Old time actors and directors that you were surprised to find out were married to each other once upon a time

We didn’t even mention Admiral “Bull” Halsey. There’s a whole book about the horse farm the guy had with his fourth wife

Whose fourth wife? I only see one wife listed for Admiral Halsey

Ha, Admiral Markey's fourth wife. Sorry for the misleading ellipsis or what-have-you.

Wrote some horse racing novels in later years.

Lots of photos of him online with his famous spouses, in particular Hedy Lamarr.

How about this: Raoul Walsh and Walter Pidgeon were brothers-in-law, although it’s hard to tell from Wikipedia since Walsh’s second wife’s maiden name seems wrong. Unless it was a married named from later on.

Now I want to read this Brian Kellow book about the Bennetts.

And the Richard Rhodes book about Hedy Lamarr.

I was wondering if, during his naval service, Gene Markey ever had the chance to use the “frequency hopping” technology developed by his second wife Hedy Lamarr.

The answer is no, as the US Navy didn’t use that technology until the 1960s.

Thanks for looking into that.

The Hedy Lamarr book has given me the following pairing:
Janet Gaynor and MGM costume designer Adrian, he of the ruby red slippers.

Guess they are mostly known as just the ruby slippers.

Conductor/bandleader not a director and singer only briefly turned actress but
Lily Pons and Andre Kostelanetz

My work for this weekend is done.

Janet Gaynor and (Gilbert) Adrian is a very interesting case. More later perhaps.

HI DERE

Admiral Bull Halsey was best man at Gene Markey’s wedding to Myrna Loy! The bride was given away, as at her first wedding to Arthur Hornblow Jr., by John Ford.

Both Markey and his friend Hornblow were Dartmouth men, as was another friend, producer and writer Collier “Collie” Young, who was married to both Ida Lupino and Joan Fontaine, along with a few others I am unfamiliar with.

Wiki sez:

After his divorce from Lupino, Young was executive director of her 1957–58 CBS sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve, co-starring Lupino's then-husband, Howard Duff. Elements of his screenplay for The Bigamist mined his serial relationships with Lupino and Fontaine, who played the deceived wives of that film.

Janet Gaynor and (Gilbert) Adrian is a very interesting case. More later perhaps.

Don't think this has been mentioned yet: Gig Young & Elizabeth Montgomery

Nope, good find.

Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney - twice!

Especially surprising since I believe he was kind of a bad husband. Or maybe nothing about it should be surprising at all.

Okay, while I am still mining this harborvein:

The ceremony in the chapel of Roosevelt Navy Base, at Terminal Island, San Pedro, might have been titled “Here Comes the Groom.” It was all about Gene Markey, who on his wedding day sported navy dress blues with the wide gold commodore’s band on his sleeve, and on his chest displayed the Bronze Star he’d won for leading a reconnaissance mission in the Solomon Islands. He had served in the Pacific on the staff of Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey’s Third Fleet, and because Gene wanted Admiral Halsey as his best man, the date of the wedding was chosen to accommodate Halsey’s schedule. Halsey would be in the Los Angeles area to lead the Tournament of Roses parade, so an early January date was chosen. Gene also wanted his old sailing and drinking buddy, John Ford, who became a navy captain during the war and had reconnected with Markey during service in New Delhi, to participate in the wedding party. Ford, who had directed Myrna in The Black Watch and Arrowsmith but had seen little of her since, gave the bride away. Myrna didn’t even know he would escort her down the aisle until the day of the wedding.

Myrna Loy: the only good girl in Hollywood, Emily W. Leider.

Okay, I’ve had about enough of this guy. Time to put the Admiral in the rear view mirror and say goodbye to this screenname.

Jack Jones & Jill St. John

I hope they released a single or two as Jack and Jill

Ha, was thinking something similar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpTNoq2np_4

Lt. Hookstratten: Did you ever run into a musical group works out of Kansas City call themselves "Four Jacks and a Jill"? They've been at a Ramada Inn there for about 18 months. If you're ever in Kansas City and want to hear some good music, you might want to drop by.

How did I not know she’s been married to Robert Wagner for decades.

St. John was in a children's ballet company with Wagner's late wife Natalie Wood and his TV wife Stefanie Powers.

Self-XPS

That 'Spinal Tarp' clip reminds me: Michael McKean & Annette O'Toole.

