Katharine Ross Played Elaine in "The Graduate." See Her Now at 82. — Best Life (2025)

FAQs

Did Elaine get married in The Graduate? ›

She tells Benjamin that he cannot prevent Elaine's marriage to Carl. Benjamin flees and drives over 300 miles back to Berkeley. There, he discovers the wedding is in Santa Barbara that day.

Has remained good friends with Dustin Hoffman, her co-star from The Graduate (1967).

The bittersweet tune of Simon & Garfunkel's “The Sound of Silence” kicks in on the soundtrack as Ben and Elaine ponder their future together. While Ben ends up with his true love and Elaine escapes her arranged marriage to Carl, The Graduate's final scene is not necessarily a “happily ever after” ending.

A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter. During a party given by his parents to celebrate his graduation, Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) is seduced by Mrs. Robinson (Bancroft), the wife of one of his father's closest friends.

Ben at first has no particular aspirations, but when he goes on his date with Elaine, he realizes that he is in love with her. His relationship with Mrs. Robinson, however, makes any hope for a long term relationship with Elaine little more than a pipe dream.

It's open to each viewer's own interpretation, but the most obvious reason is that she thinks Ben, her lover, isn't good enough for Elaine, i.e., she doesn't want her daughter to marry a man who sleeps with married women. Some viewers have suggested that she was jealous and wanted Ben all to herself.

Semi-retirement and comeback

Ross dropped out of Hollywood for a while after marrying cinematographer Conrad Hall. She occasionally acted, appearing in Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972), They Only Kill Their Masters (1972), which reunited her with James Garner, and Chance and Violence (1974) with Yves Montand.

Although the two men have known each other for years and are "very good friends," said Hoffman, "when De Niro came out, I was wondering if he was doing it for one of the other honorees."

Finally, while the audience would expect that at the end of the film Ben is elated because of his gleeful facial expression, what we see is that he feels unfree as his face turns into a 'what now' look. If having positive freedom is what sets you free, then he should be excited, delighted, and overjoyed. But he isn't.

The melancholy of The Graduate's ending isn't just about the immediate future or the consequences of a very impulsive act, but for all that they've gained in abandoning that church ceremony — which, to be cynical, wasn't a lot — Elaine and Benjamin fed into the destructive cycles of not only their own lives but the ...

Why does Summer cry at the end of The Graduate? ›

I think that Summer was crying because The Graduate is a very sad movie. We see that Summer cares for Tom, but not always. She does things that she wants and sometimes doesn't think about Tom and his feelings. After the movie she's tries to escape but Tom presses her and doesn't let her go.

Robert Redford screen tested with Candice Bergen for the part of Benjamin Braddock, but he was finally rejected by director Mike Nichols. Nichols did not believe Redford could persuasively project the underdog qualities necessary to the role.

The Graduate, American dark comedy film, released in 1967, that made Dustin Hoffman a star and featured a hit sound track by the singing duo Simon and Garfunkel. The film's groundbreaking portrayal of postgraduate malaise and the alienation of the generation then coming of age made it an unexpected hit.

Webb was only 24 when his most famous book was published, in 1963. The sparely written narrative was based closely on his years growing up comfortably in Southern California, his studies in history and literature at Williams College in Massachusetts and his disorienting return home.

Elaine「エレイン」 is the younger sister of the Fairy King Harlequin, the wife of Ban, mother of Lancelot, and the queen of Benwick. Initially tasked to guard the Fountain of Youth, her encounter with Ban led them to grow mutual feelings for each other, even after the destruction of Fairy King's Forest and her own death.

Robinson was forced into an unhappy marriage because of the pregnancy. Her over-protection of her daughter came from her wish to prevent those same mistakes being made, especially with her own paramour. While Elaine is not pregnant, she does end up making an extremely impulsive decision with someone she's barely dated.

The final shot evokes the sudden realisation that Benjamin and Elaine haven't taken long to realise there are going to be consequences for their actions, and there's no guarantee they'll be happy together. Sure, it made for a fist-pumping third act finale, but happily ever after certainly isn't written on their faces.

Benjamin is likely one of the first men in Elaine's life to sincerely listen to what she says. Him actually paying attention to her and knowing that she wants more than a conventional life, I think, is what ultimately draws her into his arms. He sees her, not her parents' version of her.