For Better or Worse….

With the death of Paul Newman last September, the longest-lasting marriage between two working actors came to an end. Joanne Woodward now joins fellow actresses Ruby Dee and Nancy Reagan as widows after 50-plus years of marriage to a fellow Screen Actors Guild member. By our reckoning, Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin now take the lead for longest enduring dual-actor marriage and will celebrate their 48th anniversary in October.

And while it’s hard for any marriage to endure, throw in oversized egos, oversized emotions, and ample opportunities for indiscretion and you’ve got a recipe for divorce. To calculate the chances of whether a marriage between two actors would end in divorce, I compiled a list. It’s not scientific or complete, but I sure clicked around a lot. (All information is from the Internet Movie Database.)

Based on the data collected below, only about one in three dual-SAG marriages will make it to their 10th anniversary.

You might wonder about some omissions—like where’s Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones? They’ve only been married eight years. Or what about Billy Baldwin and Chynna Phillips? Phillips is no longer a working actor. Please feel free to comment on any couples that I may have overlooked or misrepresented.

HOLLYWOOD MARRIAGES BETWEEN TWO WORKING ACTORS THAT SUCCEEDED

OVER 50 YEARS:

Paul Newman** and Joanne Woodward ♥ Rudy Dee and Ossie Davis** ♥ Nancy Davis Reagan and Ronald Reagan**.

OVER 40 YEARS:

Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin ♥ Olympia Dukakis and Louis Zorich.

OVER 20 YEARS:

Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollen ♥ Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry ♥ Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman ♥ Shelley Fabares and Mike Farrell ♥ Juliet Mills and Max Caulfield ♥ Kathryn Grody and Mandy Patinkin ♥ Alfred Molina and Jill Gascoine ♥ Katharine Ross and Sam Elliott ♥ Hal Holbrook* and Dixie Carter* ♥ Ian McShane* and Gwen Humble ♥ Christopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis ♥ Madeline Stowe and Brian Benben ♥ Stephen Collins and Faye Grant ♥ Joan Plowright and Laurence Olivier** ♥ Donna Dixon and Dan Aykroyd ♥ Rip Torn* and Geraldine Page** ♥ Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack ♥ Gary Sinise and Moira Harris ♥ Ken Olin and Patricia Wettig ♥ Jack Gill and Morgan Brittany ♥ Amy Madigan and Ed Harris ♥ Judi Dench and Michael Williams** ♥ Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown ♥ Katherine Borowitz and John Turturro ♥ Lucie Arnez and Laurence Luckinbill* ♥ Mark Harmon and Pam Dawber ♥ Corbin Bernson and Amanda Pays ♥ Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates ♥ Linden Ashby and Susan Walters ♥ Matthew Cowles and Christine Baranski ♥ Jennifer Saunders and Adrian Edmondson ♥ Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick ♥ Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson ♥ Judy Davis and Colin Friels***

OVER 10 YEARS:

Brooke Adams and Tony Shalhoub ♥ Delta Burke and Gerald McRaney ♥ Dylan Baker and Becky Ann Baker ♥ Jill St. John and Robert Wagner ♥ Kirk Cameron and Chelsea Noble ♥ Warren Beatty and Annette Bening ♥ John Travolta and Kelly Preston* ♥ Bradley Whitford and Jane Kaczmarek ♥ Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen* ♥ Jada Pinkett and Will Smith ♥ Esther Williams* and Edward Bell ♥ James Keach and Jane Seymour ♥ David Duchovny and Tea Leoni (separated) ♥ Kathleen Quinlan and Bruce Abbott* ♥ Nia Vardalos and Ian Gomez ♥ Melissa Gilbert* and Bruce Boxleitner ♥ Bodhi Elfman and Jenna Elfman ♥ Harry Hamlin* and Lisa Rinna ♥ Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy ♥ Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith* ♥ Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson** ♥ Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick ♥

Vanity Fair.Com

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