| Famous
Historical Couples |
Years
Together
|
Mazo
de la Roche (author)
Caroline Clement |
75
|
Edith
Hamilton (classicist)
Doris Fielding Reid |
60
|
Romaine
Brooks (painter)
Natalie Barney (heiress) |
55
|
Lady
Eleanor Butler
Sarah Ponsonby
Known as the “Ladies of Llangeollen” in the General Evening
Post, 1790.
|
53
|
Mary
Woolley (author, Mt. Holyoke College president)
Jeannette Marks
Wooley was the only female member of the 1932 Geneva Arms
Conference.
|
52
|
J.C.
Leyendecker (illustrator for the Sat Evening Post, Collier’s,
etc.)
Charles Beach (artists model; the “Arrow Collar Man”)
|
50
|
Mary
“Molly” Dewson (known as “Americas first female political
boss”)
Polly Porter |
50
|
Octave
Thanet
Jane Crawford |
50
|
Mary
Renault (author)
Julie Mullard |
50
|
William
Haines (20s-30s movie actor, interior decorator)
Jimmie Shields (househusband)
Referred to by their friend Joan Crawford as “The happiest
married couple in Hollywood.”
|
47
|
Axel
Axgil (gay activist)
Eigil Axgil (gay activist)
|
46
|
J.
Edgar Hoover (FBI chief, transvestite)
Clyde Tolson (FBI special agent) |
44
|
Edward
Perry Warren (art connoisseur)
John Marshall (archaeologist)
Warren strove to create an informal “brotherhood of men” in
his home devoted to the Hellenic ideal. His Greek antique
collections form the core collections at the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Warren commissioned Rodin’s “The Kiss.”
|
44
|
Sir
John Gielgud (actor)
Martin Hensler
|
40
|
Benjamin
Britten (composer)
Peter Pears (singer) |
40
|
Marguerite
Yourcenar [born Marguerite de Crayencour] (author)
Grace Frick (academic)
Yourcenar wrote “Alexis,” “Memories of Hadrian,” “The Abyss,”
and an influential essay on Yokio Mishima. She became the
first and only woman to be admitted to the Académie Fançaise
in 1980.
|
40
|
Rosa
Bonheur (painter)
Natalie Micas |
40
|
Willa
Cather (author)
Edith Lewis |
40
|
H.D.
[Hilda Doolittle] (poet)
Bryher (writer) |
40+
|
Gertrude
Stein (poet, author)
Alice B. Toklas (author) |
39
|
Edward
Carpenter (reformer, author, England’s first gay activist)
George Merrill |
39
|
Janet
Flanner (journalist)
Natalia Danesi Murray (writer, editor, radio commentator)
|
38
[Flanner’s 2nd relationship]
|
Raymond
Burr (actor, philanthropist)
Robert Benevides (Burr’s business partner, philanthropist)
|
35
|
Paul
Cadmus (painter)
Jon Andersson (singer, actor) |
35
|
W.H.
Auden (poet)
Chester Kallman (poet) |
34
|
Lou
Harrison (composer)
William Colvig (instrument designer) |
33
[1967-2000 ended with William’s death]
|
Christopher
Isherwood (author)
Don Bachardy (painter) |
32
|
Charlotte
Witton (1st woman mayor of a major Canadian city, Ottawa)
Margaret Grier
Witton is credit with creating the slogan:
“Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be
thought of half so good … luckily, it’s not difficult.”
|
32
|
Ned
Rorem (composer, author)
James Holmes (organist) |
32
|
Maria
Louise Pool (author)
Caroline M. Branson
While Branson is listed as “literary companion” in Pool’s
obituary, the two are buried together, with a double headstone,
in the Rockland, Massachusetts Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.
|
32
|
Leonardo
da Vinci (artist, inventor)
Giacomo Caprotti (Leonardo’s apprentice) |
30
approx.
|
Samuel
Barber (composer)
Gian Carlo Menotti (composer) |
30
|
Anna
Cogswell Wood
Irene Leache |
30
|
Dame
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Margaret Jourdain |
30
|
Sarah
Orne Jewett (novelist, feminist)
Annie Adams Fields (philanthropist, biographer) |
30
|
Radclyffe
Hall (author)
Lady Una Troubridge |
30
|
Noël
Coward (playwright, songwriter)
Graham Payn (actor) |
29
[Coward’s last
relationship]
|
W.
Somerset Maugham (author)
Gerald Haxton |
29
approx.
[met when
Maugham was 40]
|
Francis
Poulenc (composer)
Pierre Bernac (baritone) |
28
approx.
|
Jean
Cocteau (author, poet, filmmaker)
Jean “Jeannot” Marais (actor) |
26
[met in 1937;
Cocteau died 1963]
|
James
Whale (director in theater & film [Frankenstein, Invisible
Man, Show Boat])
David Lewis (producer, studio exec.) |
26
|
Katharine
Lee Bates (poet, author, Wellesley College professor)
Katharine Coman (Wellesley College Dean)
Bates wrote the poem “America the Beautiful:”
“O
beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!”
|
25
|
Kathryn
Hulme (author The Nun’s Story)
Marie-Louise Habets (ex-nun) |
21
or more
|
Allen
Ginsberg (poet)
Peter Orlovsky (poet, gardener) |
20
|
James
Buchanan (U.S. Representative, Senator, Secretary of State
under Polk, minister to Russia & Great Britain, 15th
President)
William Rufus Devane King (U.S. Senator, minister to
France, Vice-President under Franklin Pierce) |
20
|
Sylvia
Beach (bookstore owner, publisher)
Adrienne Monnier (writer, publisher) |
20
|
Charlotte
Cushman (actor, arts patron)
Emma Stebbins (sculptor) |
20
|
Maud
Hunt Squire [aka Miss Furr]
Ethel Mars [aka Miss Skeene] |
20
|
Cris
Williamson (singer, songwriter)
Tret Fure (music producer, engineer) |
20
[Relationship ended in 2000]
|
Janet
Flanner (journalist)
Solita Solano (drama critic, editor) |
19+
[Flanner’s 1st relationship]
|
Alexander
the Great (known world conqueror)
Hephaistion (Al’s primary cavalry commander and right-hand
man) |
19
|
W.
