Sam Elliott was born in Texas, but spent his formative years growing up in Oregon, with The Oregonian noting that he moved there at age 13. Per The Oregonian, during a Q&A at the 2016 edition of the Television Critics Association press tour, he revealed he still felt a special connection to the state. “My mom’s house is still [in Portland], and we still own it,” Elliott said, referencing his late mother. “I still spend a lot of time there. I’ve got a place in the Willamette Valley, down near Eugene. I’m ultimately hoping to move back to Oregon.”
In fact, Elliott told Eugene’s Register-Guard that he and his wife spend a month each summer at their Eugene home, living the rest of the year at their home in Malibu. He also doubled down on his desire to eventually become a permanent resident of Oregon. “At some point, that’s the dream,” Elliott said. “I’ve always loved the Willamette Valley.”
Elliott likes to remain low-key in Eugene, but has been regularly spotted buying groceries and gardening supplies at local retailers. He’d also become an aficionado of a Eugene fish-and-chips establishment, revealing he’d eaten there “three times this week.” Elliott even accompanied his daughter to Eugene’s Saturday Market, where he went incognito by wearing a stocking cap, even though it was July, “so I looked just as weird as the rest of ’em,” he said. “I love the Saturday Market.”
