This Iconic Star of ‘The Graduate’ Is 83—Her Transformation Will Shock You

Katharine Juliet Ross went from being an unknown actress to a famous star overnight. She is best known for playing Elaine in *The Graduate* alongside Dustin Hoffman. Over the years, many people called her a Hollywood bombshell.

Ross has had a long and successful career in acting. However, her personal life has been quite different. She has been married five times. Luckily, her fifth marriage to the beloved actor Sam Elliott has turned out to be a happy one.

It’s been a while since Katharine Ross appeared on screen, but her life is about more than just acting. Even at 83, she is still a true beauty. Here’s everything you need to know about Katharine Ross and what she looks like today.

Katharine Ross took part in her school’s production of *The King and I* and decided she wanted to pursue acting seriously. However, after just one year, she dropped out of school. Instead, she applied to The Actors Workshop in San Francisco and moved into a small apartment above a grocery store.

### Katharine Ross – Early Life & Career

For three years, Ross worked hard to improve her acting skills. She eventually landed some small roles in television shows. Not only was she talented, but she also knew how to audition well.

“I was queen of the screen tests,” Ross told *Life Magazine* in 1968. “I made daily trips from San Francisco to Los Angeles and back in time for the Workshop’s curtain call. I played many different types of hit-and-run drivers: an innocent driver, a tough driver, and a wealthy, snobby teenage driver. On *Gunsmoke*, I played a sympathetic character with a clubfoot.”

While in college, Ross met her first husband, Joel Fabiani, and they married in 1960. He was the first of her five husbands, but more on that later.

The years after her marriage to Fabiani were important for Ross. She became known for her many roles in television Westerns, which suited her beauty perfectly.

However, even though it might sound like a dream to be cast in many shows, it wasn’t always easy for Katharine Ross. Like many young stars in the business, she faced exploitation and challenges. Simply put, it wasn’t all fun and games for young TV actors in the 1960s.

Getty Images

Katharine Ross shared a memory about auditioning for a film directed by Samuel Goldwyn Jr. called *The Young Lovers*. She was supposed to screen test with Peter Fonda, but he wasn’t available, so they brought in Chad Everett instead. He didn’t know the role was already filled, and he was giving it his all. Katharine didn’t have the heart to tell him. After several sessions with a hairdresser to get her look right, they ended up cutting all her hair off, and in the end, they cast someone else.

### Katharine Ross – Cast as Elaine in *The Graduate*

Ross reflected on the time, saying it was great because the old studio system was ending, and new styles of filmmaking were starting. Films with small budgets, like the one she auditioned for, were becoming popular. This shift eventually led to the indie film movement.

Katharine made her TV debut in an episode of *Sam Benedict* in 1962. Her first movie role was in *Shenandoah*, a Civil War film starring James Stewart, in 1965. The following year, she signed a deal with Universal Studios. While working on her first starring role in the film *Games*, director Mike Nichols noticed her talent.

He cast her in her most famous role: Elaine in *The Graduate*, alongside Dustin Hoffman.

Getty Images

“Dustin Hoffman was a New York stage actor. He looked like he had just rolled out from under a rock; he was so pale. He just wanted to get back to his off-Broadway play. Even though we eventually became friends, my first thought was, ‘Oh my God — this guy is dressed in black and looks like a ghost,’” Ross remembered in an interview with the *Houston Chronicle*.

She also mentioned that Gene Hackman, who was Dustin’s roommate at the time, was supposed to play her father but dropped out for some reason.

*The Graduate* became a classic, and Katharine became a star overnight. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year.

Getty Images

In 2017, Katharine Ross and Sam Elliott starred together in a movie called *The Hero*. In this film, Elliott played an aging Western film star, and Ross played his ex-wife. While the movie doesn’t reflect their real lives, it allows the couple to try new things together.

“I think we just like making movies, and having that creative experience together is the best,” Elliott told the *Los Angeles Times* in 2016.

Getty Images

“It’s just fun. It’s a whole different kind of energy to go home with someone you’re working with rather than go home to someone who isn’t working. It’s a totally positive experience,” he added.

Ross and Elliott split their time between their homes in California and Oregon. Earlier this year, they attended the Screen Actors Guild Awards together. Katharine has not acted in any films or television shows for several years.

However, she has become a successful author and has published several children’s novels.

