On February 26, 2023, Sam Elliott, then 78, won a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award which meant a lot for his career after being nominated for a Golden Globe and the Academy Awards. The “1883” actor went to the awards ceremony with his wife of 39 years.
Katharine Ross was by her husband’s side and emotional as they celebrated his big win. They’d arrived together and walked the red carpet as a couple before the ceremony began and Sam won his accolade for Outstanding Performance in a Television Movie or Limited Series for “1883.”
While giving an emotional acceptance speech, Ross’s husband revealed that the award was the “most meaningful acknowledgement” of his then 55-year acting career. He also thanked his fellow nominees, his co-stars, Taylor Sheridan, and to Ross he said.
“Thank you to my wife, my beautiful Katharine. My partner through thick and thin and the mother of our beautiful daughter.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 26: (L-R) Katharine Ross and Sam Elliott attend the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on February 26, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/WireImage)
Sam and Ross’s only child and daughter, Cleo Rose Elliott, celebrated her father’s win by taking to her Instagram Story. She uploaded a photo of her parents embracing at the awards while Ross looked up lovingly at her husband and wrote:
“Congratulations, dad!”
“The Big Lebowski” actor became a father late in life as his wife was close to 50 when she welcomed their daughter. He took the role of fatherhood so seriously that he made a big change in his life.
Why Did Sam Become Private after 45-Year-Old Katherine Made Him a Father?
In 2015, Sam revealed that he met his wife while they were both starring on “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” However, he shared that he didn’t have the guts to talk to her then because she was the leading lady in the movie.He felt he wasn’t worthy as he was just an extra who appeared in a bar scene. The pair had another chance to meet in 1978 when they featured on “The Legacy” and interacted for the first time and realized they had a “common sensibility.”
In 2017, Ross revealed that Sam spent most of his youth in Sacramento while she grew up in Walnut Creek. It was ironic to the actress that they were less than 80 miles away from each other but only met in London while shooting “The Legacy.”
Actors Katharine Ross, Sam Elliott, and daughter Cleo Elliott attend the Moscow Circus Opening on March 14, 1990 at Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
“The Graduate” actress and her husband ended up living a private life together on three acres of land for decades. According to a 1986 article, Sam was devoted to his wife and by that year they had Cleo, then two, when Ross was 45.
Cleo [Rose Elliott] had always thought of herself as a singer and shared how both her parents [Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross] always encouraged her goal of becoming a musician.
He was 40 when he got married and had his first and only child. When Cleo was a baby, Ross was starring on “The Colbys” and her father refused to take on series work because neither he nor his wife wanted their daughter to be raised by someone else.
Katherine Ross and Sam Elliott during the “Barnyard” world premiere in Hollywood, California, on July 30, 2006 | Source: Getty Images
By 2023, the couple’s daughter was now a grown up who looked a lot like her mother. She and Sam built a tight bond that has carried them through the years and are very supportive of one another.
How Does Sam and His Daughter Look and Live Nowadays?
In 2003, Cleo was 18 and talking about wanting a career as a musician and Sam said he’d support her because how couldn’t he? Ross also felt the same way but Cleo’s father also noted how being an actor gave him insight into what she’d come against and it wasn’t necessarily positive.
In 2008, it was revealed that the stars’ daughter learned to play some guitar and the flute in school as an only child. Cleo had always thought of herself as a singer and shared how both her parents always encouraged her goal of becoming a musician.
By 2017, Sam’s daughter was 32 and had been able to realize her dream of becoming a successful artist. Ross’s husband confessed that he really loved being with his daughter and it didn’t matter what they were doing at the time.
However, he said he particularly enjoyed taking walks with his daughter along the beach close to his Malibu home. The father-daughter pair would go searching for rocks together, with him stating this about being a father:
“I have one daughter, who I love more than anyone in the world. And that’s where my world is.”
Sam also confessed that being a father was something that he cherished and that it was more fulfilling for him than anything else in his life. The actor, whose only been married once in his life, said the role of fatherhood completed him despite his daughter being an adult who was turning 38 in September 2023.
Cleo and her father have both aged well as seen in their most recent photos. One of their images together was taken in 2007 at a premiere of a movie, in 2017 they appeared again together at the premiere of “The Hero,” and in February 2023, the singer shared her latest look on her Instagram account.