I’m sure that you would agree that it would be difficult to be a Hollywood celebrity and have your relationship in the public eye. It’s little wonder that many of those relationships tend to fall apart. Believe it or not, there are times when the fans are already aware of the issue because of the paparazzi long before the celebrities in the relationship are aware of it. Then again, there are those who break all of the rules and seem to stay together through thick and thin.
One example of a long-term Hollywood romance is Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross. Believe it or not, they have been together for four decades and it seems as if they are still going strong! When you stop to think about how many of the relationships tend to fall apart in Hollywood, they really are a couple that is worthy of copying.
Elliott, 74 and Ross, 79 were already famous in Hollywood independently before they met. It was on the set of The Legacy, shot in London where they met in 1978.
In 1978, Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross played lovers in the movie The Legacy and strange things began happening.
Even though they had not met before, Elliott does admit that he has come across her prior to that time. It was when he played in Butch Cassidy almost 10 years prior to that time. The actor was shy and he didn’t want to approach her but he apparently said: “I didn’t dare try to talk to her then. She was the leading lady. I was a shadow on the wall, a glorified extra in a bar scene.”
Ross is five years older than Elliott and when they met, she was married to her fourth husband. He was a bachelor up until that time. She divorced her spouse in 1979 and eventually married Elliott in 1984. They have one daughter together, Cleo Rose.
It can be difficult to find time between projects but Elliott said it was very important for their relationship. In fact, he almost skipped out on his breakaway role in the movie Mask with Cher because he was on his honeymoon in Hawaii.
Elliott told them he wouldn’t leave his vacation with Ross to try out for the role but she called his agent and said she would get him back in time for it.
Daughter Cleo Rose with her parents when she was six years old. She is now a singer and posted that picture to Instagram, saying: “My mom and I have a joke that we’re always talking when pictures are taken”
That couple is still together and doing fine. They even did another film together, The Hero, in 2017. Ross plays the ex-wife of an aging Western film icon.
These types of joint projects are really good for the relationship they feel: “Sometimes that’s easier than real life,” Katharine said. “You’re [sic] got a script. You’ve got a part. You’ve got your creative juices flowing together. It’s not about the dirty dishes in the sink or whether you’ve picked something up at the laundry…”
Staying together is not always easy for a high profile celebrity couple. Elliott takes it in stride, however, saying: “We have a common sensibility, but we also work at being together. You work past the s–t; you don’t walk away from it. That’s how relationships last.”
Elliott, Ross and Cleo Rose in Malibu, California
“What makes a marriage work is a mutual love and a mutual respect. There are peaks and valleys like everything else, but you have to push on,” Elliott told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Elliott was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for a Star Is Born at the 91st Academy Awards
