You don’t need to be a Hollywood reporter to know that celebrity relationships tend to have short shelf lives.
Sometimes, the breakup is more sensational than the time they first got together! While Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, and Chrissy Teigen and John Legend currently grab the headlines when it comes to celebrity couples, they still have a ways to go compared to Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross. After all, the pair has managed to remain married for 35 years and have successfully kept their romance as fresh as the time they first met in 1978.
The year 1978 was when Ross, 79, and Elliott, 74, starred in the horror movie The Legacy in London.point 471 |
They played a couple at a creepy English estate where they soon discover its family’s curse.point 83 | But it actually wasn’t the first time they were both in the same film.point 146 | Nearly 10 years before that, Elliott was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where he had a small role but Ross was the leading lady.point 256 |
This is why the two never actually interacted even though they were both in the same film.point 74 | 1
Elliott recounted that time when he spoke to
aarp.point 5 | org/entertainment/style-trends/info-2015/sam-elliott-celebrity-news.point 73 | html">AARP The Magazine
in 2015, saying, “My wife, Katharine Ross, and I both worked on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but I didn’t dare try to talk to her then.point 221 |She was the leading lady.point 21 | I was a shadow on the wall, a glorified extra in a bar scene.point 69 | It wasn’t until we made The Legacy [in 1978] that we actually interacted.point 136 | We have a common sensibility, but we also work at being together.point 190 | You work past the s–t; you don’t walk away from it.point 243 |
That’s how relationships last.point 33 | ”point 40 | 1
But circumstances were different when they filmed The Legacy because they saw a lot of each other then. In 2017, The Mercury News asked Ross if it was Elliott’s “distinctive baritone, the rugged looks, or the mustache” that attracted her to him and she replied, “Probably all that and more. We were working together and one thing led to another. And here we are.”
In 1978, Ross was with her fourth husband while Elliott had never been married. A year later, Ross divorced her husband but it was only in 1984 that Ross and Elliott tied the knot. Their daughter, Cleo Rose, was born later that year.
It’s interesting that Elliott almost missed out on what would be his breakout role in 1985’s Mask because he and Ross were on their honeymoon.
The New York Times reported that the couple was in Hawaii when casting for who would play Cher’s boyfriend in the movie started. Elliott told his agent that he wouldn’t make it but Ross called back later that night to say that she would make sure her husband got back in time to audition for the role. And the rest is history.
Whether Ross saw the huge potential of the role or simple coincidence, Elliot can only thank his wife for playing a big part in shaping his career. In 2017, the pair appeared on screen again in the film The Hero. Elliott portrayed an aging Western film icon while Ross played the role of the character’s former wife.
Even more impressive than their film credits is the fact that their love is still evident during their public appearances. Despite having a busy schedule, they made sure that their marriage takes precedence no matter what. It’s definitely a lesson that young celebrity couples would do well to take heart.