Hollywood Legends That Looked Beyond Glamorous on Their Wedding Day
Hollywood Legends That Looked Beyond Glamorous on Their Wedding Day
Hollywood has produced some of the greatest love stories of all time — and not just the ones on-screen, although many of them certainly started that way. From romances that burned hot but fizzled out quickly to rare everlasting matrimonies, and even two couples who married each other twice, Hollywood has no shortage of lovestruck stars.
1921: Buster Keaton won't drop his famous deadpan gaze on his wedding day
Silent-film actor and director Buster Keaton married his first wife, Natalie Talmadge, on May 31. She had acted alongside him in Our Hospitality, a silent film he also had directed. The couple divorced in 1932, and Keaton went on to marry twice more.
1933: John Wayne saddles up with his first bride
Before he became the star of a slew of Westerns, John Wayne met his first wife, Josephine Saenz, the daughter of the Consul General of Panama in the U.S. After years of dating, they married on June 24, 1933, when Wayne was 26, and had four children. They divorced in 1945.
1934: Rising star Ginger Rogers marries actor Lew Ayres in his prime
Ginger Rogers and Lew Ayres met while both acting in the movie Don't Bet on Love in 1933. They sealed the deal on November 14 but separated after less than two years. Four years later, in 1940, Rogers finalized the divorce.
1937: Ingrid Bergman wears a fantastic headdress in her first wedding
Swedish-born actor Ingrid Bergman married her first husband, then a dentist and later a neurosurgeon Dr. Petter Lindstrom, who was eight years her senior, on July 10, 1937. In 1950, they divorced after Bergman left him for an affair with Roberto Rossellini, the director of a movie she acted in, Stromboli. She married Rossellini and later remarried another.
1939: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard announce their elopement
The Hollywood heavy hitters met on the set of No Man of Her Own in 1933 and managed to evade the press on their wedding day by eloping in 1939. Here, they pose after announcing their marriage to the public. The couple was married until Lombard's tragic death in a plane crash in 1942.
1940: Ronald Reagan had a wife and life before his presidency
Ronald Reagan and his first wife, actress Jane Wyman, got married two years after working together on the film Brother Rat in 1938. On January 25, 1940, they married in Glendale, California. They divorced in 1949, allegedly due to political ambitions and differences.
1942: Barely legal Norma Jean marries the boy next-door before she becomes Marilyn Monroe
Just after her 16th birthday, then Norma Jean married James Dougherty, 21, the neighbor of her foster family, on June 19, 1942, in Los Angeles. The marriage was one of convenience: It meant that Norma Jean could stay out of foster care and the orphanage. They divorced in 1946 so Norma Jean could pursue movie stardom and eventually become Marilyn Monroe.
1942: Cary Grant weds American heiress Barbara Hutton
Hollywood's leading man met Barbara Hutton, the heiress to the Woolworth fortune, in California during World War II, as they were both promoting the purchase of war bonds. They got married in 1942 and were dubbed "Cash and Cary" by the press. The couple divorced three years later in 1945.
1943: Orson Welles whisks Rita Hayworth off to the marriage license desk
In 1943, Orson Welles was producing and acting in The Mercury Wonder Show, an onstage production for soldiers, which also starred Rita Hayworth. She had two younger brothers who served in World War II. On September 7, when she was 25 and he 28, the two ran off to the marriage license bureau in Santa Monica, California, just prior to their wedding on September 7, 1943. They divorced in 1947. Welles was Hayworth's second of five husbands.
1944: Bill Robinson plants a kiss on his new wife, Elaine Plaines
Famous entertainer and tap dancer, Bill Robinson (known as Bojangles), met Elaine Plaines shortly after his divorce from his second wife, Fannie Clay. Robinson and Plaines wed in January 1944 and were married until his death in 1949.
