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.

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.

“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.

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.

“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.