It’s always advisable to date or marry someone with whom you have a lot in common. Well, some Hollywood stars took the advice a bit too seriously and picked their partners from the movie and TV circles. Talk about mixing business with pleasure, but no one’s judging. Some of their pairings turned out to be even more interesting when both partners won Oscars.
There are Hollywood power couples who won Oscars while they were still sharing beds and dodging the paparazzi, like Bonnie and Clyde dodging the police. Others got their respective trophies long before they began blushing at each other, while others found Academy success long after they had called it quits. No matter the category, they must all be grateful for sharing some years of their lives with equally talented souls. And, wouldn’t it be great if some of their kids or grandkids got to win Oscars, too?
10
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
“It’s not what you think!” Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were quick to deny dating rumors when journalists insisted that something was brewing on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, where they were playing married assassins. Months later, they accepted that there was indeed something going on, and for a while, “Brangelina” seemed like modern-day Mark Anthony and Cleopatra. Then they parted ways and treated us to more heated divorce proceedings than Ted and Joana in Kramer Vs. Kramer. Ah… This thing called love.
Of the two, Angelina Jolie was the first to be awarded, scooping the Best Actress Oscar for her magnificent portrayal of the sociopath, Lisa, in Girl Interrupted. Pitt followed much later, first getting Best Picture for producing 12 Years a Slave, before finally being awarded for his acting work in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Pitt’s character, stuntman Cliff Booth, was undoubtedly the best thing about the movie, and the Best Supporting Actor was well deserved.
9
James Cameron & Kathryn Bigelow
Cameron is obsessed with water. Bigelow is obsessed with war and explosions. This marriage was never going to last, right? The two super directors were married from 1989 to 1991, having met through indie circles in the early ’80s when they were both trying to find success in Hollywood. Years later, they would become the first industry exes to both win Best Director.
Cameron was the first to be handed a trophy, winning for his work on Titanic. Bigelow’s success came about 10 years later, thanks to the war movie, The Hurt Locker. Interestingly, the 82nd Academy Awards turned out to be the Battle of the Exes. Given his previous success, Cameron was projected to win for his work in Avatar, but the award went to Bigelow instead. Bigelow’s win meant more as she became the first-ever woman to win Best Director.
8
Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward
Newman met Woodward in the production of Picnic on Broadway and was so smitten by her that he got divorced so that he could marry her. The two would become one of the first Hollywood movie star couples to choose to reside outside California, choosing to raise their family in Westport, Connecticut. They remained married for 50 years until Newman died in 2008.
Newman was nominated for an Oscar nine times, finally achieving proper recognition for his magnificent portrayal of a pool hustler in Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money. Woodward was nominated three times in her career, winning for The Three Faces of Eve. Woodward’s work was arguably more impressive as she portrayed three distinct personalities resulting from dissociative identity disorder.
7
Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones once told the Sydney Morning Herald that when she met Douglas in Deauville, France, he said, “I want to father your children.” Straight to the point, huh? Sounds like something Gordon Gekko, Douglas’ character in Wall Street, would say. Well, the pickup line certainly worked as the couple has two children together.
Douglas won Best Actor for playing Gekko, the corporate raider, but it wasn’t his first Oscar. Years earlier, he had received the Best Picture trophy for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Zeta-Jones’ win came from the musical Chicago, where she had a Basic Instinct-esque arc, starring as a vaudeville star who murders her husband and sister. This particular couple also proves that age is nothing but a number, since Douglas is 25 years older than Zeta-Jones.
6
Laurence Olivier & Vivien Leigh
Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh’s relationship deserves a movie of its own. The two cheated on their respective partners and broke off their relationships to marry each other. Then they later cheated on each other. “I couldn’t help myself with Vivien. No man could,” Olivier says in his autobiography.
Leigh was outstanding as the fiery and manipulative plantation daughter, Scarlett O’Hara, in Gone with the Wind. She was even better as the Southern Belle Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. For both roles, she got to give an acceptance speech at the Academy Awards. Olivier, on his part, was nominated for competitive Oscars a whopping 10 times, winning Best Picture and Best Actor for producing and starring in one of the greatest William Shakespeare adaptations ever: Hamlet.
5
Nicolas Cage & Patricia Arquette
Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette were accused of playing pretend for most of the late 1990s. A divorce filing in 2000 showed that they had been separated since 1996, yet they got married in 1995. All that time, people thought they were still together. Talk of proper actors, in and out of the set.
Cage’s Best Actor win for Leaving Las Vegas surprised many because, for the larger part of his career, he had been labeled a goofy action star. In the movie, he played an alcoholic screenwriter quite convincingly, and in recent years, he has proven detractors wrong even more with impressive drama roles. Arquette would have to wait till the 2010s for her trophy, winning Best Actress for playing a loving mom in Boyhood.
4
Frances McDormand & Joel Coen
Frances McDormand and Joel Coen have been married since 1984, though little is known about how they met. Almost nothing is known about their personal lives either. The two appear to have mastered the art of evading paparazzi. We only ever hear about their work… and that’s good enough, because they work a lot.
McDormand is one of the few performers to achieve the “Triple Crown of Acting” and has a total of four Oscars. McDormand won Best Actress for playing a pregnant police investigator in Fargo, a vengeful, grieving mother in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and a widow in Nomadland. She is also the first person to win an Oscar as both an actor and producer in the same movie (Nomadland). Coen is accomplished, too, winning four Oscars from 13 nominations.
3
Taylor Hackford & Helen Mirren
Mirren married American filmmaker Taylor Hackford in 1997, after dating since 1986. Hackford has often been lauded by sections of fans for supporting Mirren’s choice not to have children, while Mirren has been lauded for raising Hackford’s two children from a previous marriage as her own. Mirren has repeatedly stated that she has “no maternal instinct whatsoever.”
Regarding Oscars, Dame Mirren won her only Oscar for transforming into Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen. She sure was born for the role. As for Hackford, he should have gotten Best Director for Ray and An Officer and a Gentleman, but was snubbed. His only Oscar came in 1979: Best Live Action Short Film for Teenage Father. Not prestigious enough, but still good for the resume.
2
Sam Mendes & Kate Winslet
Winslet met director Sam Mendes when he offered her a role in a play. She turned the part down but began dating him. The two eventually got married. However, following intense media speculation of an affair between Mendes and actress Rebecca Hall, the couple separated, a shame considering how good they looked together.
Mendes received his Best Director award way before he met Winslet, earning recognition for American Beauty, a film about a man who gets tempted by his daughter’s friend. Winslet, who had been nominated numerous times, including for Titanic, finally won Best Actress for The Reader. Kinda like a reverse American Beauty, the movie has Winslet’s character falling in love with a younger man.
1
Javier Bardem & Penélope Cruz
Love brewed on the set can be the sweetest! Javier Bardem met Penélope Cruz while both were filming Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In the movie, their characters are caught up in a very toxic arrangement. In real life, things have been smooth between the two. No scandals… No paparazzi…. Just a nice private life.
For both Bardem and Cruz, 2007 through 2009 must have been the best period of their lives. Apart from meeting Cruz, Bardem also won Best Actor for terrifying us all in No Country for Old Men. Who uses a cattle gun to murder people? As for Cruz, she won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. How sweet!
What other Hollywood power couples would you like to see join the list this year? Let us know in the comments!
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