1945: Humphrey Bogart nabs babe Lauren Bacall on the set of her first movie
Humphrey Bogart met Lauren Bacall on the set of To Have and Have Not in 1944. It was her first on-screen acting role. Bogart was 25 years older than Bacall, then just 19. They married on May 21, 1945, at the home of novelist Louis Bromfeld, Malabar Farm, in Mansfield, Ohio. Bogart had finalized his divorce just 10 days earlier. The couple starred opposite each other in four movies and in numerous TV shows. They remained together until Bogart’s death in 1957.
1945: Bette Davis and her third husband lock arms in a champagne toast
Bette Davis took her third husband, artist and masseur William Grant Sherry, on November 30. They had one daughter together, Barbara, who was Davis's only biological child (Bette would go on to adopt two children with her fourth and final husband). Sherry and Davis divorced in 1950.
1945: Judy Garland takes the director of 'Meet Me in St. Louis' for her second husband
Vincent Minnelli was the director of Meet Me in St. Louis, one of Judy Garland's most famous films. They later married on June 15, 1945, just after her 23rd birthday, and had a daughter, Liza, together. In 1951, they divorced.
1945: Teenaged Shirley Temple marries an Air Force sergeant in wartime
On September 19, 1945, 17-year-old Shirley Temple married John Agar, an Air Force sergeant who was given exceptional leave for the ceremony. The two celebrated their wedding reception at Temple's home. They divorced five years later, and Temple remarried just once more.
1947: Josephine Baker weds Jo Bouillon at her French chateau
The American-born French entertainer said "I do" to composer Jo Bouillon in a small ceremony in the chapel of her French chateau, Les Milandes. It was Baker's fourth marriage and the couple was together until 1961, during which time they adopted 12 children together, known as "the rainbow tribe."
1947: Carmen Miranda falls in love with a producer on set
The Portuguese-born entertainer traded in her iconic headdresses for a veil in 1947, when she wed Hollywood producer David Sebastian. The couple met on the set of Copacabana and tied the knot shortly after. They were married until she died in 1955.
1948: Nat King Cole marries a fellow jazz musician
Famed jazz singer Nat King Cole met Maria Hawkins Ellington when she was working as a singer in Duke Ellington's band. The couple tied the knot in Harlem, New York City on Easter Sunday — just a week after Cole's divorce from his first marriage was finalized.
1949: Hollywood bachelor Jimmy Stewart weds American socialite
Jimmy Stewart was known as Hollywood's proverbial bachelor until he traded in his lifestyle for socialite Gloria Hatrick McLean. The leading man wed McLean in Los Angeles at Brentwood Presbyterian Church in 1949. The couple remained married until McLean's death in 1994.
1949: Angela Lansbury's second husband lasts a lifetime
English-born actress Angela Lansbury met her second and final husband, Peter Shaw, at a party held by fellow actor Hurd Hatfield in 1946. After first moving in together, they married on August 12, 1949, at the Chapel of St. Columba's Church House in Lennox Gardens, Kensington, London. The duo had two children and stayed together until Shaw's death in 2003, making them one of the longest-lasting husband-and-wife pairs in Hollywood history.
1949: Actress Rita Hayworth marries into royalty
Hollywood film star Rita Hayworth met Prince Aly Khan while visiting the French Rivera. The couple wed shortly after in 1949 in the South of France, naturally. Here, they cut the cake with a sword on their wedding day. They had one child together, a daughter and were married until 1953.
1951: Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner smoosh faces for the camera
Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner were one of Hollywood's most famous couples. They met at the height of Gardner's career and the downturn of Sinatra's, then held their double ring ceremony in Germantown, Pennsylvania, on November 7, 1951. After a rocky relationship, they divorced in 1957, though they separated as early as 1954. Though Gardner had many relationships after, she never remarried. Sinatra married two more times.