Mildly surprised to find out that Billy Dee Williams is married to Wayne Shorter's ex-wife Teruko Nakagami.

Which is the thread for newer-timey couples I never knew about for some reason like Chloë Sevigny and Jarvis Cocker.

How about this guy: Dutch actor Robert Wolders, who played a lot of Latin lover roles on US television, was married to Merle Oberon until her death, then dated Audrey Hepburn until her death, at which point he dated Leslie Caron for a year then started a two-decade relationship with Henry Fonda’s widow Shirlee.

Michel Piccoli and Juliette Gréco were married for a decade? Stop thread!

Nobody took the bait of my previous post so was worried the thread had run its course for a while there.

UK athletics 400 metres blonde bombshell (and later bodybuilder) Donna Hartley and not-as-famous Northern comedian (and later actor) Bobby Knutt.

Fredric Forrest & Marilu Henner

Stewart Granger and Jean SImmons

Carlos Saura and Geraldine Chaplin

As far as I know, Rebecca De Mornay has only directed "The Conversion," a 1995 episode of the Outer Limits reboot, but also

...she appeared in the 1995 drama film Never Talk to Strangers opposite Antonio Banderas, for which she was also the executive producer....
De Mornay dated actor Harry Dean Stanton in the early 1980s. They met in 1981 on the set of One From the Heart[19] and dated until De Mornay and Tom Cruise began an affair while filming Risky Business in 1982.[20] De Mornay and Cruise broke up in 1985.

De Mornay married writer Bruce Wagner on December 16, 1986; they divorced in 1990.[21]

De Mornay subsequently dated and was briefly engaged to singer Leonard Cohen.[22][23] She co-produced Cohen's 1992 album The Future, which is also dedicated to her.

De Mornay was in a relationship with actor turned sportcaster Patrick O'Neal. They have two daughters together.[24][25]

(Harry Dean Stanton?! What's he got that I oh never mind)

Having just seen that movie whoooooo boy

This must have been well-covered in the celeb mags at the time, but I didn't know Ryan O'Neal was married to Leigh Taylor-Young from 1967 to '71. Their son was Patrick O'Neal, the actor turned sportscaster mentioned above who has daughters with Rebecca De Mornay.

Wonder if they fraternized with the Hopper-Haywards.

Constance Dowling

Dowling had been involved in a long affair with married director Elia Kazan in New York. He couldn't bring himself to leave his wife and the affair ended when Dowling went to Hollywood under contract to Goldwyn.[11] She was later linked with the famous Italian poet and novelist Cesare Pavese who committed suicide in 1950 after a lifelong depression aggravated, at one point, by having been rejected by Dowling who, in Pavese's poetry, is often linked to spring ("face of springtime").[12] One of his last poems is entitled "Death will come and she'll have your eyes".[13][14]

In 1955, Dowling married film producer Ivan Tors, writer and producer of her last film. (Another source, published two years earlier, refers to Dowling and Tors as "honeymooning.")[15] She then retired from acting, going on to have three sons and a foster child with Tors: Steven, David, Peter and foster son Alfred Ndwego of Kenya.[16] (An obituary listed Ndwego as an adopted son rather than a foster son and spelled his last name Ndewga.)[17]

Talia Balsam, not that well known, but has done a lot, married to actor-director John Slattery:

Balsam married actor George Clooney in Las Vegas in 1989; they were divorced in 1993.[5] In an interview with Vanity Fair after their divorce, Clooney stated, "I probably (definitely) wasn't someone who should have been married at that point. I just don't feel like I gave Talia a fair shot."[6] Since 1998, Balsam has been married to John Slattery, with whom she has a son, Harry Slattery.[7] They married in Kauai, Hawaii.[1] They played husband and wife Roger and Mona Sterling in Mad Men. Balsam lives with her family in SoHo, Manhattan.[8]

Balsam was born in New York City on March 5, 1959, to actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten.[1] Her ancestry is Russian Jewish (father) and Italian, Dutch, and English (mother). She is the niece of actor Dick Van Patten, actress Pat Van Patten and actor and director Tim Van Patten. Her cousin is actress Grace Van Patten.

Anthony Newley & Joan Collins

William Friedkin & actress/studio executive Sherry Lansing

#onethread

... and Jeanne Moreau and Lesley-Anne Down!