Celebrity Marriage: The Ones that Last a Lifetime

In most of the media these days, the majority of publicity seems to be focused on what celebrities are doing wrong. It is an endless barrage of who is sleeping with whom, who is cheating on their spouse, and who is getting divorced. Celebrity marriages seem to only last from a number of months to a few measly years. While I know that scandal sells, it is sad that no one seems to be publicizing the good celebrity marriages. I was amazed to find that some celebrities have been married for over 65 years.

While doing research on many of my favorite celebrities, I was pleased to find a large number have maintained long happy marriages. It proves that you can have a high profile entertainment career and a long happy marriage. While there are literally thousands of celebrities who have been married for many years, I have chosen to only highlight some of my favorite here.

Bob Hope deserved much credit and applause; he married the singer Dolores Reade in 1934 and adopted four children, Linda, Anthony, Laura and Kelley. They were married until his death in July 2003. That is an amazing feat nowadays to be married for more than 69 years, and they deserved a great deal of respect. They sure could have taught a thing or two about marriage to many of today's celebrities.

Paul Newman is another celebrity who deserves a lot of credit; he has been married to Joanne Woodward since January 29, 1958. They have three daughters, Elinor, Melissa, and Claire. Newman and Woodward have been now been married for over 50 years. When asked why he never committed adultery by Empire magazine, he famously replied "Why go out for a hamburger when you have steak at home?"

Mel Brooks met his love Anne Bancroft in 1961, on rehearsal for the Perry Como Variety Show; they married three years later on August 5th, 1964. They had one son Maximillian in 1972. They were married for over 40 years until Anne's death from uterine cancer on June 6, 2005.

Bill Cosby in 1965 became the first African American actor to star in a weekly television dramatic series, I Spy. He has always maintained a successful comedy career and been a beloved actor in classics shows such as Fat Albert and The Cosby Show. He met his wife Camille, while he was performing stand-up comedy in Washington D.C., in the early 1960s. She was a student at the University of Maryland, and had come to see the show. They married on January 25, 1964, and had five children: daughters Erika, Erin, Charlene, Ensa, and Evin, and son Ennis.

Johnny Cash always admired June Carter from afar. In 1967, their duet "Jackson" won a Grammy Award. Cash proposed onstage to Carter at a concert at the London Gardens in London, Ontario on February 22, 1968; the couple married a week later in Franklin, Kentucky. Shortly after Johnny's historic concert at Madison Square Garden in the early months of the 1970s, his son (and only child with June) John Carter Cash was born on March 3rd, 1970. June died in May 2003 and Johnny followed 4 months later in September. True Love was certainly in the cards for these two.

Ron Howard wed in 1975, his high-school sweetheart, Cheryl a writer with a degree in geriatric psychology. They have four children Bryce, twins Jocelyn and Paige, and son Reed. Two of their daughters Bryce Dallas Howard and Paige Howard are both actresses. They live on a 35-acre estate in the exclusive gated community of Conyers Farm in Greenwich, Connecticut. In February 2007, Howard became a grandfather when his daughter Bryce gave birth to a son. He made the successful transition from child actor to adult actor to movie producer. Through all of that, he was able to maintain a marriage that is going strong for over 30 years now.

Henry Winkler has been married since 1978 to Stacey Weitzman with whom he has three children. Together, they are actively involved with various children's charities. In 1990, they co-founded the Children's Action Network, which provides free immunizations to over 200,000 children. He is also involved with the Annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon, the Epilepsy Foundation of America, the annual Toys for Tots campaign, the National Committee for Arts for the Handicapped, and the Special Olympics.

Mandy Patinkin married actress and writer Kathryn Grody in 1980; they have two sons, Isaac and Gideon. He suffered from keratinous, a degenerative eye disease, in the mid-1990s. This led to two corneal transplants; his right cornea in 1997, and his left in 1998. He also was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in 2004. He celebrated his first year of recovery by doing a 280-mile charity bike ride with his son, Isaac - the Arava Institute Hazon Israel Ride: Cycling for Peace, Partnership & Environmental Protection. His wife stayed by his side throughout his acting and musical career and his illnesses. He now has a successful career on the TV show "Criminal Minds" and is such a pleasure to see he can maintain a high profile acting career and a family at home.

Juliet Mills sister of Hayley Mills began her acting career in 1963, she has been a widely successful actress and even now at age 66 she is a beloved actress on NBC's soap Opera Passions, which has been a leading role on since 1999. Juliet married actor Maxwell Caulfield in 1980, who is 18 years her junior. Despite their extreme age difference of 18 years they have stayed married for 27 years. Age truly does not make a difference with these two!

Kurt Russell and Goldie Jeanne Hawn may not be married, but they have successfully stayed since 1982, when the two reconnected on the set of Swing Shift (they previously met while filming 1968's The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band). The couple have a son together, Wyatt Russell, who lives in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, learning and playing hockey. She also is stepmother to Kurt Russell's son Boston. Hawn became a grandmother on January 7, 2004, when her daughter, Kate Hudson, gave birth to son Ryder Russell Robinson. While traditionalists have said that living together doesn't last long, these two have proven experts wrong. It's been over 25 years now, and Kurt and Goldie are still going strong, kudos to the both of them.

