--- name: "Katharine Ross" canonical: "https://film.one/person/katharine-ross" roles: ["Actor"] born: "29 January 1940" reviewed_on_fi1m: 3 average_fi1m_score: 84 average_as: "actor" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-20T05:12:36.979509+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Katharine Ross Actor. Born 29 January 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 29 January 1940, Los Angeles, California, USA - **Active:** 1967–2001 - **Also known as:** Katharine Juliet Ross, Katherine Ross - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as actor, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 85 (2), 2000s 83 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 84 to 79 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 3 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 3, Comedy 1, Crime 1, Fantasy 1, Mystery 1, Romance 1 - **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $215m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Ross, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q232837, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001684/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9594 ## Streaming the US now - **The Roku Channel:** [*The Graduate*](https://film.one/film/the-graduate.md) (86) - **Disney+:** [*Donnie Darko*](https://film.one/film/donnie-darko.md) (83) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Katharine Ross > Katharine Ross spent the best part of a decade being looked at by men in films and playing what she herself called The Girl. She was poised, quick and likeable in every one of them, and only occasionally handed anything more to do. In *The Graduate* (1967) the camera does to Katharine Ross what films would keep doing to her for years: it looks at her and does not ask what she thinks. Elaine Robinson is the girl Benjamin is told to take out and then decides he cannot live without, and Ross plays her bright, quick and likeable, with a way of watching a man talk as if waiting for him to say the true thing. Mike Nichols gives her almost nothing to do with it. Elaine is mostly a face Ben looks at, and Ross is so good at being looked at that it took us a second viewing to notice how little she had been given. She trained at the San Francisco Actors Workshop and came up through television westerns from 1962, with a film debut in *Shenandoah* (1965). After *The Graduate* the westerns had her back: Etta Place in *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid* (1969) and Lola in *Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here* (1969). The 1970s made her a lead, in *The Stepford Wives* (1975) and *Voyage of the Damned* (1976). From the 1990s she largely stopped, turning up now and then, as Dr Lilian Thurman in *Donnie Darko* (2001) and in *The Hero* (2017). She saw the pattern before anyone reviewed it. "I always play what I call The Girl. The nice straight character. Sincere. Usually the victim. I'm put upon. I suffer." That is a fair account of the parts and a slightly unfair one of the acting. What Ross does inside those parts is keep her intelligence in view while the plot treats her as furniture. The stillness reads as thought rather than blankness, and the reserve as a woman deciding how much of herself to spend on the men around her. It is not nothing. It is also not a great deal to build a career on, and some critics found her tentative in the larger roles, *The Stepford Wives* especially, where a lead is expected to bring a personality of her own and they felt she did not. On our last viewing of *The Graduate* we found we were sorrier for Elaine than for Ben, which cannot have been the intention. That is Ross's doing. When Ben has finished explaining himself she is still in the frame, taking it in, and the film cuts away before she can answer. We wanted to know what she would have said. Watch *The Graduate* for Anne Bancroft, as we have said before, and then watch Ross in the second half and count the lines she is given against the minutes she is on screen. Whether she would have done more with more is a question the films of the time never troubled to ask her. ## Biography Katharine Ross is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, California, she trained at the Actor's Workshop and began her career with television appearances in the early 1960s and a film debut in *Shenandoah* (1965). She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Elaine Robinson in *The Graduate* (1967) and won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress for performances in *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid* (1969) and *Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here* (1969). Other notable film roles include Joanna Eberhart in *The Stepford Wives* (1975) and Dr. Lilian Thurman in *Donnie Darko* (2001). She has also appeared in television series such as *The Colbys* and provided voice work for *American Dad!*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (3) - *Donnie Darko* (2001), Fi1m 83, as Dr. Lilian Thurman — [page](https://film.one/film/donnie-darko.md) - *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid* (1969), Fi1m 84, as Etta Place — [page](https://film.one/film/butch-cassidy-and-the-sundance-kid.md) - *The Graduate* (1967), Fi1m 86, as Elaine Robinson — [page](https://film.one/film/the-graduate.md) ## Complete filmography (62) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Attachments* (2019), as Eileen - *Hollywood: No Sex, Please!* (2018), Actor - *The Hero* (2017), as Valarie Hayden - *Wini + George* (2013), as Wini - *We Grew Wings* (2012), as Narrator (voice) - *Eye of the Dolphin* (2007), as Lucy - *American Dad!