Hollywood marriage
A Hollywood marriage originally meant a glamorous high society marriage between celebrities involved in the U.S. film industry; the word "Hollywood" is often used to represent the US film industry. However, the term has grown to also have strong negative connotations of a marriage that is of short duration and quickly ends in separation or divorce. The term developed the negative connotations fairly early; by the 1930s, a "Hollywood marriage" was a marriage both glamorous and short-lived. This connotation may also have related, at times, to moral panics over Hollywood's influence on the culture.
Issues
Sympathetic views of celebrities point out that in Hollywood, it is mostly the bad marriages that are documented by the media, giving a skewed perspective that might make "Hollywood marriages" appear to have a worse success rate than they have in reality. In 1972 Bob Thomas of the Associated Press remarked specifically about the tendency to ignore lasting celebrity marriages with the examples he gave including Bob Hope's marriage to Dolores Hope and Rosalind Russell's marriage to producer Frederick Brisson.Negative views of Hollywood marriages take the position that the divorce rates are indeed unusually high among celebrities and that this is caused by faults within Hollywood as a culture or by personal faults of the celebrities themselves. They point to the usage of weddings as publicity stunts, the egotism or immaturity of celebrities or "celebrity culture", and high rates of infidelity or promiscuity. Bee Wilson, in an article for The Daily Telegraph, critiqued "Hollywood marriages" for often being based on the unrealistic dreams of what she termed "permanent children", although she points to some classic Hollywood couples, like Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart or Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, as exceptions to these criticisms. While the introduction to the Cultural Sociology of Divorce: An Encyclopedia edited by Robert E. Emery specifically mentions Hollywood divorces as epitomizing a "consumerist, throw-away-marriage view found in the West."
The actors and entertainers themselves vary in perspective on the commonality or reason for divorce in Hollywood. In 1961 Anne Baxter stated Hollywood was "the most difficult place in America for marriage" due, in part, to the "terrible extremes of success and failure" both spouses may face. In a 1964 interview Mitzi Gaynor, who would remain married to the husband mentioned in the interview until his death, took the more "defensive" position that "Hollywood" couples look different mostly because "everything we do is magnified." Although she conceded they might be slightly different because "you have to be a little off-center to get into this business in the first place."
Beyond anecdote or opinion the actual evidence on the matter is complicated by differing definitions of who qualifies as a "celebrity" or "Hollywood." That stated a study from Radford University placed "dancers and choreographers" as the occupations having the highest percent currently divorced with "Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, all other" still being above average at tenth. That placed them between "Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides" at ninth and "Baggage porters and concierges" at eleventh. In 1900 "actors, professional showmen" were listed as having the highest divorce rate of occupations, but as this predates even the incorporation of Hollywood it refers to the profession itself rather than "Hollywood" or "celebrity culture" as we know it. A Forbes article placed "professional athletes and entertainers" together and with a high divorce rate.
Entertainers married a year or less
The idea that the term "Hollywood marriage" equates to something short-term is sometimes displayed by citing celebrities who had marriages that ended in divorce, separation, or annulment within approximately one year. The following examples of that are primarily restricted to marriages involving a notable actor, entertainer or director linked to "Hollywood" in some way. Note that the vast majority of the examples are from the 1970s onward; this is in part because no-fault divorce became legalized in that era, which increased the number of divorces overall.| Names | Length | Marriage | Notes | Source |
