The 10 Longest Lasting Marriages in Hollywood

Hollywood is where you can find it all – glitz, glamour and fame. Only that the last is fickle and relationships likewise are even more transitory. However in the midst of so many breakups and infidelities, there are marriages which keep going on, bucking the trend firmly in its face. So here are the stars who have made the almost impossible happen and have some of the longest lasting marriages in Hollywood.

1. Christopher Plummer and Elaine Taylor
   
   Plummer, the handsome Captain George von Trapp from the ever-popular Sound of Music could not have found a better person to make music with in real life that wife Elaine Taylor. Married in October 1970, their marriage has spanned more than four decades during which Plummer, a Canadian native, built up a satisfying career in films and theater. In this autobiography  In Spite of Myself, Plummer revealed how he met Taylor, an actress, on the sets of the farce Lock Up Your Daughters and took only a year to decide to get married to her.
    
2. Sissy Spacek and Jack Fisk
   
   Though best known for her portrayal of singer Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter – a role which earned her an Oscar – Sissy Spacek has actually preferred working in independent cinema. In fact it was while working in one of those movies, Badlands, that she met her future husband, art director Jack Fisk. The couple tied the knot in April 1974 and thus have been going strong for thirty-seven years now. After her marriage even though Spacek continued to do some films, Carrie for instance, soon she gave up the spotlight to focus on her family. The couple have two daughters and live on a horse ranch in Virginia.
   
   
    
3. Ron Howard and Cheryl Alley
   
   Director Ron Howard got hitched to his high-school sweetheart Cheryl Alley as early as June 1975 and ever since their thirty-six year-old marriage seems to have been going strong. Howard became famous with films like Cocoon, Apollo 13 and more recently the Da Vince Code. However he entered the movie industry with playing the role of the typical small-town American boy, Opie, on the Andy Griffith Show. And in fact his personal life seems to have been inspired by the same innocence and romance.
    
4. Jeff Bridges and Susan Geston
   
   The actor best known for his role of Otis Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart seems to have his own in the right place as is evident from this thirty-three year-old marriage to Susan Geston. She is one of the most low-profile star spouses in Hollywood and not many people would even recognize her name, a fact that might have something to do with the longevity of their marriage. Bridges evidently met Susan when she was working as a waitress on a ranch while he was filming Rancho Deluxe.  In one of the very few times Bridges has talked about his wife, he said it took just a week for him to fall in love with her.
    
5. Meryl Streep and Don Gummer
   
   This ethereal actress who simply gets better with age seemed to have found the perfect marriage with Don Gummer with their marriage lasting more than thirty-two years now. The couple got married in September 1978 and since then the two have followed their individual careers despite encouraging each other all the while. Gummer is a sculptor and is part of several museum collections around the world. The two have raised three girls, Mamie and Grace both actresses as well as Louisa. Streep attributes her long lasting marriage to a deep understanding between her and Gummer, 63, of what’s important in life and especially to the fact that they both share the spirit of creativity.
    
6. Dustin Hoffman and Lisa Gottensen
   
   This marriage appears to be still going strong after twenty-nine years. The multiple Academy Award winning actor and his attorney wife have gone through changes together as they raised their four children Jacob, Rebecca, Maxwell and Lydia. Lisa now has launched her own line of beauty products while Hoffman continues to expand his considerable repertoire with unattempted roles. The 73 year old star seemed to put the secret to long lasting marriages rather succinctly when he said, the trick,” Hoffman has said, “is to live your own life while sharing your space.”
    
7. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
   
   This is one star couple in Hollywood who seems to best inspire the younger generation to put their all in a relationship. Tom Hanks met Rita Wilson on the sets of their movie Volunteers in 1985 and three years later in 1988 they were married. The two have now been married for more than twenty-two years and their relationship still seems to be going strong. While Wilson has supported Hank’s career decision, even helping him to get his accent right in The Terminal, Hanks took on production odd jobs as Wilson produced the megahit My Big Fat Greek Wedding. 
    
8. Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman
   
   The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor turned director and producer has a twenty-five year marriage with actress Rhea Perlman. The two are however rather protective about their privacy and don’t like to discuss their marriage before the media, an approach which seems to have worked given the fact that both are well-known actors in their own right. DeVito and Perlman starred together in the children’s film Matilda and have recently launched their own production company, Jersey Films.
    
9. Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick
   
   The two actors met when starring in a PBS movie and in 1988 got hitched. Kevin and Kyra thus have more than twenty-two years of marriage behind them despite frequently working together. Not only has the couple acted together in several films, but Kevin has directed some of the episodes of Kyra’s hit TV show, The Closer.
    
10. Will Smith and Jada Pinket Smith
    
    While their contemporaries seem to be coping with infidelities and failing marriages, Will Smith and Jada Pinket Smith have not only gone on to follow their respective acting careers, but have also managed to stick to a fourteen year marriage and raise three children – two their own and one from Will’s previous relationship. Will and Jada met when she tried out for an episode of Will’s television show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, back in 1990. The two got married in 1997 and since then have never looked back.