1954: Audrey Hepburn holds the hand of her first husband, Mel Ferrer
In a dress designed by Balmain, Audrey Hepburn, then 25, married Mel Ferrer, 37, in Bürgenstock, Switzerland. They met at a cocktail party hosted by Hepburn's Roman Holiday costar Gregory Peck. The couple had a son together and then divorced in 1968. Hepburn remarried just once more.
1955: Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher's drama takes the cake
Debbie Reynolds met her first husband, singer Eddie Fisher, overseas while both A-listers were performing for the troops during the Korean War. They married in Liberty, New York on September 26 and had two children together, including actress Carrie Fisher. But Fisher left Reynolds to marry Elizabeth Taylor, whom she was close friends with at the time, in one of Hollywood's most scandalous love triangles. The couple divorced in 1959, and Reynolds married twice more.
1955: Joan Crawford ditches actors and marries a business tycoon
On May 10, Joan Crawford, 47, married her fourth and final husband, Alfred N. Steele, 54, a soft-drink tycoon. He was a deviation for Crawford, whose previous three husbands were actors. Steele and Crawford met at a party in 1950. The couple remained married until Steele died of a heart attack in 1959.
1955: Rock Hudson's short, one-and-only marriage before he comes out 30 years later
On November 9, actor Rock Hudson, 29, married Phyllis Gates, 26, who was the secretary of his agent. But Gates filed for divorce in April 1958, citing mental cruelty. Neither remarried. It wasn't until 1985 that Hudson came out as a gay man when he simultaneously shared his AIDS diagnosis.
1956: Willie Mays hits a home run with his bride, Margherite Wendell Chapman
New York Giants outfielder Willie Mays shows the press the wedding ring of his blushing bride, Margherite Wendell Chapman. The couple got married in 1956 and welcomed one son together, but sadly divorced in 1961.
1956: On-screen angel Grace Kelly becomes a real princess
Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco met at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. On April 19, 1956, the Philadelphia-born actress, in a dress designed by Helen Rose, married the prince at the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas. They had three children and remained married until she died in 1982.
1957: Henry Fonda flies to Italy for 'War and Peace' and snags a bride
On March 9 in his Upper East Side Manhattan apartment, Henry Fonda, 51, took his fourth but not last wife, Italian Baroness Afdera Franchetti, then 23. Fewer than 12 people, including Fonda's daughter and son, attended the ceremony. Fonda met Franchetti through Audrey Hepburn, with whom he was filming War and Peace in Italy. The couple divorced in 1961.
1957: Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner begin and end their married life with each other
A year after going on a studio-arranged date, Natalie Wood married Richard Wagner on December 28 in Scottsdale, Arizona. They divorced in April 1962, and Wood married someone else, British producer Richard Gregson. But after divorcing him, Wood remarried Wagner on July 16, 1972, and they stayed together until she died in 1981.
1958: Paul Newman turns his on-screen romance into a lifelong real love
After ending a previous 10-year marriage, Paul Newman, then 33, tied the knot with actress Joanne Woodward, 27, on January 29 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A romance between the two began when they costarred in The Long, Hot Summer. They remained together until he died in 2008.
1957: Marlon Brando's first marriage doesn't last long
On October 11, Marlon Brando, 33, wed Anna Kashfi, 23, an Indian actress, in Eagle Rock, California. They married at the home of Brando's aunt, Mrs. Betty Lindmeyer. They divorced in 1959, after having a son together.
1959: Julie Andrews weds her childhood sweetheart
Set designer Anthony Walton first saw Julie Andrews when she was 13 and acting as the egg in a production of Humpty Dumpty at the London Casino. They became childhood sweethearts and later married at St. Mary's Church in Surrey on May 11, 1959. They divorced in 1967, after having a daughter, Emma, but have remained close.
1959: Dorothy Dandridge marries wealthy hotel owner, Jack Denison
Hollywood actress Dorothy Dandridge met Las Vegas hotel owner Jack Denison after she ended her longtime affair with director Otto Preminger. The two married in June 1959 and were together until 1962.
