Find Out Which Celebrity Couple Ruled Hollywood the Year You Were Born
Find Out Which Celebrity Couple Ruled Hollywood the Year You Were Born
If there's one thing Hollywood is great at (besides making movies, obviously), it's creating celebrity power couples. Take a look at some of the greatest romances of our time.
1932: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Joan Crawford
Fairbanks, Jr. and Crawford were the "It couple" in Hollywood in the late '20s and early '30s. The couple began dating while filming Our Modern Maidens and continued on as the industry's golden couple until their divorce in 1933.
1933: Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Okay, so maybe FDR and his wife, Eleanor, weren't a "Hollywood" couple, but they certainly deserve a spot on this list of iconic couples. In 1933, FDR was elected president, and their reign as a prominent, powerful duo began.
1934: Gracie Allen and George Burns
A charming and comedic couple, Allen and Burns met in 1922 and married in 1926. Their hit radio show, originally called The Adventures of Gracie and eventually renamed The Burns and Allen Show, launched in 1934 (and would continue on through 1950), so it was a good year for the pair.
1935: Rachel Kempson and Michael Redgrave
British actors Rachel Kempson and Michael Redgrave married in 1935. Little did they know they would later start a dynasty — er, family — of even more iconic actors.
1936: William Powell and Jean Harlow
After starring together in 1935's Reckless, Powell and Harlow developed a serious romance and eventually got engaged. They worked side-by-side again in 1936 in Libeled Lady before Harlow's tragic death the following year.
1937: Betty Grable and Jackie Coogan
Although their marriage was short-lived, funny man Coogan and "It girl" Grable made quite the pair.
1938: Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor
Stanwyck and Taylor starred together in movies — namely 1936's His Brother's Wife and 1937's This is My Affair — before getting married in 1939. Taylor's studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (a.k.a. MGM), actually helped set up the wedding, as this was relatively common practice during Hollywood's "golden era."
1939: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard
Put together two of the era's most iconic actors, Gable and Lombard, and what do you get? An even more iconic celebrity couple. Gable and Lombard eloped in 1939.
1940: Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier
In 1940, Leigh was riding on the success of 1939's Gone with the Wind, Olivier starred as Mr. Darcy in a film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and the couple got married. What a year for these two!
1941: Constance Bennett and Gilbert Roland
Bennett, one of the highest-paid actresses of the early 1930s, and Roland, a Mexican-American actor and rising star in Hollywood, wed in 1941.
1942: Ava Gardner and Mickey Rooney
Gardner and Rooney's marriage was a brief one, but these two iconic stars did tie the knot in 1942.
1943: Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles
"It girl" actress Hayworth starred alongside Welles in the 1943 variety show The Mercury Wonder Show, which was also directed by Welles. Rumor has it that the couple simply got married in a low-key civil ceremony before heading to the set for work one day.
1944: Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland
Garland met Minnelli on the set of 1944's Meet Me in St. Louis, a movie that she starred in and he directed. The pair married that year and would later give birth to their now-iconic daughter, Liza.
1945: Dick Powell and June Allyson
Perhaps a slightly controversial couple — Powell divorced his second wife to pursue Allyson, and Allyson went against MGM studio manager Louis B. Mayer's wishes when she married Powell — this acting duo wed in 1945.
1946: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
Arguably one of the most iconic Hollywood couples of all time, "Bogie" and Bacall met in 1943, married in 1945 and remained together until Bogart's death in 1957. In 1946, they starred opposite one another in the classic film noir movie, The Big Sleep.
1947: Princess Elizabeth and Duke Philip Mountbatten
Everyone loves a good royal wedding — and in November 1947, Queen Elizabeth II (then simply Princess Elizabeth) and Prince Philip (then Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh) married in their own. Of course, this power couple is still just as wonderful a duo today.
1948: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
Between 1944 and 1951, Rogers and Evans starred in nearly 30 films together as on-screen sweethearts. In 1947, they became off-screen sweethearts as well, getting married in a ceremony on New Year's Eve.
1949: Betsy Drake and Cary Grant
Of course Grant, one of Hollywood's most quintessential leading men, and his third wife, French actress Drake, were a celebrity power couple.
1950: Tony Martin and Cyd Charisse
Actor and singer Martin and performer Cyd Charisse married in 1948 and gave birth to their son, Tony Martin, Jr., in 1950. This superstar couple was married for 60 years before Charisse's death in 2008.
1951: Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra
The marriage of two of the era's biggest celebrities — iconic actress Gardner and chart-topping musician Sinatra — made for one of the most celebrated couples of the 1950s.
