The public has always been fascinated with celebrity marriages. Otherwise-ordinary people often develop a wild, rapacious appetite for information - any information -- when one star ties the knot with another star.

One of the first major weddings in the film industry took place on March 28, 1920, between the silent movie era's proclaimed "King and Queen of Hollywood": Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Movie fans were insatiable. Obsessed with the couple's fairy tale-like courtship and wedding, they demanded fan magazines and newspapers unearth intimate details about their honeymoon, their lavish home life at their estate Pickfair, and ultimately, their unhappy divorce 16 years later.

Record-holders of celebrity marriages/divorces include Artie Shaw, a major bandleader in the 1930s and 40s. Shaw's three celebrity wives were Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, and Evelyn Keyes, and he and ingenue Judy Garland were quite an item for a while, although they didn't make it to the altar. Film goddess Rita Hayworth was married to Orson Welles, Dick Haymes, and Prince Aly Khan. Director John Derek's celebrity wives were Ursula Andress, Linda Evans, and Bo Derek (although Bo did not actually become a celebrity until after she married Derek and made her triumphant film debut in the Dudley Moore/Julie Andrews romantic comedy 10.

A few shattered celebrity marriages were given a second chance. Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood were married, divorced, and later, re-married (they were still happily married at the time of Wood's tragic drowning near Catalina Island in 1981). George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst married, divorced, and then married each other again. Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith were married and divorced twice.

One of the most famous (or infamous) re-marriage of film stars was that of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. First married in 1964, their marriage was the hottest topic of the day. It was Taylor's fifth marriage (she was only 32 and still drop-dead beautiful), and the public couldn't get enough news. The international escapades and extravagant spending sprees of the "Battling Burtons" fed tabloid fires around the world for decades. Burton and Taylor divorced, later re-married, and ultimately, divorced again. When Burton died of a brain hemorrhage in 1984, Taylor was visibly upset. Some show biz critics speculated that a reconciliation, and a third re-marriage between the flamboyant actors, may have been in the wings had Burton lived longer.

Forty celebrity marriages (some of which, sadly, have since terminated) are listed below. There are hundreds more:

Steve Allen - Jayne Meadows

Hank Azaria - Helen Hunt

Alec Baldwin - Kim Basinger

Antonio Banderas - Melanie Griffith

Warren Beatty - Annette Bening

Bruce Boxleitner - Melissa Gilbert

Kenneth Branagh - Emma Thompson

James Brolin - Barbra Streisand

James Brolin - Jan Smithers

James Cameron - Linda Hamilton

Oleg Cassini - Gene Tierney

Tom Cruise - Nicole Kidman

Ted Danson - Mary Steenbergen

Ossie Davis - Ruby Dee

Sammy Davis, Jr. - May Britt

Danny DeVito - Rhea Perlman

Phil Donahue - Marlo Thomas

Blake Edwards - Julie Andrews

Harrison Ford - Melissa Mathison

Bob Fosse - Gwen Verdon

Clark Gable - Carole Lombard

Ethan Hawke - Uma Thurman

Marty Ingalls - Shirley Jones

Quincy Jones - Peggy Lipton

David E. Kelley - Michelle Pfeiffer

Kyle MacLachlan - Linda Evangelista

John Malkovich - Glenne Headly

Louis Malle - Candice Bergen

David McCallum - Jill Ireland

Gary Oldman - Uma Thurman

Edward James Olmos - Lorraine Bracco

Sean Penn - Madonna

Sean Penn - Robin Wright

Burt Reynolds - Judy Carne

Burt Reynolds - Loni Anderson

Jason Robards - Lauren Bacall

Gene Roddenberry - Majel Barrett

Steven Segal - Kelly Le Brock

Aaron Spelling - Carolyn Jones

Florenz Ziegfeld - Billie Burke

Author: Vicki McClure Davidson

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