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.
Science Shows That Women Sleep Better Next To Dogs Than Men
It’s a no-brainer that sleep is vital for one’s health. That is why so many researchers study the best way to get good quality shut-eye. However, forget chamomile tea and meditating before bed. According to new research, women sleep better next to dogs. That’s right; Canisius College in New York State conducted a study that found that canines make better-sleeping partners than humans or cats.
“We found that women commonly rate dogs as better bed partners than cats and human partners and report that their dogs enhance their sleep quality,” Christy Hoffman, Ph.D., animal behaviorist and lead researcher of the study.
Research Finds that Women Sleep Better Next to Dogs
Hoffman surveyed almost one thousand women living in the United States to come to these findings. The results showed that 55% of the participants shared their bed with at least one dog and 31% with at least one cat. Also, 57% of these women shared a bed with a human partner, while the rest did not. [1]
Hoffman also discovered why dogs seemed to make the best bed companions. The first reason is that dogs’ sleeping patterns, as opposed to cats, more closely resemble those of humans.
“The difference between dogs and cats is not surprising because dogs’ major sleep periods tend to coincide more closely with humans’ than do cats,’” said Hoffman.
However, while there may be benefits of these similar sleeping patterns, more research is needed to know for certain. But Hoffman has some ideas of how this could work.
“In comparison to human bed partners, dogs may be better at accommodating their human’s sleep schedule,” she said. “It’s not uncommon for human bed partners to go to bed at very different times and wake up at very different times. Such differences in partners’ schedules can certainly disrupt sleep. It may be that dog bed partners adapt more readily to their owner’s schedule than do human bed partners.”
Moreover, dogs require certain schedules and responsibilities, such as a morning walk. This kind of regime helps their owners maintain a routine, improving sleep quality as a result.
Stillness and Security
Additionally, dogs tend to stay stiff as they sleep. Anyone who’s slept with a fidgety partner knows how disruptive they could be. However, women in the study reported that their dogs stayed on the bed most of the night instead of felines, who tended to come and go.
“This suggests that cats may be more likely than dogs to create disruptions by moving on and off the bed during the night. In addition, we found that dog owners kept to more consistent bedtime and wake time schedules than cat owners and also tended to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier than cat owners,” Hoffman said.
Here’s the third and most important reason: Canines provide a sense of security to their owners. More so than with cats or even human partners.
“Some dog owners may take comfort in the thought that their dog will alert them in the case of an intruder or other type of emergency; furthermore, a dog’s bark may deter a potential intruder. A cat is less likely to take on this role, and so, may not provide psychological comfort in the same way a dog might,” said Hoffman.
The Best Partner for Quality Sleep
However, while the study suggests that dogs are the perfect slumber buddies, their benefits are subjective to each case. For example, a dog could snore or make the bed too hot. Additionally, there are many owners who find that their cats help them sleep.
Keep in mind that the research was based on how the volunteers perceive their pets’ effects on their sleeping quality and duration. As a result, more objective research is needed to definitively consider dogs the superior sleeping partners. However, Hoffman believes that these studies could be beneficial as many American households have pets.
“It will be valuable to continue this line of research so we can develop a clearer picture of the contexts under which pets and their presence in their owner’s bed may positively impact sleep quality, and the contexts under which co-sleeping with a pet may be detrimental to one’s sleep quality,” she said.
For instance, research has also shown that women sleep better while alone than with a human, but many believe in the opposite. Future research could use Fitbit-like devices to objectively track the sleep quality of people in different sleeping conditions.
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