In the world of Hollywood, it’s rare to find any relationship that is able to stand the test of time. That’s what makes the relationship between actors Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross so special, as they have been together for over forty years!

Sam and Katherine first met back in 1978, when they starred in the film The Legacy.

Though both of them were already famous actors, they had never met prior to working on that film. However, Elliott has said that he had wanted to make contact with her a decade before when he had a bit part in her 1969 film Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, but he could not work up the nerve to talk to her.

“I didn’t dare try to talk to her then,” he said. “She was the leading lady. I was a shadow on the wall, a glorified extra in a bar scene.”

When Elliott and Ross finally did meet, they hit it off right away. After dating for six years, they got married in 1984.

For Ross, this was her fifth marriage, but this one was destined to last. The same year they got married, they had a daughter named Cleo Rose.

The couple say that they have managed to stay together this long by making it a priority to spend time with one another.

In 2017, the couple finally did a movie together called The Hero, and Ross said that working together was surprisingly easy.

“Sometimes that’s easier than real life,” she 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…”

“We have a common sensibility, but we also work at being together,” Elliott said of their relationship. “You work past the s–t; you don’t walk away from it. That’s how relationships last.”

“What makes a marriage work is a mutual love and a mutual respect,” he continued. “There are peaks and valleys like everything else, but you have to push on.”

Last month, Ross accompanied Elliott to the Academy Awards when he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in A Star Is Born. Decades before, Ross had been nominated for her work in The Graduate.

We hope that Ross and Elliott have many years of happiness together to come!