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Rediff.com  » Movies » Saying 'I do' over and over and over again
This article was first published 13 years ago

Saying 'I do' over and over and over again

Last updated on: February 8, 2011 10:50 IST

Image: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in a scene from Cleopatra
Raja Sen in Mumbai

Clearly some people love saying the words 'I do.' Over and over and over again. Some may say they never learn, while others might call them the ultimate romantics.

Our very own Priyanka Chopra plays a woman marrying seven men in her next, Saat Khoon Maaf. While we remain intrigued, here's a look at ten people from Hollywood's Golden Age who could have shown Chopra's Susanna a thing or two:

Elizabeth Taylor

Her legendary list of husbands, from 1950 to 1997, runs as follows: Conrad Hilton, Michael Wilding, Michael Todd, Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton, Richard Burton, John Warner, Larry Fortensky.

And no, that isn't a typo. She married and divorced actor Richard Burton twice, their first marriage lasting for ten years (1964-1974) and their second for just one (1975-1976).

Zsa Zsa Gabor

Image: Zsa Zsa Gabor
Photographs: Pool New/Reuters

Whatever Liz could do, the legendary Zsa Zsa could do better.

She had nine marriages in all, going from Turkish diplomat Burhan Belge in 1937 to Prince Frederick von Anhalt in 1986, and laughing about her wedding whimsy by writing a book called How To Catch A Man, How to Keep A Man, How To Get Rid Of A Man.

For good measure, she also had an affair with two-time Taylor-husband Richard Burton.

Mickey Rooney

Image: Mickey Rooney
Photographs: Fred Prouser/Reuters

Rooney -- who co-starred with Taylor in National Velvet -- perhaps led the way.

He'd already married and divorced screen goddess Ava Gardner, and went on to tie the knot another seven times.

Clearly an unpredictable man, his shortest marriage lasted a hundred days, and his longest twenty years.

Artie Shaw

Image: Artie Shaw

Jazz clarinet master Shaw broke out of many a memorable band, and he extended this trend to his marriages as well.

First married when he was 19, he went on to marry two Hollywood stunners, Gardner (after her marriage to Rooney) and Lana Turner (who, in turn, went on to learn a thing about multiple-marriage herself).

Five marriages followed, and Shaw proved impossible to tie down.

Lana Turner

Image: Lana Turner

After marrying Shaw, the striking Ms Turner married her second husband, Steven Crane, twice.

Then came five other marriages, but, incredibly enough, the most legendary of Turner's lovers was a man she didn't marry.

Between husbands 4 and 5, she had an affair with Johnny Stompanato, who was killed by her daughter, Cheryl.

Robert Evans

Image: Robert Evans
Photographs: Ethan Miller/Reuters

One of Hollywood's most powerful producers -- the man behind films like The Godfather and Chinatown -- Evans influenced Dustin Hoffman's producer character in Wag The Dog.

Evans married seven times but kept each time short -- nine days with Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg being the highlight.

He has one son from a marriage to one of his movie heroines, Love Story actress Ali McGraw.

Tony Curtis

Image: Tony Curtis

Some Like It Hot star Curtis first married Psycho actress Janet Leigh, forming a golden Hollywood couple.

Despite a sensational romance -- and having children like actress Jamie Lee Curtis -- the marriage, Leigh's third, didn't last.

Curtis married four more time, going from teenaged German costar Christine Kauffmann to Jill Vandenberg, his last wife 42 years younger than him.

Rex Harrison

Image: Rex Harrison

Best known for playing Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, Harrison married six times: to Collette Thomas, Lili Palmer, Kay Kendall, Rachel Roberts, Elizabeth Rees-Williams and Mercia Tinker, each but the last an actress.

Harrison's love life was defined, however, by an affair with another actress. Carol Landis, with whom he had an affair while married to Palmer, killed herself after spending the night with him, crushed that he would not divorce his wife for her.

The 1948 scandal almost wrecked Harrison's career.

Judy Garland

Image: Judy Garland

Legendary child actress Garland -- best known for The Wizard Of Oz and A Star Is Born -- had a deeply troubled personal life, and went on to marry five powerful Hollywood men: David Rose, Vincente Minnelli, Sid Luft, Mark Herron and Mickey Deans.

Forever insecure about her appearance, Garland tragically died of a drug overdose in 1969, at the age of 47.

Stan Laurel

Image: Stan Laurel

He might have seemed like the more innocuous part of the famed comic duo, but Stan did end up marrying five times.

He divorced his first wife, Lois Nelson, to marry Virginia Ruth Rogers. He divorced her to marry Vera Ivanova Shuvalova, and then returned to marry Virginia again, this marriage lasting five more years.

His final wife, Ida Kitaeva Raphael, stayed with him nearly twenty years, till his death in 1965.