1952: Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball
Arnaz and Ball married back in 1940, but it was in the '50s that the duo really skyrocketed into the spotlight: I Love Lucy premiered in 1951, going on to become one of the greatest and most beloved television sitcoms of all time.
1953: Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh
Married couple Curtis and Leigh saw great success when they starred alongside each other in 1953's Houdini.
1954: Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio
Yes, this marriage was incredibly short-lived (in fact, it only lasted nine months), but the world watched in awe as these two superstars — Monroe, a true icon, and DiMaggio, a baseball great — came together in their 1954 wedding.
1955: Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher
Pop artist Fisher and singer-actress Reynolds wed in 1955. The couple went on to have two children (including famous Star Wars actress Carrie), but their marriage sadly ended in 1959, when Fisher left Reynolds for her good friend (and famous actress) Elizabeth Taylor.
1956: Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner
Superstar Wood first went on a date with Wagner, who was eight years her senior, on her 18th birthday in 1956. They wed the following year, but their relationship had its ups and downs — the couple divorced in 1962 and married again in 1972.
1957: Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman
Anyone who says they weren't obsessed with Woodward and Newman's beautiful, 50-year-long marriage is lying. The couple, both actors, met in 1953, starred together in The Long Hot Summer in 1957, married in 1958 and remained happily together until Newman's death in 2008.
1958: Mickey Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield
Actor and former Mr. Universe Hargitay and '50s icon Mansfield tied the knot in 1958.
1959: Alain Delon and Romy Schneider
Foreign actors Delon and Schneider began their whirlwind of a romance in 1958, when they met on the set of Christine. They became engaged in 1959, though they broke things off a few years later.
1960: Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin
In 1960, actress Dee and pop star Darin starred alongside each other in Come September. They married the same year.
1961: Jackie Kennedy and John F. Kennedy
Although another political couple, rather than a true Hollywood couple, Jackie and JFK were seen as true "relationship goals" when Kennedy took office as president in 1961.
1962: Jack Lemmon and Felicia Farr
Actor Lemmon and actress-model Farr married in 1962. Lemmon also filmed the drama Days of Wine and Roses (which went on to earn several Oscar noms) this year, so it was a good one for the successful couple.
1963: Kathryn Diebel and Frankie Avalon
Teen idol Avalon broke many young girls' hearts in 1963, when he married model and former beauty pageant winner Diebel. The couple remains together today.
1964: June Carter and Johnny Cash
Cash wouldn't propose to Carter for four more years (both musicians were still married, after all), but the couple recorded their first duet together, a version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe," in 1964.
1965: Sonny and Cher
In 1965, Sonny and Cher released their anthem to true love, "I Got You Babe." The song hit #1 on the Billboard charts, so maybe, in the end, their love could pay the rent.
1966: Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy
This one's a bit controversial because Tracy never left his wife for Hepburn. Still, their crackling on-screen chemistry in an incredible list of classic films make them one of the most famous couples of all time. Tracy died in 1967, and the pair's last film was also released that year: the ever-important Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
1968: Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards
One of Hollywood's most endearing couples, Andrews and Edwards filmed Darling Lili, where she was the star and he was the director, in 1968. (He was famed for directing Breakfast at Tiffany's, and she'd already hit big with The Sound of Music.) They wed the following year.
1969: Yoko Ono and John Lennon
The couple used their relationship to create art and protest the Vietnam War with their "Bed-In." For their honeymoon, they staged nonviolent protests in Amsterdam and then again in Montreal.
1970: Barbra Streisand and Elliot Gould
Fresh off the success of Funny Girl and Hello, Dolly!, Barbra Streisand was a bona fide star by 1970. This was a big year for her then-husband, Gould, who stared in M.A.S.H., one of the highest-grossing movies of the decade.
1971: Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland
In '71 Fonda and Sutherland starred in Klute (Fonda won a Best Actress Oscar for her role) and a romance blossomed. The two protested the Vietnam War as well, putting up a touring show near military bases called "F.T.A."
1972: Carly Simon and James Taylor
The musical duo married in '72, and Simon also scored big with "You're So Vain" (which wasn't about Taylor).
1973: Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw
They starred in 1972's The Getaway and were married a year later. She was known for the tearjerker Love Story, and he was a Hollywood heartthrob from The Thomas Crown Affair, The Great Escape and several other classics.
1974: Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston
The brutally heartbreaking details of their relationship were captured in her 2014 book, Watch Me: A Memoir. For now, just marvel at this photo.
1975: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
This year marked the second marriage for this tumultuous duo, who smoldered together in Cleopatra in 1963, married in 1964 and got divorced in 1974, only to get married again in '75. Sure, it was an up-and-down relationship, but it was always interesting.
