Great Romances of the 20th Century (1997)
From the fairytale romance of the Prince and the showgirl, to the King who renounced his throne for love, , these are some of the greatest love stories ever told.
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Great Romances of the 20th Century
1997Seasons & Episode
Two of the most handsome stars of the 1950s who fell in, out of, and in love again. Their nine-year second marriage was cut tragically short by a boating accident.
He was an icon of popular music; she was one of the most avant garde performance artists of the Sixties. Their union was one of mind, body, and spirit. Yoko was accused of breaking up the Beatles, but some of Lennon's best music was composed in the heyday of their relationship.
The romance between the massively-cantilevered star and her champion muscleman was one of the most oddball stories of Hollywood.
The romance between the massively-cantilevered star and her champion muscleman was one of the most oddball stories of Hollywood.
Claire Bloom shot to fame as a beautiful but paralysed young girl in 'Limelight'. Her marriage to one of the greatest method actors of his generation lasted through a turbulent decade.
When two of Hollywood's zaniest comic talents were married, it seemed like the start of a great movie partnership, but cancer claimed Gilda after five short years.
John Derek was one of the most handsome leading men of the fifties but he never became a major star, perhaps because he was always in the shadow of his first wife, Ursula Andress. But in the early 1980s, as a director and producer, he made a star of his second.
The ill-starred Kennedy family suffered another in a long line of tragedies when an air crash ended the seemingly glamorous marriage between JFK's heir and his beautiful PR girl wife.
They are two of Hollywood's most successful actors. Their careers span several decades, as does their marriage, an antidote to cynics who claim that genuine romance cannot flourish in Tinseltown.
He was one of cinema's greatest action heroes, who waited 30 years to achieve stardom. He was happily married to British-born actress Jill Ireland until her death after a long battle with cancer.
Since 1950, former child star and diplomat Shirley Temple has been married to businessman Charles Black. In contrast to most child stars who prove unable to grow up, her adult life has been crammed with achievements.
He was the 'director from hell' who turned the fiery nightclub entertainer into a star in Carmen Jones. Their romance was passionate, stormy - and doomed.
Hollywood patriarch Henry Fonda was five times married and often at odds with his equally stellar children. But his romance with Shirlee proved in a rock in a stormy private life.
In the early fifties it was hard to decide who was prettier - the dashing star of Some Like It Hot and countless Universal hokum adventures, or his beautiful wife, who was famously murdered in the shower in Hitchcock's Psycho.
The romance between Latin lover Fernando and the million-dollar mermaid Esther Williams has recently been richly chronicled in her best-selling autobiography.
She had the million-dollar legs and he was the man with the golden trumpet. Theirs was one of the most long-lived of Hollywood's marriages.
Alfred Hitchcock remains an enduring figure of fascination for movie buffs and his marriage to fellow Briton Alma Reville gives an intriguing insight into the master director's character.
When one of the most beautiful leading ladies from Hollywood's heyday married the doyen of New York fashion, a glittering future beckoned. But their hopes of happiness were dashed by the birth of a severely disabled daughter.
Theirs was one of the most touching and adult relationships in Hollywood, which survived the tortured emotional life of one of Britain's greatest actors.
He was a Hollywood prince. She was a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who clawed her way to the top, like the heroine of so many of her movies.
Huston was one of Hollywood's greatest directors and libertines – but he met his match in feisty actress and former chorus dancer, Evelyn Keyes. Their stormy relationship lasted four passion-filled years.
For a brief period, Gary Merrill basked in the shadow cast by one of Hollywood's greatest divas. The tensions this caused inevitably doomed the marriage.
The world was genuinely moved when the former Soviet first lady died of leukaemia. Raisa had stood by her husband's side throughout an extraordinary career which changed the face of world politics.
Mel Brooks married Oscar-winning actress Anne Bancroft in 1964. Although she was Mel's second wife, and he was her second husband, their love was meant to last and they have been together ever since.
The romance between these two rebel American writers spanned 30 years, during which time they created some of the great literary works of the 20th Century. Together they fought for social justice, and faced their greatest trials during the McCarthy era.
From the fairytale romance of the Prince and the showgirl, to the King who renounced his throne for love, , these are some of the greatest love stories ever told.
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