. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  6. ^ a b c Kleiner, Dick (March 25, 1965). "Katherine, or a Rossy Future". Times Daily. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  7. ^ a b c Gold, Herbert (2002). "When San Francisco Was Cool". In James O'Reilly, Larry Habegger, Sean O'Reilly (ed.). Travelers' Tales San Francisco: True Stories. Travelers' Tales. p. 30. ISBN 1-885211-85-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  8. ^ Houseman, John (1984). Final Dress. Simon & Schuster. p. 263. ISBN 0-671-42032-1.
  9. ^ Schuhmach, Murray (May 22, 1964). "Hollywood 'Lear' lures Carnovsky; Actor Blacklisted in '51 to Play Title Role at U.C.L.A." New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  10. ^ a b Champlin, Charles (June 7, 1969). "Katherine Ross: Post-Graduate". The Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  11. ^ a b Guldimann, Suzanne (January 12, 2015). "Actress Katharine Ross kicks off interview series at Malibu Playhouse". Malibu Surfside News. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Tallal, Jimy (January 15, 2015). "Playhouse Series Kicks Off with Katharine Ross". The Malibu Times. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ a b Andreychuk, Ed (1997). The golden corral: a roundup of magnificent Western films. McFarland. p. 142. ISBN 0-7864-0393-4.
  15. ^ Haber, Joyce (September 6, 1968). "Katharine Ross Lands Role in Public Eye". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  16. ^ Legge, Charles (September 22, 2009). "Hitching a ride to infamy". Daily Mail. on BNET. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  17. ^ a b c Graham, Sheila (February 26, 1969). "Katharine Jacqueline Stars on No. 2 Choice". The Pittsburgh Press. Cite error: The named reference "mann" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. ^ a b c Monaco, Paul (2003). The sixties, 1960–1969. University of California Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-520-23804-4.
  19. ^ "Past Saturn Awards". Saturn Awards. The Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy & Horror Films. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  20. ^ Kleiner, Dick (March 14, 1977). "Katharine Ross – Talent, Luck Gets Actress Parts She Wants". The Sumter Daily Item. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  21. ^ Lewis, Dan (June 6, 1981). "Katharine Ross graduates to TV-movies". Nashua Telegraph. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  22. ^ Beck, Marilyn (September 16, 1980). "Marilyn Beck's Hollywood". Tri City Herald. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  23. ^ UPI (August 23, 1985). "Katharine Ross gets role in 'Dynasty II'". The Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  24. ^ O'Hehir, Andrew (October 30, 2001). "Donnie Darko". Salon. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  25. ^ Haber, Joyce (March 19, 1973). "Katharine Moves, Horses and All". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  26. ^ Beck, Marilyn (March 18, 1975). "Hollywood Closeup". The Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  27. ^ Brown, Vivian (January 26, 1977). "Old-fashioned and lucky in films". The Free Lance-Star. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  28. ^ "Katharine Ross". People. May 4, 1992. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  29. ^ Magruder, Melonie (December 31, 2008). "Straight from her heart". Malibu Times. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  30. ^ "'Cleo Wants to Kill Me': Graduate Star Katharine Ross takes out restraining order after daughter 'stabs her with scissors'". Daily Mail. March 12, 2011. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
  31. ^ Wini + George official site
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