1976: Farrah Fawcett and Lee Majors
In 1973, when Majors and Fawcett married, he starred in The Six Million Dollar Man. Cut to three years later where Fawcett was starring in Charlie's Angels. They're a classic Hollywood couple, if not Fawcett's most famous pairing (that would be Ryan O'Neal).
1977: Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger
Before she was married to Rupert Murdoch (a power couple that didn't make the list), model Jerry Hall was with the Rolling Stones front-man. She spent a good chunk of '77 gallivanting around New York and at Studio 54 with him.
1978: Diane Keaton and Warren Beatty
Keaton and Beatty were some of the biggest stars in Hollywood around this time. They were quite the glamorous pair — however their on-again, off-again relationship didn't last. "I don’t think it would have been a good idea for me to have married, and I’m really glad I didn’t, and I’m sure they’re happy about it, too," Keaton said in a recent interview with People magazine.
1979: Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd
In 1977, Clapton released "Wonderful Tonight," a song Boyd called the "most poignant reminder of all that was good in our relationship…" in her memoir of the same name. Although her autobiography tells a darker story of their relationship, the song captures a perfect moment. The couple was married in 1979.
1980: Paul Simon and Carrie Fisher
This year, Simon released One-Trick Pony — the album and the movie, which he wrote and starred in. Fisher reprised her role as Princess Leia in The Empire Strikes Back. So, needless to say, it was a pretty epic time for the pair.
1981: Prince Charles and Lady Diana
Their iconic royal wedding took place on July 29. David and Elizabeth Emanuel designed the fabulous wedding dress.
1982: Danny Devito and Rhea Pearlman
DeVito was starring in Taxi and Pearlman (who also had a role in Taxi) was in Cheers, two of the biggest shows of the time, when they tied the knot this year.
1983: Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr.
Just look at these amazing pictures of them on Old Loves Tumblr.
1984: Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
The longtime couple is famously unmarried, but maybe true love, for them at least, isn't about wedding rings.
1985: Sylvester Stallone and Brigitte Nielson
This year saw the release of Rocky IV and Rambo: First Blood Part 2. Stallone was a huge action movie star and Nielson, a young model.
1986: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver
Maybe they'd never see eye-to-eye politically, but somehow this crazy couple still made it work. Until, of course, he had an affair, and they split in 2011.
1987: Demi Moore and Bruce Willis
Moore and Willis married in Vegas in 1987 and reigned as a Hollywood power couple until their 1998 split — and the whole Ashton Kutcher thing.
1988: Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet
Bonet was known for The Cosby Show and A Different World, and Kravitz was still waiting to make a name for himself when the two eloped in Las Vegas in 1987; in 1988, their daughter Zo? was born. The crazy-hot pair still remain very friendly to this day, even though they are not together anymore.
1989: Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith
Dakota Johnson's parents tied the knot in 1989 for the second time. They first had a controversial marriage in 1976 (Melanie was 15 when they moved in together, and they got married when she was 18) and rekindled their romance many years later. Griffith won a Golden Globe for Working Girl in '89 and Johnson's Miami Vice was still running. Dakota was born in the fall.
1990: Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise
They starred in Days of Thunder together this year and wed. Two years later the couple adopted their first child together, Isabella Jane Cruise.
1991: Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain
Cobain's Nirvana released the alternative rock classic Nevermind this year, and Courtney's band, Hole, also released an acclaimed album titled Pretty on the Inside. They would wed in early 1992.
1992: Iman and David Bowie
Bowie talked to Hello Magazine about the time he met Iman, saying, "That she would be my wife, in my head, was a done deal." The model and musician tied the knot in '92.
1993: Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger
Basinger was in the news this year for a contracts case revolving around the movie Boxing Helena, and her boyfriend Baldwin showed up in all the articles by her side. That's a little dark, but on a happier note, they also married this year. Everyone should do themselves a favor and watch this bizarro Saturday Night Live monologue the two did together when they co-hosted the show the following year.
1994: Faith Evans and Notorious B.I.G.
They married as Biggie released his debut studio album Ready to Die. It was an instant classic.
1995: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
It's great to acknowledge couples that have stood the test of time, so here's to Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who are still together (may we never have to update this article). Fresh off back-to-back Oscar wins for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, Hanks starred in two more unforgettable movies this year: Toy Story and Apollo 13.
1996: Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt
After starring together in Se7en, the pair struck up a romance. They were young, crazy-hot, crazy-blonde and crazy in love. Paltrow also starred in Emma this year.
1997: Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett
The insanely attractive pair tied the knot in '97. Bassett's Waiting to Exhale came out two years prior, Vance's The Preacher's Wife the year before. They've been a simmering power duo for about two decades now.