1959: Brigitte Bardot marries the only man she had a child with
Brigitte Bardot, 23, took her second husband, actor Jacques Charrier, also 23, on June 18. They celebrated in the garden of her wealthy parents' villa, following a marriage ceremony at the Louveciennes City Hall led by the mayor. The fathers of both movie stars acted as witnesses. The couple divorced in 1962, after Bardot birthed their son, Nicholas. She would marry twice more but never had more children.
1960: Eartha Kitt says 'I do' in her home to William McDonald
Eartha Kitt exchanged vows with real estate executive William McDonald in an intimate ceremony at her home. The singer wore a custom satin shirtdress and matching hat. The couple were married for four years and had one daughter together before their separation in 1964.
1960: Sammy Davis Jr. and May Britt's nuptials face racial backlash
Sammy Davis Jr. met Swedish actress May Britt on the lot of 20th Century Fox. The couple married on June 6, 1960, which garnered a lot of attention, as interracial marriages were not common at the time. Despite the public discourse surrounding their union, the couple was married for eight years before divorcing in 1968.
1964: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton marry (for the first time)
After meeting on the set of Cleopatra and commencing a paparazzi-ravaged relationship, Elizabeth Taylor and Welsh actor Richard Burton tied the knot in Montreal, Canada, on March 15. The in-love stars made a whopping 11 movies together before divorcing in June 1974. But their story wasn't quite finished, because they remarried again in October 1975, in Botswana. The flame flickered out eventually, however: The couple divorced a second time in July 1976.
1965: Young Catherine Deneuve makes a husband of a lothario
French actress Catherine Deneuve met Vogue photographer David Bailey, renowned for his relationships with models, when he photographed her nude for Playboy. Deneuve, 21, and Bailey, 27, married at St. Pancras Registry Office in London on August 18. They divorced in 1972, and she never married again, although he remarried twice (and had married once before).
1967: Raquel Welch weds her producer in a short crochet dress
Raquel Welch, an iconic actress during the 1960s and ’70s, married Patrick Curtis, a film producer who promoted many of her movies, at Paris's City Hall on February 14. It was her second marriage. They divorced in 1972, and Welch went on to marry twice more.
1967: Jane Fonda snags a husband who has a penchant for famous blondes
Jane Fonda met Roger Vadim, who had also been involved with Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot, in 1963, when she went to France to film Joy House. Her agent set up a birthday dinner for her, and Vadim was the only guest. The two married on May 19 in Saint-Ouen Marchefroy, northwestern France, and divorced in 1973.
1967: Elvis weds a woman who was 14 years old (10 years his junior) when they first met
American Priscilla Ann Beaulieu was only 14 years old when she met 24-year-old Elvis Presley in Germany in 1959, when he was serving in the U.S. Army (her step-father was in the U.S. Air Force and stationed there). They developed a relationship, and eventually Presley relocated her to the United States. They married on May 1, 1967, but divorced in 1973, after having a daughter, Lisa Marie.
1970: Stevie Wonder weds Motown singer, Syreeta Wright
Stevie Wonder and singer-songwriter Syreeta Wright wed in Detroit, Michigan in 1970. The couple divorced only two years later, but continued to collaborate together on songs like "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" and the 1974 Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta.
1971: Bianca Jagger wears her iconic YSL suit to wed Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger and Bianca Jagger attempted to keep their St. Tropez nuptials a secret, but once word spread that they were en route to the courthouse, photographers flocked to them. Bianca's outfit, a white Yves Saint Laurent suit and veiled wide-brimmed hat, is iconic today.
1974: Rather than find her IRL Clyde, Faye Dunaway finds that love stinks
Faye Dunaway, who received an Oscar nomination for her role in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, married musician-composer Peter Wolf, the lead singer of the J. Geils Band, in Beverly Hills Municipal court on August 7. They divorced in 1979. In 1980, Wolf's band produced perhaps its most famous album, Love Stinks.
