ELLIOTT, SAM

(1944– )

   A main stay in television Westerns since the 1970s, Sam Elliott has played in several late-20th-century Westerns, including Molly and Lawless John (1972), opposite Vera Miles, and The Desperate Trail (1995). His best acting, however, is probably displayed in his role as Virgil Earp in Tombstone (1993). Elliott is married to Katharine Ross, who starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) —in which Elliott had a very small role. Sam Elliott has been the quintessential image of the American cowboy so much so that he even played the Marlboro Man in the comedy Thank You for Smoking (2005).

   See also THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.