| Britney Spears and Jason Alexander | 56 hours | January 2004 | Annulled | |
| Nicolas Cage and Erika Koike | 4 days | March 23–27, 2019 | Annulled | |
| Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman | 6 days | November 14—20, 1998 | ||
| Michelle Phillips and Dennis Hopper | 8 days | October 31 – November 8, 1970 | ||
| Robert Evans and Catherine Oxenberg | 9 days | July 12–21, 1998 | Evans's fifth of seven marriages. Annulled. | |
| Pamela Anderson and Jon Peters | 12 days | January 20–February 1, 2020 | Marriage certificate never officially enacted. | |
| Patty Duke and Michael Tell | 13 days | June 26 – July 9, 1970 | Annulled. Marriage produced a child, Sean Astin, whom Duke mistakenly believed to be fathered by Desi Arnaz, Jr. at the time. | |
| Eddie Murphy and Tracey Edmonds | 2 weeks | January 2008 | ||
| Mario Lopez and Ali Landry | 18 days | April 24 – May 2004 | ||
| Drew Barrymore and Jeremy Thomas | 19 days | February—March 1994 | ||
| Ernest Borgnine and Ethel Merman | 42 days | June 27 – August 4, 1964 | Separated August 4, divorce mutually requested October 21 and granted November 18. | |
| Kim Darby and James Westmoreland | 47 days | 1970 | ||
| Ethel Merman and William Smith | 2 months | |||
| Milla Jovovich and Shawn Andrews | 2 months | 1992 | Annulled | |
| Chris Kattan and Sunshine Deia Tutt | 2 months | |||
| Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries | 72 days | 2011 | ||
| Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson | 121 days | July 29 – November 27, 2006 | ||
| Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley | 108 days | 2002 | Divorce took over a year to be finalized. | |
| Bill Harrah and Bobbie Gentry | <4 months | December 18, 1969–April 16, 1970 | One of Harrah's seven marriages. Fictionalized in Gentry's hit song "Fancy." | |
| Colin Farrell and Amelia Warner | > 4 months | July 17—November, 2001 | ||
| Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Esposito | 4 months | |||
| Renée Zellweger and Kenny Chesney | 4 months | May 2005—2005 | Annulled | |
| Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray | 5 months | April—September 2005 | Separated. Bush unsuccessfully petitioned for annulment. Divorced. | |
| Charlie Sheen and Donna Peele | 5 months | September 1995 – 1996 | ||
| Michael Kopech and Vanessa Morgan | 157 Days | January 4 - June 19, 2020 | /> | |
| Drew Barrymore and Tom Green | 163 days | July 7 – December 17, 2001 | ||
| Shannen Doherty and Ashley Hamilton | > 6 months | 1993 – March 1994 | ||
| Kim Darby and James Stacy | 7 months | |||
| Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley | 9 months | |||
| Rick Salomon and Shannen Doherty | 9 months | 2002–2003 | ||
| Elizabeth Taylor and Conrad Hilton | 205 days | May 6 – November 27, 1950 | ||
| Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd | 218 days | September 2001 – June 2002 | ||
| Jim Carrey and Lauren Holly | 10 months | September 1996 – July 1997 | ||
| Woody Harrelson and Nancy Simon | 10 months | Married in Tijuana with the intent of getting a Mexican divorce afterward. The divorce did not occur until ten months later as the "divorce stand" was closed. | ||
| Rick Salomon and Pamela Anderson | 10 weeks 1 year | Married and remarried | ||
| James Caan and Sheila Marie Ryan | > 1 year | 1976–77 | Son: Scott Caan | |
| Angela Lansbury and Richard Cromwell | > 1 year | September 27, 1945 – September 1946 | Her second marriage would last 53 years. | |
| Lana Wood and Jack Wrather, Jr. | > 1 year | Annulled | ||
| Kelsey Grammer and Leigh-Anne Csuhany | 1 year | |||
| Lorenzo Lamas and Victoria Hilbert | 1 year | His second marriage, to Michele Smith, did not last two years but did lead to children. | ||
| Martin Scorsese and Julia Cameron | 1 year | 1976–77 | ||
| Robert Evans and Phyllis George | 1 year | 1977–78 | Evans's fourth of seven marriages. | |
| Robert Evans and Victoria White | 1 year | 2005–06 | Evans's seventh and final marriage. | |
| Mickey Rooney and Ava Gardner: | 1 year+ | |||