* (2005), series, as Angela (voice), Sickly Lady (voice) - *Don't Let Go* (2002), as Charlene Stevens - *Donnie Darko* (2001), as Dr. Lilian Thurman — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/donnie-darko.md) - *Home Before Dark* (1997), Actor - *A Climate for Killing* (1991), as Grace Hines - *Conagher* (1991), as Evie Teale · Teleplay - *Tattle: When to Tell on a Friend* (1988), as Maggie's Mother - *Houston: The Legend of Texas* (1986), as Susanne Dickinson (uncredited) - *Red Headed Stranger* (1986), as Laurie - *The Colbys* (1985), series, as Francesca Scott Colby Hamilton Langdon - *Reel Horror* (1985), as Miss Macy (archive footage) - *Secrets of a Mother and Daughter* (1983), as Ava Pryce - *Travis McGee* (1983), as Gretel Howard - *The Shadow Riders* (1982), as Kate Connery / Sister Katherine - *Wait Until Dark* (1982), as Suzy Hendrix - *Wrong Is Right* (1982), as Sally Blake - *Marian Rose White* (1982), as Nurse Bonnie MacNeil - *Murder in Texas* (1981), series, as Ann Kurth Hill - *Rodeo Girl* (1980), as Sammy Garrett - *The Final Countdown* (1980), as Laurel Scott - *Murder by Natural Causes* (1979), as Allison Sinclair - *The Legacy* (1978), as Margaret Walsh - *The Swarm* (1978), as Helena - *The Betsy* (1978), as Sally Hardeman - *Voyage of the Damned* (1976), as Mila Hauser - *Origins of the Mafia* (1976), series, as Rosa Mastrangelo - *Wanted: The Sundance Woman* (1976), as Etta Place - *The Stepford Wives* (1975), as Joanna Eberhart - *Chance and Violence* (1974), as Docteur Constance Weber - *They Only Kill Their Masters* (1972), as Kate Bingham - *ABC Afterschool Special* (1972), series, as Maggie's Mother - *Get to Know Your Rabbit* (1972), as Terrific-Looking Girl - *Fools* (1970), as Anais Appleton - *Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here* (1969), as Lola - *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid* (1969), as Etta Place — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/butch-cassidy-and-the-sundance-kid.md) - *Hellfighters* (1968), as Tish Buckman - *The Graduate* (1967), as Elaine Robinson — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/the-graduate.md) - *Games* (1967), as Jennifer Montgomery - *The Longest Hundred Miles* (1967), as Laura Huntington - *Mister Buddwing* (1966), as Janet - *The Singing Nun* (1966), as Nicole Arlien - *The Loner* (1965), series, Actor - *The Wild Wild West* (1965), series, Actor - *The Big Valley* (1965), series, as Maria - *Run for Your Life* (1965), series, as Laura Beaumont - *Shenandoah* (1965), as Mrs. Ann Anderson - *Kraft Suspense Theatre* (1963), series, as Janet Bollington - *Mr. Novak* (1963), series, as Mrs. Bellway - *Arrest and Trial* (1963), series, as Marietta Valera - *The Lieutenant* (1963), series, as Elizabeth Sharp - *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962), series, as Carol Brandt - *The Virginian* (1962), series, as Jenny Hendricks - *Sam Benedict* (1962), series, as Teresa Parrelli - *Ben Casey* (1961), series, Actor - *Wagon Train* (1957), series, as Bonnie Brooke - *Gunsmoke* (1955), series, as Susan, Liz Beaumont ## Gallery - ![Katharine Ross](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-a717094f7502.jpg) Katharine Ross — Fotofest, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Katharine_Ross_-_Buddwing.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Katharine Ross photographed in 1966](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-31333df24658.jpg) Katharine Ross photographed in 1966 — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Katharine_Ross_1966_photo_with_cat.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Katharine Ross in publicity photo for Games (1967)](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-727b9c01f527.jpg) Katharine Ross in publicity photo for Games (1967) — Universal Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Katharine_Rosse_in_%22Games%22_%281967%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![James Garner and Katharine Ross in Mr. Buddwing (1966)](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-c7f2d495d4f8.jpg) James Garner and Katharine Ross in Mr. Buddwing (1966) — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/James_Garner_and_Katharine_Ross_in_Mr._Buddwing.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Katharine Ross](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-3744bc844b64.jpg) Katharine Ross — Image via TMDB - ![Katharine Ross](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-9b8ea561e25a.jpg) Katharine Ross — Image via TMDB - ![Katharine Ross](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-e62a6b40ba59.jpg) Katharine Ross — Image via TMDB - ![Photo of Lee Majors and Katharine Ross from the television series The Big Valley. (1965)](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-96bbdcbf658e.jpg) Photo of Lee Majors and Katharine Ross from the television series The Big Valley. (1965) — ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Lee_Majors_Katharine_Ross_Big_Valley_1965.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Katharine Ross](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-cb4106dfd42d.jpg) Katharine Ross — Image via TMDB - ![Katharine Ross](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-68d05512f744.jpg) Katharine Ross — Image via TMDB - ![Katharine Ross](https://film.one/media/person/95315/gallery-0aed7dcbf857.jpg) Katharine Ross — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 1968: Best Supporting Actress (nominated), for *The Graduate* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/katharine-ross