Celebrity Weddings in the 1950s and '60s

Celebrity weddings were truly glamorous affairs in the 1950s and 1960s, and the public ate up every detail. Fans swooned over images of stunning brides and handsome grooms as they exchanged kisses and cut elaborately decorated wedding cakes.

Conrad Hilton and Elizabeth Taylor — May 9, 1950

Elizabeth Taylor was 18 years old when she wed Conrad Nicholson “Nicky” Hilton, who was 23. He would be the first of her seven husbands. She wrote in a 1965 memoir that her happiness with Hilton was brief, quickly replaced by “disillusionment rude and brutal.”

Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini — May 24, 1950

Actress Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini married in 1950 after a scandalous affair in which Bergman, who already was married, had a child by Rossellini born out of wedlock.

Bette Davis and Gary Merrill — Aug. 2, 1950

Each of them already married, actress Bette David and actor Gary Merrill fell in love while filming the 1950 movie “All about Eve.” During their 10-year marriage, the couple adopted a son and a daughter, but their relationship struggled under Merrill’s alcoholism.

Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh — June 4, 1951

When Janet Leigh married Tony Curtis at age 23, she had already been married twice before. She had eloped at age 15, although her parents had that marriage annulled, and married again at age 19. It was the first time at the altar for 26-year-old Curtis.

Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner — Nov. 7, 1951

Frank Sinatra married Ava Gardner in 1951, a week after his divorce from Nancy Sinatra, the mother of his three children, became final. Gardner was still married to actor Mickey Rooney when they met.

Joan Collins and Maxwell Reed — May 24, 1952

Joan Collins and Maxwell Reed were married for four years. In a 2014 documentary, she revealed that the actor, who died in 1974, had drugged and raped her at age 17 when she was starting her Hollywood career.

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