Don't you just love all these romantic and sappy stories? I sure hope so because here are a few more!!
Bogart and Bacall married in 1945, when she was twenty and he was forty-five. They married quietly at a friends home and stayed married until his death in 1957. Although their relationship began as an affair, once married they were one of the most admired couples in Hollywood. Their love story even inspired a song by Bertie Higgins called "Key Largo". And although their age difference did bring some normal strain to their marriage it was indeed a successful one.
Newman and Woodward first met in 1953 but didn't pursue a relationship until after his divorce from his first wife, Jackie. They had three daughters together and lived away from the Hollywood limelight. Perhaps that was one of the reasons their romance lasted for fifty years! Their marriage had its imperfections and even endured an affair, but they stuck by one another. That is something most people do not do in Hollywood today, nor does the rest of the world. Sometimes you have to stick around and go through the hard times in order to enjoy all the good.
Kirk Douglas and Anne Buydens
The film that brought Douglas and Buydens (A film producer) together was Anatole Litvak's "GI Love Story, Act of Love". Kirk poured on the charm, but said that, "I hit a wall." The first time he asked her out, "She said no, she was going to have some scrambled eggs and go to bed. I'd never been insulted so politely." Buydens didn't want to be just another one night stand but eventually they found a mutual love and respect for one another and after three weeks were married in May 1954. Buydens played her cards right because she stuck to her own moral code and didn't settle. Fifty-eight years later they are still happily married!
Cagney married a dancer named Frances Willard "Billie" Vernon in 1922, with who he remained with his entire life. Sounds simple enough huh? Not in Hollywood though! I found this completely endearing and refreshing and I had no idea Cagney was such a private man. And for Hollywood standards to be married only once until the end of your days is just simply unheard of! They adopted two children and lived their lives quietly and very privately in upstate New York. Now that is a "Yankee Doodle Love Story" if I ever heard one!
Ricardo Montalban and Georgiana Belzer (Young)
When you think of man from a Spanish speaking country, you figure he is the "Latin Lover" type and has women all over the place. Here comes Montalban to break that stereotype with sixty-three years of love and devotion. Now that's what I call romantic! Imagine being with the person you love and are in love with for sixty-three years!??! I think that is a really accomplishment especially nowadays! Beltzer was the younger sister of Loretta Young and was a model and actress for a brief time. They married in 1944 and had four beautiful children together. Who says two people cannot make it work with a demanding career, children, and bills to pay? They did and did so beautiful until their passing-fourteen months apart from one another.
I am sure you have noticed some of the Hollywood couples I chose were not all married to Hollywood actors but I also wanted to select people who you might not have heard of or their love stories.
Honorable mentions include; Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Karl Malden and Mona Greenberg, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards.
It's defiantly worth looking up more Hollywood love stories online but I hope you enjoyed this little peek into the Epic Love Stories of Classic Hollywood!!
xox
PS Many of the couples I wrote about did have children, I just didn't include that information on all the little bios about them :)
awe... that first picture of bogart and bacall is so cute!
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