# Hollywood's low marriage success rate... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280 "2010-04-25T04:52:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/1 "2010-04-25T04:52:09Z")
I’m trying to find Hollywood marriages that haven’t ended in divorce… > **[Patrick Swayze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_swayze)** > > Patrick Wayne Swayze (/ˈsweɪzi/ SWAY-zee; August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter known for playing distinctive lead roles, particularly romantic, tough, and comedic characters. He was also known for his media image and looks; People magazine named Swayze the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991. > Swayze received three nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, for his roles in the romance film Di... > **[Christopher Reeve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_reeve)** > > Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, film director, author, and activist, best known for playing the title character in the film Superman (1978) and three sequels. > Born in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, Reeve discovered a passion for acting and the theater at the age of nine. He studied at Cornell University and the Juilliard School and made his Broadway debut in 1976. After his acclaimed performances in Superman and Supe... > **[Michael J. Fox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J_Fox)** > > Michael Andrew Fox OC (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American activist and retired actor. Beginning his career in the 1970s, Fox rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties (1982–1989) and Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985–1990). He went on to star in films such as Teen Wolf (1985), The Secret of My Success (1987), Casualties of War (1989), Doc Hollywood (1991), and The Frighteners (1996). Fox... According to wikipedia Mel Gibson is still in his 30 year marriage… ??? > **[Mel Gibson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson)** > > Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson AO (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocalyptic action series Mad Max and as Martin Riggs in the buddy cop action-comedy film series Lethal Weapon. > Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old. He studied acting at the National Institute... Any other examples? Also any guesses as to why it seems their success rate is less than average? Maybe it is because they’re good at being deceptive (that’s what acting is all about). Maybe they expect a Hollywood ending where the feeling of being in love never ends. (though apparently the feeling of love only lasts about 2 years) ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/2 "2010-04-25T05:01:15Z")
also: > **[Adam Sandler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Sandler)** > > Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and producer. Primarily a comedic leading actor in film and television, his accolades include nominations for three Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2023, Sandler was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. > Sandler was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1995. He returned to Saturday Ni... > **[Jerry Seinfeld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Seinfeld)** > > Jerome Allen Seinfeld (/ˈsaɪnfɛld/ SYNE-feld; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for having played a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he created and wrote with Larry David. The show aired on NBC from 1989 until 1998, becoming one of the most acclaimed and popular sitcoms of all time. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. In 2004, Comedy Central named ... > **[Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger)** > > Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, filmmaker, politician, and former professional bodybuilder best known for his roles in high-profile action movies. He served as the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011 and was among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2004 and 2007. > Schwarzenegger began lifting weights at age 15 and won the Mr. Universe title aged 20, and subsequently the Mr. Olympia title seve... ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/3 "2010-04-25T05:07:29Z")
Mel Gibson’s wife [filed for divorce](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/13/mel-gibson-divorce-shock-_n_186211.html) a year ago. Tom Hanks is on his second marriage, but he and his wife Rita Wilson have been married for 22 years now, which is pretty good. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married for fifty years, until his death in 2008. It was his second marriage also. Those are the first two I came up with off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are plenty of others. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/4 "2010-04-25T06:18:09Z")
Jimmy and Gloria Stewart. It was her second marriage, though. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/5 "2010-04-25T06:34:42Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > I’m trying to find Hollywood marriages that haven’t ended in divorce… [Carl Reiner](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Reiner#Personal_life)’s marriage lasted 64 years—that’s not bad. > [@](#): > > Also any guesses as to why it seems their success rate is less than average? From what I’ve heard (and I believe it)… The kind of personality that leads a person to be a movie star is not the kind of personality that leads one to be a good family man/woman. The life of a movie star is not particularly conducive to a happy and stable home life. In addition, it’s the ones with tumultuous romantic lives that you hear the most about. Someone who quietly remains married to the same person for life isn’t going to get that much publicity for their personal life. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/6 "2010-04-25T07:33:57Z")
