Katharine Juliet Ross was born on January 29, 1940, in Hollywood, California, to Katherine (née Hall) and Dudley Tying Ross. Her father, a commander in the US Navy, had also worked as a reporter for the Associated Press, and his navy career led the family to move around, settling in Walnut Creek, outside of San Francisco, where Ross grew up.
Ross graduated from Las Lomas High School in 1957 and attended Santa Rosa Junior College and Diablo Valley College, where she participated in her first on-screen work in a student film. She moved to San Francisco, living above a grocery store, and began her acting career as an understudy in Actor's Workshop productions, eventually auditioning for roles.
Ross's career started with steady work, mainly in television westerns, which would become a significant part of her best-known work. Her natural beauty was a strong asset in the genre. She made her TV debut in an episode of Sam Benedict in 1962 and her first film role in the Civil War era Shenandoah in 1965, starring James Stewart.
Ross's career as a leading actress began in earnest in 1967, with her strong turn co-starring with James Caan and Simone Signoret in Games and with The Graduate. Her performance as Elaine earned her a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. A disappointing, formulaic John Wayne vehicle, Hellfighters, followed, but she soon returned to form with two films with Robert Redford.
As Etta Place in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Ross was part of the most memorable scene from that hit film, precariously perched barefoot on the bumper of a bicycle as Paul Newman's Butch Cassidy takes her for a ride. The compelling Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here was less of a box office success but more highly regarded by critics, and Ross won a BAFTA Award for her work as Lola, a Paiute Indian who flees with her boyfriend after he kills her father in self-defense.
Swept up in a whirlwind of fame, widely idealized as the symbol of beauty for the Woodstock generation, Ross had accomplished so much so quickly that it seemed her entire career had happened almost all at once, in that frenzy of activity between 1967 and 1969. However, there followed a long dry spell in which she was mostly cast in forgettable roles.
In The Stepford Wives, an intriguing black comedy-cum-horror film, Ross plays an independent, free-spirited wife newly relocated to a suburb where the other wives all seem to be just a little too perfect, too submissive. It was arguably her strongest performance to date, but Stepford Wives would prove to be but a temporary resurgence for Ross, and her work in the decade and a half to follow would include such star-studded duds as The Betsy and a return to TV, including a part in primetime soap opera The Colbys.
Along the way, however, Ross found love. After four failed marriages, she met her current husband Sam Elliott while working on The Legacy in 1978. They married in May 1984, and that September, just four months short of her 45th birthday, Ross gave birth to a daughter, Cleo Rose.
In 1991, Ross and Elliott adapted the Louis L'Amour novel, Conagher, for television in a remarkably affecting Western tale which showcases both actors' remarkable talents. Ross continues to take roles on occasion, and her work is strong, something that was sometimes overlooked in her youth due to her famous beauty. For instance, Ross turned up in Donnie Darko in 2001, in a solid performance as Donnie's psychiatrist.
Ross and Elliott live on their ranchito in Malibu.
