After five decades in front of the screen, it goes without saying that Sam Elliott has witnessed some changes in how movies are made. Not everything is different, of course. Human nature, the need to memorize lines and act them out, and much more. “There are some constants that are never going to change”, he has said. Still, when asked what is the biggest change of all, Sam doesn’t hesitate to answer that it’s the technology.
“Changes that have been made in the technological world have revolutionized the movie business on almost every level,” Sam has said. It’s most obvious in the field of special effects, but it pervades every part of production of every kind of movie. From the guts of the camera to the size and placement of the microphone, to the tools available in the editing room. Everything has changed.
His Thoughts On Katharine’s Career
Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross have been married for well over three decades at this point, and after all these years they remain a source of inspiration and a model to all of us of a healthy happy successful marriage. It’s notable that at the beginning of their relationship, she was a huge star, with leading roles in The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid alongside Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Sam, by comparison, was a less well known character actor. But over they years, his career has grown while Katharine, though still a well known and successful actress, is not nearly as prominent in the business as she was then.
To explain his wife’s career trajectory, Sam has said that she is not as hungry for the roles as she should be, that she doesn’t “chase it” so to speak. He believes that she deserves bigger and better things in - Hollywood. An he’s certainly right about that.
Beef’s For Dinner
If you own a television, it’s pretty much a guarantee that you have been hearing Sam Elliot’s velvet baritone speaking to you for years, even if you haven’t seen his face. Among the notable voice-over work he has done is a series of ads for the beef industry over a number of years. If you recognize the tag line, “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner,” then you probably know Sam’s voice.
He agreed to do the ads as a way of helping out the hard-working ranchers and others in the industry. But he grew tired of the advertising agency’s increasingly demanding attitude and eventually moved on to greener pastures, so to speak.
Focusing On Each Day
Sam Elliott has never been one to dwell on the past. He is also not inclined to obsess about the future and what his legacy will be to future generations of movie watchers. Rather, he is a great believer of living in the present and giving due attention to whatever tasks are before him right now. It’s not only a healthy attitude, but also the one most likely to lead to the very legacy others would be so obsessed with.
“It’s hard work, but it’s a creative, artistic process,” Elliott has been known to say. “And if you can’t enjoy that, then you’re going about it wrong.” Hard to imagine a healthier attitude than that.
Mustache Wars
Sam Elliott and Tom Selleck have a lot in common. They started out in Hollywood together at the same time. They both have had careers closely linked with the Western genre. And of course they have two of the most prominent mustaches in Hollywood history. Not only does Sam get asked about his ‘stache all the time, but he even has to contend with the question of an alleged mustache rivalry between him and Tom. But is it true? And if it is, who’s the winner? You gotta hand it to Sam for even dignifying the question with an answer, and for keeping it diplomatic.
“I think it all depends on where we are at the time, you know? Right now I’ve got more of a mustache than Tom does, but I know he can grow one,” Elliott has said. But he couldn’t resist a tiny little nod to his own ego: “I don’t think he’s ever grown his out the way I’ve grown mine out over the years.”