1998: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
It's fitting that they got married on New Year's Eve because their marriage seems like the biggest party in the world.
1999: Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe
You can't give the kind of performances Witherspoon and Phillippe give in Cruel Intentions and not get married and have some beautiful babies. Come on! Sure, it didn't last, but try not to feel all tingly when you listen to "Colorblind" (go ahead and just pull that up on Spotify now).
2000: Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt
One of the biggest movie stars married one of the biggest TV stars of the time, and it all seemed so perfect and meant-to-be and blonde.
2001: Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake
Of course these two huge pop stars dated (and wore matching denim)! It felt almost written in the cards, like a beautiful gift to young fans everywhere. It didn't last, but their breakup did produce two great pop songs.
2002: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez
Here was a couple that knew how to flaunt it: 2002 brought us the hot "Jenny From the Block" video, which featured Bennifer — the first celeb portmanteau — making out on a yacht, her in a pink bikini, him basically being a boy toy and the paparazzi looking on.
2003: Beyoncé and Jay Z
There's a pretty good case to be made for naming them power couple of the past decade. But if you were to pinpoint the start of their reign: This was the year the pair danced in front of a burning car in "Crazy in Love," and Jay Z's "Public Service Announcement" declared he "Got the hottest chick in the game wearin' my chain." All hail the '03 Bonnie & Clyde.
2004: Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson
Season 2 of Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica premiered in 2004, and Simpson's "With You" and "Take My Breathe Away" scored big on the charts. The thing about being newlyweds, though, is the honeymoon phase doesn't last forever.
2005: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
W Magazine released the photo shoot heard 'round the world in July 2005. Brad and Angelina "played house" and looked amazing and glamorous, but it was maybe a little too soon after the Aniston split.
2006: Victoria Beckham and David Beckham
It was hard to pick an exact year to celebrate these two, but it obviously wouldn't be a power couple list without them. Victoria's long-term success away from the Spice Girls proves she's a force to be reckoned with, and, well, Beckham is such a famous soccer player there was a hugely popular movie with a title based on his skill. Long live the Beckhams.
2007: Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt
This year marked the end of a friendship (Montag and Lauren Conrad's), but the beginning of one of Hollywood's longer-lasting marriages.
2008: Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi
In 1997, DeGeneres came out (on her show and in real life) and generated a lot of press (and a lot of controversy from, you know, idiots). Cut to 2008 when every magazine wants pictures of DeGeneres's wedding, and millions of fans (and hundreds of audience members) squeal in delight at Ellen's wedding monologue.
2009: Barack and Michelle Obama
No one could forget the powerful image of the first family after Barack Obama's presidential win. He was inaugurated in 2009, and the nation got a first couple who had so much mutual respect for each other and always always seemed so entirely in love. (Their first date is being made into a movie!)
2010: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart
Obviously they took up much of the tabloid conversation for the run of the Twilight franchise, and there are a lot of timelines out there that show just how much the two dodged the question of whether they were dating. So, here they are named power couple of 2010 because, come on, they were definitely dating then.
2011: Prince William and Kate Middleton
Women (and men) everywhere swooned at Will and Kate's fairytale wedding on April 29. The British press had, until then, been merciless to Kate and called her "Waity Katie," so the perfect, huge wedding felt like a nice gift to anyone who's ever waited until the time was right.
2012: Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber
They dominated red carpets when they first stepped out as a couple in 2011, but by 2012, they'd survived a paternity suit scandal, engagement rumors and an awkward kiss-cam moment. Unfortunately, young love isn't easy, and they broke up in November that year. (They've since gotten back together and broken up about a million times.)
2013: Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck
Knowing what you know now makes this one sad. Still, Garner and Affleck really seemed to have the perfect relationship — with the perfect family — for a long time. They were both huge movie and TV stars, they were constantly spotted spending quality time with their kids, they both always seemed so chill in interviews, and when Affleck called their marriage "the best kind of work" in his 2013 Oscar acceptance speech, it seemed genuine. Anyway…
2014: Chrissy Teigen and John Legend
This crazy-talented couple has been "relationship goals" for a while, but Legend's 2014 Grammy performance of "All of Me" sung directly to Teigen really took the cake and made this their year.
2015: Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris
He supported her throughout her 1989 tour, at the Billboard Music Awards and against Avril Lavigne and Zayn. Until things got ugly.
2016: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
Whatever your opinion of the whole Taylor Swift-Kanye West feud, one thing is certain: Kim Kardashian is always there for her man. It's hard to watch Kardashian constantly jumping to her husband's defense on her show and not think that's true love.
Who could ever forget Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall?
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