After 6-year-old son passes away, parents find note he left them

I hope that when you’re reading this story you have some tissues to hand because you’re going to need them; I really cried real tears for this little boy and you will too!

This lovely little boy, called Leland Shoemake, wanted his mommy and daddy to have this lovely sweet message from him before his time came to leave this world.

At only the tender age of six-years-old this little boy died of his condition on September 25th, he was undergoing treatment for Balamuthia mandrillaris, a brain-eating amoeba.

His parents returned home without their son to find a note, it was special and it’s something that they will treasure and cherish for all their days!

Source: The Leland Shoemake Foundation

His mom was in his room, she was organizing and preparing for the funeral, it was Tim who found the note, it was in their living room in a place that he liked to draw and do art.

Time burst into tears as soon as he set his eyes on the note, he ran towards his wife, keen to show her the note he had found…

The note simply ready this:

“Still with you. Thank you, mom and dad. Love mom and dad.”

 Source: The Leland Shoemake Foundation

Amber said:

“To say I lost it was an understatement …We cried together for the longest time.”

Their little boy frequently wrote notes to them, and pictures too, but this one was really so much more special than any of the others, they decided to frame it and have it on the wall in the living room.

After 6-year-old son passes away, parents find note he left them

 Admin

PROMOTED CONTENT

Đá gà thomo 100% thưởng nạp lần đầu

More…

855

214285

Thưởng 100% nạp lần đầu tại Casino

More…

658

165219

I hope that when you’re reading this story you have some tissues to hand because you’re going to need them; I really cried real tears for this little boy and you will too!

This lovely little boy, called Leland Shoemake, wanted his mommy and daddy to have this lovely sweet message from him before his time came to leave this world.

At only the tender age of six-years-old this little boy died of his condition on September 25th, he was undergoing treatment for Balamuthia mandrillaris, a brain-eating amoeba.

His parents returned home without their son to find a note, it was special and it’s something that they will treasure and cherish for all their days!

Source: The Leland Shoemake Foundation

His mom was in his room, she was organizing and preparing for the funeral, it was Tim who found the note, it was in their living room in a place that he liked to draw and do art.

Time burst into tears as soon as he set his eyes on the note, he ran towards his wife, keen to show her the note he had found…

The note simply ready this:

“Still with you. Thank you, mom and dad. Love mom and dad.”

 Source: The Leland Shoemake Foundation

Amber said:

“To say I lost it was an understatement …We cried together for the longest time.”

Their little boy frequently wrote notes to them, and pictures too, but this one was really so much more special than any of the others, they decided to frame it and have it on the wall in the living room.

PROMOTED CONTENT

Đá gà thomo 100% thưởng nạp lần đầu

More…

648

162216

Thưởng 100% nạp lần đầu tại Casino

More…

71

1824

Source: The Leland Shoemake Foundation

Mom says in her Facebook past that Leland was a clever and very curious little boy!Amber wrote about him:

“He knew his abc’s, numbers, colors, shapes and 20 sight words by the time he was a year old. He was our little nerd and we loved that about him. He loved school and loved to learn. He loved the history channel, the weather channel, documentaries and anything about history …He had a hunger for learning.”

 Source: The Leland Shoemake Foundation

Leland wasn’t just a clever little boy, he also was really sociable too and enjoyed talking with his parents and other people too, every single person who came into contact with him recognized his lovely kind personality, his parents even made new friends because of him.

 Source: The Leland Shoemake Foundation

He was just a really lovely child, but taken way too soon, before he flourished!

This note he left behind, it was simply beautiful, something that everyone should see, words are really not enough to describe what it means to any parent to find something like this in these circumstances.

Amber said about Leland:

“He was our little nerd and we loved that about him. He loved school and loved to learn.”

“He loved the history channel, the weather channel, documentaries and anything about history.”

“He loved ships like the Titanic and learning about things like WWII. He was perfect. His favorite movie was jaws.”

“His favorite director was Steven Spielberg. And his favorite actor was Adam Sandler.”

“He loved his brother and his family so much. He was the life of every party. His smile could light up a city.”

“He was the smartest, most caring, loving little boy there ever was.”

This little boy will be sadly missed by all that knew him, his parents especially and we send our love and prayers to him!

Please SHARE this touching story with your friends and family.

https://web.facebook.com/LelandShoemakeFoundation/photos/a.519012848248738/521064258043597/?type=3&ref=embed_post

Related Posts

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*