BTW second marriages don’t count (unless the spouse died) since it means they had a failed marriage. So only Carl Reiner counts and my example of Mel Gibson doesn’t count… > [@](#): > > …In addition, it’s the ones with tumultuous romantic lives that you hear the most about. Someone who quietly remains married to the same person for life isn’t going to get that much publicity for their personal life. Those other people can be randomly looked up… but only a small fraction of them have been in a single successful marriage. Maybe the proportion of successful first marriages is 20% or less. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/7 "2010-04-25T07:50:58Z")
Monogamy is not natural; movie stars have far more opportunity both to cheat and to be caught cheating, and less consequences in doing so. My take on it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/8 "2010-04-25T07:59:23Z")
George Carlin. He married Brenda Hosbrook in 1961 and they were together until her death in 1997. He married Sally Wade in 1998 and they were together until Carlin’s death in 2008. Tony Randall. He married Florence Gibbs in 1942 and they were together until her death in 1992. He married Heather Harlan in 1995 and they were together until Randall’s death in 2004. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/9 "2010-04-25T09:59:36Z")
i would not say that a failed first marriage disqualifies someone - they may have wanted to remain married and the other spouse ditched them. what keeps people married is the desire to work out issues, and if the other person just walks out without trying to settle any issues is not a failure of the abandoned spouse … and mrAru is my second marriage, and I consider us successful at 19 years [and 3 years of nonmarriage first] ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/10 "2010-04-25T12:18:41Z")
Try Karl Malden. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/11 "2010-04-25T12:21:45Z")
If you want the other side[Carol Landis](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0484808/bio) seemed to enjoy a good fucking. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/12 "2010-04-25T12:29:35Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > If you want the other side[Carol Landis](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0484808/bio) seemed to enjoy a good fucking. Just looked up some pics of her. Wow! Sad finale’ to her life, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/13 "2010-04-25T12:33:40Z")
She was a honey. A few years ago (for reasons that are still unclear to me) I joined a Carol Landis fan group. I started to get questionaires about whether I would visit her grave site. Umm- no, not really. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/14 "2010-04-25T13:16:19Z")
Meryl Streep has been married for over 30 years. It’s her only marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/15 "2010-04-25T13:25:02Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Just looked up some pics of her. Wow! > > Sad finale’ to her life, though. Landis was an amazingly beautiful woman. I have many of her pics on my hard drive… ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/16 "2010-04-25T15:44:11Z")
Jessica Tandy and Hume Croynin (I’m spelling that wrong) were married something like 50 years. It was her second marriage. Ann-Margret and Roger Smith have been married since 1967. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/17 "2010-04-25T16:03:48Z")
Lloyd Bridges had been married to Dorothy for nearly 60 years at the time of his death. Their son Jeff has been married to the same woman since around 1977. Frances McDormand and Joel Coen have been married for about 25 years. Christopher Walken has been married to the same woman for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/18 "2010-04-25T16:08:34Z")
I think any job where a partner travels and stays away from home for months at a time can be hard on marriage. Add to that, that relationships often spring from working together. The on-set environment is quite different from real life. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/19 "2010-04-25T17:37:25Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > BTW second marriages don’t count (unless the spouse died) since it means they had a failed marriage. > > … > > Maybe the proportion of successful first marriages is 20% or less. What is the rate for succesful first marriages in the US, following your own definition? Based on these boards, not very high. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280/20 "2010-04-25T17:52:37Z")
Jayne Meadows was married to Steve Allen from 1954 until his death in 2000. Charlton Heston was married to his wife for 64 years - until he died. Jay Leno has been married to Mavis since 1980 and still going strong there. I am sure there are lots more, but they never make the tabloids so it is kind of hard to tell. I remember reading that for news reporters, it is far harder to find out if a famous person is still alive than determine if they are dead - and I would imagine the same goes for happily married people; if there is nothing in print, kind of hard to research without digging deep into official records. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywoods-low-marriage-success-rate/537280.md?page=2)