Match made in Hollywood
Longtime married actors Sam Elliot and Katherine Ross shine in Oklahoma City visit.
When Sam Elliott made his feature film debut playing Card Player #2 in the now-iconic 1969 Western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” he never got the chance to share a scene or even meet the movie’s famed female lead, Katharine Ross.
But he definitely noticed her. “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,” Elliott recalled in a recent phone interview.
A decade later, Elliott had risen to the level of leading man when he and Ross were cast as a couple in the 1978 supernatural thriller “The Legacy.”
“We didn’t meet until 10 years later, in London — of all places — on a Gothic horror movie,” Ross recalled with a laugh. “So, you never know, but here we are together.”
The couple, who married in 1984, have shared the screen several times, but they also shared the stage Saturday night in Oklahoma City as emcees of the 58th Annual Western Heritage Awards at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Although they are seasoned performers, the pair said the hosting gig took them out of their comfort zones.
“We’re in it together — and it’s a great place to be together,” Elliott said.
Western icons
The Western Heritage Awards annually celebrate creative works in literature, music, film and television that reflect the significant stories of the Western genre, as well as people who embody the spirit of the West. Winners receive a “Wrangler,” a bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback created by Oklahoma artist Harold T. Holden.
In his distinctive rumbling voice, Elliott, 73, recalled that he came to Oklahoma City to receive his first Wrangler Award back in 1976 for a TV movie called “I Will Fight No More Forever.” Although the native Californian has a diverse resume, Elliott is beloved for playing cowboy in films like “Tombstone,” TV movies like “The Sacketts” and the TV show “Justified.” He was inducted into the cowboy museum’s Hall of Great Western Performers in 2007.
“I couldn’t get through my acceptance speech barely,” he recalled. “I think it means so much to me personally because I have a lot of heritage from down Texas way, like for generations back to the Indian Wars.”
A Hollywood native, Ross, 78, is best known for her Oscar-nominated turn in 1967’s “The Graduate,” along with her film roles in “The Stepford Wives,” “Voyage of the Damned” and, more recently, “Donnie Darko.” An avid horsewoman since childhood, she said Western telefilms were a foundation of her career, so her 2014 induction into the Hall of Great Western Performers meant a great deal.
“I kind of came into working in the ‘60s, and there were a lot of television Westerns being done at that time, and I was fortunate enough to have parts in many of them. … And I had the opportunity to work with a lot of great character actors,” she said.
Long careers
Both actors continue to stay busy, with Elliott starring in actor/director Bradley Cooper’s remake of “A Star Is Born,” as well as on the Netflix series “The Ranch,” and Ross in the comedic film “Attachments.” They played ex-spouses in the 2017 drama “The Hero,” and their daughter, Cleo, 33, joined them at several redcarpet events for the film.
“Working with Katharine is incredible for me. It’s always been,” Elliott said. “I think our time on ‘Conagher’ was one of the highlights of my career.”
Ross said the 1991 TV Western, which won a Wrangler Award and earned her husband a Golden Globe nod, is a favorite of hers, too.
“‘Conagher,’ we co-wrote the script and were involved with it from beginning to end,” she said. “We’d both just done ‘The Shadow Riders,’ a Louis L’Amour story, and Louis wanted us to do ‘Conagher.’ And it was the last book of his sold before he died … so it’s very special on a lot of levels.”
One of those levels involves their close friend Barry Corbin, whom the couple ushered into the Hall of Great Western Performers on Saturday night. Elliott, who now co-stars with Corbin on “The Ranch,” recalled that their pal managed to drive a six-up stagecoach for a few shots on “Conagher.”
“It was pretty impressive,” Elliott said. “Barry and I have been in the business probably pretty much the same length of time. We’ve worked on a number of different projects together. But we’ve had more time literally interacting as actors on ‘The Ranch’ this time around than ever before. And it’s in a totally different world, a totally different format than either one of us has ever done before. … So, we’re both testing new waters, and I think on some level, that’s put us even closer together.”
‘Riding the storm’
As the husband-and-wife cohosts again stepped up to the podium Saturday night at the cowboy museum, Elliott wryly likened figuring out which side to stand on to his wife making up her mind which side of the bed to sleep on.
The quip earned several chuckles that turned to roars of laughter when Ross shot him a look many longmarried wives recognized — part exasperation and disapproval, mixed with barely contained amusement and adoration — even as he put his arm around her and grinning roguishly.
After nearly 34 years of marriage, the couple offered simple secrets to relationship longevity. “You just ride the roller coaster — and hang on tight,” Ross said with a laugh.
“I think the bottom line is you’ve gotta want to be married,” Elliott added. “You’ve got to be in love with whoever it is, and you’ve got to be willing to work at it because it’s definitely a two-way street. Once you figure that out, the rest of it is like Katharine said, it’s riding the storm, basically.”