The Hindu Business Line : Marriages are made in Hollywood!

Hollywood stars of those days married and divorced at will. `Originally, I wanted to have one husband and seven children but it turned out to be the other way round,' said Lana Turner of her marriages.

Elizabeth Taylor with Michael Todd.

Just one newspaper in Mumbai reported the recent death of 84-year-old James Dougherty, aircraft maintenance worker and later a US Marine. But his death received wide coverage in the American media, because Dougherty was the first husband of Marilyn Monroe, who died some 35 years ago. When Marilyn married Dougherty, whom she called `Daddy' (he was 31), she was 16 and known by her original name — Norma Jeanne Mortenson. The marriage, which was solemnised in 1942, ended in divorce in 1946 after Dougherty returned to the US after a stint in the Marine services. During his absence, Norma Jeanne changed her name to Marilyn, learnt dancing and went to an acting school.

Marilyn married again twice, and to famous men. Her second husband was baseball star, Joe Di Maggio; but the marriage was short-lived — from January to October 1954. The next marriage created an international sensation... Marilyn married famous playwright Arthur Miller in 1951. The marriage lasted five years. In the early 1960s, the star developed an intimate relationship with the then US President John F. Kennedy, and later his younger brother, Robert.

Hollywood stars of those days married and divorced at will! Blonde beauty Lana Turner married seven times and had a daughter, Cheryl Crane. Lana admitted something had gone wrong somewhere. "Originally, I wanted to have one husband and seven children but it turned out to be the other way round," she told the media. Her first husband was band-leader Artie Shaw; the marriage lasted just six months. Her third husband was Lex Barker who succeeded Johnny Weissmuller as the screen Tarzan. She married actor-restaurateur Stephen Crane twice.

Hollywood was rocked by a scandal when Cheryl was tried for the murder of a Mafia hoodlum, Johnny Stompanato, who was then Lana's lover. It came out during the trial that Cheryl was in love with the same man, though defence counsel, Jerry Gisler, got the young girl acquitted on the plea of self-defence.

Fiery Ava Gardner, who had a habit of throwing heavy objects at her husbands, married thrice; her first husband was actor Mickey Rooney (January 1942 to May 1943). Band-leader Artie Shaw, who married quite a few Hollywood beauties, was the next, and after that was Ava's most famous marriage to actor-singer Frank Sinatra who had a temper as fiery as hers. The couple brawled openly, got thrown out of nightclubs and the stormy union lasted five years.

Going by numbers, the violet-eyed beauty Elizabeth Taylor had an enviable marriage-divorce record — eight marriages and seven husbands. A child star of great promise, she went to the altar at age 17 with Nickey Hilton, heir to the Hilton hotel chain. She divorced him after just one year, and married British actor Michael Wilding next.

After four years of wedded `bliss', Elizabeth opted for another Michael, producer Michael Todd who was then in his mid-40s. The marriage seemed to work. Todd showered her with diamonds, while his film, Around the World in 80 Days, won both critical and box-office acclaim.

But one year after the wedding Todd was killed in an air crash, leaving Elizabeth heart broken. But within a year, Liz bounced back, tying the knot with actor Eddie Fisher. But she was accused of `stealing' him from his wife and popular star, Debbie Reynolds.

While shooting for mega movie, Cleopatra, Elizabeth began the most publicised romance of her life with British actor Richard Burton, who played Antony in the film. As poor Eddie Fisher watched from the sidelines, Burton wooed Liz with diamonds and Shakespeare quotations. The multi-million dollar movie went over-budget, the star fell ill and was nursed by her co-star. They married in 1964; the marriage lasted 10 years and the couple made some wonderful movies together, The VIP's, The Taming of the Shrew and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

The media reported frequent clashes between the couple and they were divorced in 1974 before tying the knot again the next year, only to apply for divorce yet again in 1976. This time it was for good. Her sixth husband was Senator John Warner with whom the star spent the next six years. After remaining single for nine years after her divorce from Warner, Elizabeth married construction worker and teamster member Larry Fortensky, and the marriage lasted five years from 1991.

Well, nothing can remain a record for long in Hollywood. For numbers and variety, Hungarian beauty Zsa Zsa Gabor takes the cake. Nine husbands including hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, actor George Sanders, oil tycoon Joshua Osden, Barbie doll inventor Jack Ryan, diplomat Felipe De Alba and crown prince Frederick Prinz Von Anhalt, who turned out to be neither a prince nor of blue blood. One of the three Gabor sisters, Zsa Zsa never made it to the top in Hollywood, but played side roles in more than 100 films and was famous for her one-line quips on men, marriage and sex.

Hedy Lamarr, who played the lead in Samson and Delilah in 1952, married six times. Her first husband, Fritz Mandl, was an arms dealer and diplomat, and he went to every single party with his wife. However, Hedy was soon bored of the party circuit. Her husband would neither divorce her, nor give her any freedom. But Hedy was after all a Delilah! She drugged her maid, wore her uniform and escaped in the service elevator and made it to London where she made movies and married five more times. That was not all.

During her first marriage to Mandl, Hedy learnt a lot about arms, including guiding systems to track down and attack torpedoes. She offered blue prints of these to the American government and was later honoured by the American Defence authorities.

Whoever said Hollywood stars were dumb?

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