Happy 83rd Birthday to American actress KATHARINE ROSS (born Jan 29, 1940) who first came into prominence with her role in ‘The Graduate,’ for which she was nominated for an ‘Oscar.’
In 1969, she appeared in the Oscar-winning film ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ which again was a huge success. Her role in the horror thriller ‘The Stepford Wives’ also earned her critical acclaim.
Over the course of her career, she appeared in numerous TV shows, playing major as well as guest roles. Some of these shows include ‘The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,’ ‘Run for Your Life,’ and ‘The Road West.’
In 2017, she was seen in the American drama film ‘The Hero.’ Directed by Brett Haley, the film is about an aging actor dealing with a terminal illness. A multi-faceted personality, she is also a successful author.
She has written several books for children, such as ‘The Fuzzytail Friends’ Great Egg Hunt’ and ‘Grover, Grover, Come on Over!’
Her accolades include one Academy Award nomination, one BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. A native of Los Angeles, Ross spent most of her early life in the San Francisco Bay Area. After attending Santa Rosa Junior College for one year, Ross joined The Actors Workshop in San Francisco, and began appearing in theatrical productions.
Ross made her film debut in the Civil War-themed drama Shenandoah (1965), and had supporting parts in Mister Buddwing (1965) and The Singing Nun (1966) before being cast in Curtis Harrington’s Games (1967), a thriller co-starring James Caan and Simone Signoret.
At Signoret’s recommendation, Ross was cast as Elaine Robinson in Mike Nichols’ comedy-drama The Graduate (1967), which saw her receive significant critical acclaim, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA nomination, and Golden Globe win for New Star of the Year.
In 1968 Ross co-starred in the John Wayne movie Hellfighters playing his daughter Tish Buckman. She garnered further acclaim for her roles in two 1969 western films: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here, for both of which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress.
In the 1970s, Ross had a leading role in the horror film The Stepford Wives (1975), for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Actress, and won her second Golden Globe Award for her performance in the drama Voyage of the Damned (1976). Other roles during this period included in disaster film The Swarm (1978), the supernatural horror film The Legacy (1978), and the science fiction film The Final Countdown (1980).
Ross spent the majority of the 1980s appearing in a number of television films, including Murder in Texas (1981) and The Shadow Riders (1982), and later starred on the network series The Colbys from 1985 to 1987.
Ross spent the majority of the 1990s in semiretirement, though she returned to film with a supporting part in Richard Kelly’s cult film Donnie Darko (2001).
In 2016, she provided a voice role for the animated comedy series American Dad!, and in 2017 starred in the comedy-drama The Hero, opposite her husband, Sam Elliott.
The Graduate (1967)
What’s perhaps most striking about the ending of The Graduate now is how many movies we’ve seen since it was made that would stop right before it chooses to. Plenty of films traffic in a similar comedic tone, but still manage to end at a moment of apparent happiness without interrogating deeper. By giving us one more moment to sit with Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) and Elaine (Katharine Ross), Mike Nichols leaves us with something that sticks in our minds a lot longer than pure joy would have.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
The ending of Planet of the Apes—featuring a horrified Charlton Heston screaming at the ruins of the Statue of Liberty—is one of the most referenced, parodied, and commented on endings in all of cinema history. It’s so recognizable that you probably know what it is even if you haven’t seen the film, but it didn’t just reach that status because it’s a memorable image. It’s a payoff to a rather direct metaphor for a world gone mad that works almost as well today as it did amid the Cold War.