1978: The Queen of Soul walks down the aisle once again
Aretha Franklin married Ted White when she was only 19, but divorced him eight years later. The Queen of Soul found herself walking down the aisle once more in 1978, this time to actor Glynn Turman. Franklin and Turman were married for six years before divorcing in 1984.
1986: Arnold Schwarzenegger puts a ring on it after nearly a decade-long courtship
On April 26, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, a rising journalist and news anchor, married in St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis on Cape Cod. They had been dating since 1977. However, after having four children together, they divorced in 2011, when Schwarzenegger admitted to having a child with another woman years earlier.
1986: Diana Ross won't stop in the name of love
Years after parting with the Supremes, singer and actress Diana Ross met her second husband, Norwegian businessman Arne N?ss Jr., during a vacation in the Bahamas. Their wedding in Romainmotier, Switzerland, on February 1 included music from a 45-member Norwegian Silver Boy’s Choir. (The couple had been legally married since a civil ceremony in NYC on October 23.) They divorced in 2000.
1987: Vanessa Williams marries the man hired to salvage her career in the wake of scandal
Ramon Hervey II, a public relations specialist, was hired to save Vanessa Williams's career after publicized nude photos of her forced her to resign as Miss America in 1984. The two married on January 2, 1987. The couple had three children and divorced in 1997. Williams would remarry twice.
1988: Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks commence one of the longest-running Hollywood marriages
The longevity of Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks's 30-year marriage is one of the most impressive in Hollywood. Hanks first set eyes on Wilson when he was 16 and watched her in an episode of The Brady Bunch in 1972. But they didn't actually meet until 1981, on the set of the ABC comedy Bosom Buddies. After Hanks divorced his first wife in 1987, the two married on April 30, 1988, at Rex's in Los Angeles, California, and have been together ever since.
1992: Anjelica Huston finds love with an artist after 17 years with Jack Nicholson
Anjelica Huston — known for her role as Morticia in The Addams Family and for collaborations with Wes Anderson, among many other roles — met Los Angeles sculptor Robert Graham at a dinner party. They married on May 23, then went on to live in a house that Graham designed in Venice, California, until his death in 2008.
1993: Mariah Carey struts down the steps after her first wedding
Mariah Carey married music executive Tommy Mottola on June 5. Carey was 23, and Mottola was 20 years her senior. Carey later described herself to Cosmopolitan as a "child bride" in that marriage. The couple divorced in 1998.
1998: Before Kate Winlset met "Jack" on the Titanic, she met Jim
Kate Winslet was starring in indie film Hideous Kinky in 1997 when she met Jim Threapleton, the assistant director. On November 22, when she was 23, they married and held the reception in the Crooked Billet Pub in in Stoke Row, Oxfordshire, England. After having their daughter, Mia, the two divorced in December 2001.
2001: J.Lo two-steps with her choreographer in her second marriage
After meeting in late 2000, Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd, a former backup dancer, married in a private residence in Calabasas, California, on September 29, 2001. The two had met in Spain in late 2000, when Judd was hired to direct her music video for "Love Don't Cost a Thing." They divorced in June 2002.
2002: Liza Minnelli goes all out for her fourth wedding
When Liza Minnelli married former producer David Gest at the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City on March 16, she threw a $4.5 million celebration for an alleged 1,000 guests. The marriage with her fourth and last husband lasted until April 2007.
2006: TomKat becomes official after a whirlwind romance
On November 18, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes threw a $3.5 million wedding at Castello Odescalchi in Bracciano, near Rome, Italy. The lavish wedding topped off a seriously dramatic courtship: The couple had been dating only about two months before they married, and one month before the wedding, Cruise jumped for joy over his love for Holmes on Oprah's couch in one of his most famous interviews. Katie divorced Tom in 2012, allegedly due to his involvement in Scientology, and took primary custody of their daughter, Suri.
See what stars like Angela Lansbury and Audrey Hepburn wore down the aisle.