The Sweet Story Of How Sam Elliott Met His Wife Katharine Ross

UPDATED 6/4/2024

Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross played a couple in a film before they were one in real life, the future lovers having met while on the set of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969. At the time, Sam was new to acting while Katharine was already a leading lady. She got her big break as Elaine Robinson in The Graduate (1967), which had been preceded by Shenandoah (1965), Mister Buddwing (1965) and The Singing Nun (1966).

They didn’t share scenes and reportedly didn’t talk while on the set of the film. Sam was too shy to talk to her. As he said, “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.”

He elaborated a bit with The Oklahoman, offering, “All I could do was just watch Katharine come and go. We didn’t interact at all. I saw her a lot because I knew who she was and I was just another guy on the lot at that point and time. It was a great opportunity, though, because being an extra on the show and being a contract player with Fox, allowed me to get in and watch ’em make the film. I spent a lot of time over in a dark corner watching Katharine and the rest of ’em work while they were in L.A.”

How Sam and Katharine actually met

However, almost a decade later, things had changed and Sam was now a big star in his own right. As things turned out, they were both cast in the 1978 film The Legacy, where they played a couple. At the time, Katharine was on her fourth marriage, but it was already declining. She had been married to Joel Fabiani from 1960 to 1962, John Marion from 1964 to 1967, Conrad Hall from 1969 to 1974 and, at the time of her meeting with Sam, Gaetano Lisi from 1974 until 1979.

RELATED: Sam Elliott’s Real Wife Plays His Ex-Wife In ‘The Hero’

Katharine and Sam fell in love while filming and got married in 1984. Together ever since, they have one daughter, Cleo Rose, who is now a musician.

Sam and Katharine continued to act together, appearing in Mask, Conagher, and The Hero. Their secret to making a marriage last? Sam said, “We have a common sensibility, but we also work at being together. You work past the s–t; you don’t walk away from it. That’s how relationships last.”

For her part, Ross shared with The Oklahoman, “You just ride the roller coaster — and hang on tight!” And as to what attracted her to him, it had something to do with his baritone voice and rugged good looks. “All that and more,” she mused to The Mercury News. “We were working together and one thing led to another. And here we are.”

And here they still stand, very much united. Proof of that was evident during the 2023 SAG awards, where they walked the red carpet together and Sam won for the series 1883 and his portrayal of Shea Brennan. Commented thepioneerwoman.com, “He delivered an emotional acceptance speech honoring his cast mates. Yet what really brought us to tears was when the actor took the time to share some final sweet words about his wife, Katherine Ross. ‘Thank you to my wife, my beautiful Katharine, my partner through thick and thin, and the mother of our beautiful daughter.'”

But that wasn’t all. The site was actually more impressed by watching the two on the red carpet earlier. “They 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.”

In 2017, while speaking to NPR, Sam attempted to offer some additional insight in why their relationship has lasted the way it has. “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. 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.”