Katharine Ross and husband Sam Elliott were intimidated at the prospect of writing the movie adaptation of Louis L'Amour's "Conagher."
But not only did the couple write the script, they also star in the TNT movie about a restless cowboy and a pioneer widow who writes poetry she ties to tumbleweeds. (It airs tonight at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.)"Louis wanted us to do this," Ross said. "After Sam did `The Sacketts,' we met with Louis. He wanted us to do something else of his together and said he had a book with terrific roles for both of us. Sam had optioned it for several years, but he didn't buy the book until three months before Louis passed away."
The couple wrote the script with Jeffrey M. Meyer, who works principally as a wrangler and as Elliott's stand-in. Meyer also plays a small role in "Conagher."
"I think we were kind of intimidated at putting it into a screenplay," Ross said. "Jeffrey wrote the first draft. Sam thinks we then wrote three drafts, but I think it was five."
"It wasn't difficult to write. Louis is very detailed. We used several threads from the book, but there wasn't time for everything. There were some problems with my character. In the book, her thoughts were internal and a lot of it was about her perception of things."
But Ross added: "I'm prouder of that writing credit than any other credit I've gotten."
"Conagher" tells two separate stories that occasionally cross and finally merge at the end. One follows Evie Teale, played by Ross, who is left to face the open prairie with her two children when her husband is killed. The other follows Elliott's Conn Conagher, a wandering cowboy who becomes involved in a range war.
They first meet when she turns her home into a stage rest stop. Her notes on the tumbleweeds tie the two stories together.
"Conagher" is the first time Ross and Elliott have worked together in six years. They previously appeared in "The Shadow Riders," another Louis L'Amour story. They've also worked together in "The Legacy," "Houston: The Legend of Texas," "Murder in Texas" and "Travis McGee."
They both were in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" in 1969, but didn't meet at the time. She co-starred with Robert Redford and Paul Newman and he was billed as Card Player No. 2.