Katharine Ross – 81

Katharine Ross rose to prominence after starring in Mike Nichols’ The Graduate. She then bolstered her career even further by starring in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Ross expertly navigated the film’s seriocomic tone as Etta Place, the woman in love with the character played by Robert Redford. Next, she and Redford co-starred in Abraham Polonsky’s period drama Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here. Again, Ross gave an excellent performance, although her role was possibly the least defined in the play.

Her award-winning supporting role as the daughter of Jewish refugees in Voyage of the Damned may have been her most memorable performance. Ross later acquired the regular role of the much-married socialite Francesca Scott Colby Hamilton on the ABC primetime serial opera The Colbys. Her shining days as a young woman have certainly passed her age, but her six-decade career investments are a victory in and of itself.