10 Old Hollywood Couples With Big Age Gaps That Shocked the Public

Charlie Chaplin and Oona O’Neill (36-year gap)

Chaplin was 54 years old when he married 18 year old O'Neill in 1943. She was younger than some of his own children and close in age to the teenage girls he had married before. The age gap caused a big scandal. It also hurt her relationship with her family. This marriage fit Chaplin's long pattern of going after much younger women, some of them still underage.

Jean Harlow and Paul Bern (about 20-year gap)

Harlow was 21 when she married the producer Bern, who was 41, in 1932. The marriage did not last long and ended with his suspicious death. The age gap and the power difference in their careers showed a common pattern back then. Young actresses were often tied to older, powerful men in the industry.

Jerry Lee Lewis and Myra Gale Brown (9-year gap)

The rock and roll singer was 22 years old when he married his 13-year-old second cousin Myra in 1957 while on tour. His music career is more famous than his movie work, but he did appear in films back then, which ties him to that Hollywood era. The marriage destroyed his career for a while and caused a huge uproar over the legal and moral issues.

Errol Flynn and Beverly Aadland (33+ year gap)

Flynn was in his late forties when he started a relationship with a teenage aspiring actress named Aadland, who was between 15 and 17 years old. This happened in the late 1950s. He brought her on tour and called her his secretary, right up until he died in 1959. Even by the standards of that time, people found the relationship deeply wrong. It showed just how much Flynn went after very young girls.

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Sylvia Ashley (21-year gap)

Fairbanks was 52 years old when he married 31 year old Ashley in 1936. He had left Mary Pickford to be with her. People who knew him said he was pathologically jealous and controlling. That kind of possessiveness was common in Hollywood relationships where an older man married a much younger woman.

Bing Crosby and Kathryn Grant (30-year gap)

Crosby was 53 years old when he married 23 year old Grant in 1957. Even in the more conservative 1950s, people noticed the age gap. Crosby already had a strong public image, while she was still building her career. Their marriage was just another example of the common pattern where an older male star ended up with a much younger woman.

Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon (33-year gap)

Grant was 61 or 62 years old when he married Cannon, who was 28 or 29, in 1965. The marriage did not last long. They had a daughter together, but people who knew them said it was a difficult relationship. The big age gap made things worse, especially his need to control things and her being so young next to a Hollywood veteran like him.

Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding (20-year gap)

Taylor was 20 years old when she married 40 year old Wilding in 1952. She had chased after him first. What she wanted was some sense of security, but the age gap made the relationship uneven. She later said she hoped for a calm and steady partner in an older man, but the marriage still ended in divorce.

William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies (34-year gap)

Hearst was 54 years old when he started a long affair with Davies, a 20 year old chorus girl, back in 1917. They kept it quiet at first because he was already married. The relationship came with a lot of jealousy, spying, and control from his side. Even so, she still managed to build her own career. The power difference between a media mogul and a young actress was very clear.

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (25-year gap)

Bogart was 45 years old when he married Bacall, who was 20, in 1945. They met on a movie set while he was still married to someone else. Even though people now see them as an iconic couple, the age gap showed how Hollywood worked back then. Older, established stars often ended up with much younger starlets. He also liked having a more traditional wife, which held her career back in those early years.