Denis Leary, comedian, and star actor of the hit FX show "Rescue Me", proves he is very different than his character on the show. He has been married to writer Ann Lembeck since 1982. They met when he was her instructor for an English class at Emerson College. They have two children, son John and daughter Devin. In 1999, Denis's cousin Jerry Lucey and his close friend Lt. Tommy Spencer, who were both firefighters, were killed in the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire, in Massachusetts. In response, he founded the Leary Firefighters Foundation. Since its creation in 2000, they have raised over $2.5 million dollars for fire departments in the Worcester, Boston, and New York City area for equipment, training materials, and new vehicles and facilities.

Ozzy Osbourne met his wife Sharon, when she was 17, while working in Ipswich as a receptionist for her father. They were married in Maui, Hawaii on July 4, 1982. However, their marriage has not been without trouble. The most notorious incident in 1989 when Ozzy was arrested for attempted murder after trying to strangle Sharon in a haze of drink and drugs. After the incident, he spent three months in rehabilitation as a result of his actions. After which, Sharon said she regained her strength in their relationship. Together they have three children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack Osbourne. After the death of her friend, Reagan Erin Marcato who died of colon cancer in July 2002, Sharon and Ozzy adopted her son Robert Marcato, who had been a school friend of Aimee's and Kelly's for years.

Denzel Washington in 1983, married actress Pauletta Pearson, whom he met on the set of his first screen role, Wilma. The couple have four children: John, Katia and twins Olivia and Malcolm. In 1995, the couple renewed their wedding vows in South Africa with Archbishop Desmond Tutu officiating. Denzel was the first black man named the sexiest man alive in 1996 by People's magazine. He has been on numerous top ten sexiest men lists, and despite his sexy status, he has stayed faithful to his wife with whom he been married to for over 25 years.

George Foreman married Mary Martelly on March 27, 1985. George is an American two-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Nicknamed Big George, he is now a successful businessman and an ordained Christian minister who has his own church. He and his wife have been married for 22 year and have six children. George Foreman is currently one of the judges on American Inventor.

Tom Hanks married actress Rita Wilson in 1988; Hanks converted from Roman Catholicism to Orthodox Christianity when marrying Wilson. The two first met on the set of Hank's television show Bosom Buddies but later developed a romantic interest while working on the film Volunteers. They have two sons, Chester and Truman.

Michelle Pfeiffer in 1993 married writer-producer David E. Kelley (The Practice, L.A. Law, Ally McBeal and Boston Legal).Earlier that year, before meeting Kelley, Pfeiffer adopted a daughter, Claudia Rose, who was then adopted by Kelley following their marriage. In 1994 Pfeiffer gave birth to a son, John Henry.

Antonio Banderas in 1996 married actress Melanie Griffith during the shooting of Two Much. They have a daughter, Stella del Carmen Banderas Griffith (also simply Stella Banderas), who appeared in the film Crazy in Alabama, in which Griffith starred and which Banderas directed. Recently, he was voice of "puss n boots", and Shrek the third. Both Antonia and Melanie have been on the top ten sexiest man and women lists, and both are huge successful entertainers. Despite both of them having extreme high profile careers, they have maintained a 12 year marriage and have managed to keep a low profile on their family life.

Kelsey Grammer played the beloved psychiatrist Frasier on Cheers and his own hit show Frasier years after the end of Cheers. Grammer has been married since August 1997 to Camille Donatacci, a former Playboy model. They have a son, Jude Gordon, and a daughter, Mason Olivia, together via a surrogate mother. Grammer and Donatacci have homes in Malibu, Colorado, and New York, and a holiday home in Maui. Being married to a playboy bunny and staying married for 10 years is almost unheard of, congratulations to the Grammers!

In this day and age, we are so desensitized to celebrities marrying and divorcing more often than we change shoes, it seems to have become the norm. I enjoy reading and hearing about the "other" celebrities; the ones who have stuck through it all, and stayed together. It is a joy to see that having a high profile entertainment career does not mean you have to lose your morality too. These couples prove you truly can have it all, and a big congratulations goes out to all the couples who have broken free from the typically celebrity marriage routine. Making love and not career their first priority has given their marriages the ability to last for years and years.

Sources:

"Official Bob Hope Website", "Official Paul Newman Website", "Official Web Site of Mel Brooks", "Biography of Bill Cosby", "Official Johnny Cash Website", "Ron Howard Bio on sitcoms online", "Henry Winkler Bio on sitcoms online", "Mandy Patinkin Official Site", "Juliet Mills Bio", "Kurt Russell Bio on Star Pulse Bios", "Goldie Hawn Bio", "Denis Leary biography", "Leary Firefighters Foundation", "Ozzy Osbourne Official Site", "Sharon Osbourne Official Site", "Bio on Denzel Washington", "George Foreman official Homepage", "Tom Hanks Official Bio", "Michelle Pfeiffer Official Site", "Antonio Banderas Biography", "Kelsey and Camille Grammer's Personal Site"