| Richard Mulligan and Rachel Ryan | <1 year | April 27, 1992–"early 1993" | Mulligan's fourth and final marriage. |
Entertainers married 50 years or more
Entertainment couples whose relationships last for decades, and/or life, are occasionally used as a counterpoint when referring to "Hollywood marriage". Listed are a selection of entertainers who have or had marriages that lasted over 50 years.Legend:
| Names | Length | Marriage | Source |
| Irving Benson and Lillian Waldowsky | 79 years, 105 days | November 19, 1936 – March 3, 2016 | |
| Norman Lloyd and Peggy Lloyd | 75 years, 65 days | June 26, 1936 – August 30, 2011 | |
| Art Linkletter and Lois Linkletter | 74 years, 172 days | November 25, 1935 – May 16, 2010 | |
| Johnnie Wright and Kitty Wells | 73 years, 332 days | October 30, 1937 – September 27, 2011 | |
| Charles Lane and Ruth Covell Lane | 71 years, 233 days | April 12, 1931 – November 30, 2002 | |
| Karl Malden and Mona Greenberg | 70 years, 195 days | December 18, 1938 – July 1, 2009 | |
| Monty Hall and Marilyn Doreen Plottel | 69 years, 260 days | September 28, 1947 – June 5, 2017 | |
| Stan Lee and Joan Boocock | 69 years, 214 days | December 5, 1947 – July 6, 2017 | |
| Bob Hope and Dolores Reade | 69 years, 158 days | February 19, 1934 – July 27, 2003 | |
| William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett | June 30, 1951 − present | ||
| Nehemiah Persoff and Thia Persoff | August 22, 1951 − present | ||
| Chuck Berry and Thelmetta "Toddy" Suggs | 68 years, 141 days | October 28, 1948 – March 18, 2017 | |
| Joan Evans and Kirby Weatherly | August 15, 1952 – present | ||
| Slim Whitman and Alma Crist Whitman | 67 years, 233 days | June 28, 1941 – February 16, 2009 | |
| Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach | 66 years, 111 days | March 5, 1948 – June 24, 2014 | |
| Gigi Parrish and John Weld | 66 years+ | 1937 - June 14, 2003 | |
| Kirk Douglas and Anne Buydens | 65 years, 253 days | May 29, 1954 − February 5, 2020 | |
| Pat Boone and Shirley Foley | 65 years, 2 months | November 1953 − January 11, 2019 | |
| Eva Marie Saint and Jeffrey Hayden | 65 years, 57 days | October 28, 1951 − December 24, 2016 | |
| William Schallert and Rosemarie D. "Lia" Waggner | 65 years+ | February 26, 1949 − 2015 | |
| Walter Cronkite and Betsy Cronkite | 64 years, 350 days | March 30, 1940 – March 15, 2005 | |
| Danny Aiello and Sandy Cohen | 64 years, 329 days | January 8, 1955 − December 13, 2019 | |
| Mary Carlisle and James Blakely | 64 years, 323 days | March 14, 1942 – January 30, 2007 | |
| Carl Reiner and Estelle Reiner | 64 years, 306 days | December 24, 1943 − October 25, 2008 | |
| Lydia Clarke and Charlton Heston | 64 years, 19 days | March 17, 1944 − April 5, 2008 | |
| Doris Belack and Philip Rose | 64 years+ | 1946 – May 31, 2011 | |
| Alan Alda and Arlene Alda | March 15, 1957 − present | ||
| Edna Mae Cooper and Karl Brown | 63 years+ | 1922 – June 27, 1986 | |
| Irving Berlin and Eilin Mackay | 62 years, 208 days | Jan 4, 1926 – July 29, 1988 | |
| Dick Van Patten and Patricia Poole | 61 years, 59 days | April 25, 1954 − June 23, 2015 | |
| Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara | 60 years, 251 days | September 14, 1954 – May 23, 2015 | |
| Kristine Miller and William Schuyler | 60 years, 136 days | July 27, 1953 − December 10, 2013 | |
| Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin | 60 years, 34 days | May 15, 1948 - June 17, 2008 | |
| Lloyd Bridges and Dorothy Dean | 60 years+ | 1938—March 10, 1998 | |
| Adolph Zukor and Lottie Kaufman | 59 years, 89 days | January 10, 1897 – April 7, 1956 | |
| Tom Jones and Melinda Trenchard | 59 years, 39 days | March 2, 1957 – April 10, 2016 | |
| William Christopher and Barbara O'Connor | 59 years | 1957 − December 31, 2016 | |
| Larry Hagman and Maj Axelsson | 58 years, 341 days | December 18, 1954 − November 23, 2012 | |
| Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss | October 26, 1961 − present | ||
| Martin Sheen and Janet Templeton | December 23, 1961 − present | ||
| James Garner and Lois Clarke | 57 years, 336 days | August 17, 1956 − July 19, 2014 | |
| Bob Newhart and Virginia Quinn | January 12, 1963 − present | ||
| Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola | February 2, 1963 − present | ||
| Brenda Lee and Ronnie Shacklett | April 24, 1963—present | ||
| Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee | 57 years, 57 days | December 9, 1948 − February 4, 2005 | |
| Laurence Irving and Rosalind Frances Woolner | 57 years+ | 1920 – December 14, 1978 | |
| Lee Grant and Joseph Feury | 57 years+ | 1962 – present | |
| Bill Cosby and Camille Hanks Cosby | January 25, 1964 – present | ||
| Cecil B. DeMille and Constance Adams | 56 years, 158 days | August 16, 1902 − January 21, 1959 | |
| René Auberjonois and Judith Mihalyi | 56 years, 51 days | October 19, 1963 - December 8, 2019 | |
| Darryl F. Zanuck and Virginia Fox | 55 years, 333 days | January 24, 1924 – December 22, 1979 | |
| Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé | 55 years, 224 days | December 29, 1957 − August 10, 2013 | |
| Lupita Tovar and Paul Kohner | 55 years, 138 days | 31 October 1932 – 16 March 1988 | |
| Mary Kay Jones and Johnny Stearns | 55 years, 113 days | 11 August 1946 − December 1, 2001 | |
| Shirley Temple and Charles Alden Black | 54 years, 232 days | December 16, 1950 – August 4, 2005 | |
| Yakima Canutt and Minnie Audrea Yeager | 54 years, 194 days | November 12, 1931 – May 24, 1986 | |
| Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling | 54 years, 190 days | November 21, 1951 − May 30, 2006 | |
| Grant Whytock and Leotta Whytock | 54 years, 135 days | June 1, 1918 – October 13, 1972 | |
| Phil Harris and Alice Faye | 54 years, 3 months | May 1941 – August 11, 1995 | |
| Dolly Parton and Carl Dean | May 30, 1966 − present | ||
| Frances Chaney and Ring Lardner Jr. | 54 years, 34 days | September 28, 1946 – October 31, 2000 | |
| Vince and Linda McMahon | August 26, 1966 − present | ||
| Ann Blyth and Dr. James Vincent McNulty | 53 years, 320 days | June 27, 1953 – May 13, 2007 | |
| Angela Lansbury and Peter Shaw | 53 years, 170 days | August 12, 1949 – January 29, 2003 | |
| Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville | 53 years, 149 days | December 2, 1926 — April 29, 1980 | |
| Marlene Dietrich and Rudolf Sieber | 53 years, 39 days | May 17, 1923 - June 24, 1976 | |
| Burt Mustin and Frances Woods | 53 years+ | 1915 – August 18, 1969 | |
| Henry Hathaway and Blanche Gonzalez | 52 years, 337 days | March 12, 1932 – February 11, 1985 | |
| Billy Wilder and Audrey Young | 52 years, 271 days | June 30, 1949 – March 27, 2002 | |
| Frank Capra and Lucille Warner | 52 years, 152 days | February 1, 1932 – July 1, 1984 | |
| Nancy Davis and Ronald Reagan | 52 years, 93 days | March 4, 1952 − June 5, 2004 | |
| Don Rickles and Barbara Sklar | 52 years, 23 days | March 14, 1965 − April 5, 2017 | |
| Mitzi Gaynor and Jack Bean | 52 years, 16 days | November 18, 1954 − December 4, 2006 | |
| Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy | 52 years+ | 1942 – September 11, 1994 | |
| John Howard Lawson and Susan Edmond Lawson | 52 years+ | 1925 – August 11, 1977 | |
| Martha Scott and Mel Powell | 51 years, 276 days | July 23, 1946 - April 24, 1998 | |
| Christopher Walken and Georgianne Walken | 51 years, 6 months | January 1969 - present | |
| Alexander Knox and Doris Nolan | 51 years, 117 days | December 30, 1944 - April 25, 1995 | |
| Louise Lovely and Albert Bertie Cowen | 51 years, 113 days | November 26, 1928 – March 17, 1980 | |
| Ben E. King and Betty Davis | 51 years+ | 1964 − April 30, 2015 | |
| Jean Speegle Howard and Rance Howard | 51 years+ | 1949 − September 2, 2000 | |
| John Forsythe and Julie Warren | 51 years+ | 1943 – August 15, 1994 | |
| Lewis Milestone and Kendall Lee | 51 years+ | 1926 – July 30, 1978 | |
| Lee Phillip and William J. Bell | 51 years+ | 1954 – April 29, 2005 | |
| Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman | 50 years, 241 days | January 29, 1958 − September 26, 2008 | |
| Rosemary Harris and John Ehle | 50 years, 154 days | October 21, 1967 – March 24, 2018 | |
| Regis Philbin and Joy Philbin | 50 years, 145 days | March 1, 1970 – July 24, 2020 | |
| Ann Margaret and Roger Smith | 50 years, 27 days | May 8, 1967 – June 4, 2017 |