Somerset Maugham (writer)
Alan Searle |
19
[met when
Maugham was 72]
|
Joe
Orton (playwright)
Kenneth Halliwell |
16
|
Al
Parker (b. Andrew Okun; director, producer, porn star)
Richard Cole (producer, actor) |
16
|
Cary
Grant (screen actor)
Randolph Scott (screen actor) |
15
|
Edward
II (king)
Piers Gaveston (son of a king) |
14
|
Tennessee
Williams (playwright)
Frankie Merlo |
14
|
Amy
Lowell (poet)
Ada Russell |
13
|
Michael
Bussee (Helped found Exodus International, an anti-gay group
that falsely claims orientation conversion.)
Gary Cooper (not the screen actor) |
12
[They met in an “ex-gay” ministry in late 1970s. Denounced
the ministry as fraudulent in 1978. Married each other in
1982. Relationship ended with Cooper’s death in 1991.]
|
Melissa
Etheridge (singer)
Julie Cypher (film & video director) |
12
[Relationship ended in 2000]
|
Lige
Clarke (author, activist)
Jack Nichols (author, activist) |
11
[Relationship ended with Clarke’s death in 1975]
|
Barney
Frank (U.S. House of Representatives)
Herb Moses (potter) |
11
[Relationship ended in 1998]
|
Armistead
Maupin (author)
Terry Anderson |
10
|
Billy
Strayhorn (composer; “Take the ‘A’ Train,” etc.)
Aaron Bridgers (pianist) |
10
[Billy’s 1st relationship]
|
Gianni
Versace (fashion designer)
Antonio D’Amico |
10+
|
James
Charles Stuart - VI of Scotland & I of England (author
“Basilicon Doron,” King, commissioned 1611 version of the Bible)
George Villiers (Earl of Buckingham) |
10+
|
Walt
Whitman (poet)
Peter Doyle (streetcar conductor) |
10
|
Noël
Coward (playwright, songwriter)
Jack Wilson (business manager) |
10
[Coward’s 1st major
relationship]
|
Oscar
Wilde (author, playwright)
Lord Alfred Douglas |
9
|
Angelina
Weld Grimké (author, abolitionist)
Mamie Burrill |
7
|
Sara
Teasdale (poet)
Margaret Conklin |
7
|
Publius
Aelius Hadrian (emperor)
Antinous |
6
|
Jean
Cocteau (author, poet, filmmaker)
Raymond Radiguet (actor) |
6
[met in 1917;
Radiguet died 1923]
|
Jasper
Johns (artist)
Robert Rauschenberg (artist) |
6
[Relationship ended in 1961]
|
T.E.
Lawrence (archaeologist, spy, author)
Dahoum (personal assistant) |
5
|
Serge
Diaghilev (impresario)
Vaslav Nijinsky (dancer) |
4
|
Rock
Hudson (actor)
Marc Christian |
4
|
Billy
Strayhorn (composer; “Take the ‘A’ Train,” etc.)
Bill Grove |
3
[Billy’s 2nd relationship ended with his death
in 1967]
|
Akhenaten
- formerly Amenhotep IV (pharaoh: 10th king, 18th dynasty)
Smenkhkare (co-ruler) |
3+
|
Liberace
(Walter Valentino) (piano entertainer, philanthropist)
Scott Thorson |
3
|
Ellen
DeGeneres (comedic TV entertainer)
Anne Heche (actress) |
3
[Relationship ended in 2000]
|
Paul
Verlaine (poet)
Arthur Rimbaud (poet) |
2
|
Eleanor
Roosevelt (philanthropist, presidential first lady)
Lorena Hickok (reporter) |
Unknown
|
Katherine
Bradley (author)
Edith Cooper (author)
They were aunt and niece — living their whole lives together
— and wrote books under the shared pen name of “Michael Field.”
|
Unknown
|
Margaret
Anderson (co-founder of The Little Review)
Jane Heap (co-founder of The Little Review) |
Unknown
|
Margaret
Anderson (co-founder of The Little Review)
Georgette Leblanc (soprano, author) |
Unknown
[relationship followed
Anderson & Heap’s]
|
Margaret
Anderson (co-founder of The Little Review)
Dorothy (Enrico) Caruso (author) |
Unknown
[relationship followed
Leblanc’s &
Enrico’s deaths]
|
Jane
Heap (co-founder of The Little Review)
Elspeth Champcommunal (clothing designer) |
Unknown
[relationship followed
Heap & Anderson’s]
|
William
III (King of England)
William Bentinck |
Unknown
|
Sergius
(saint)
Bacchus (saint) |
Unknown
|
Francis
Beaumont (dramatist)
John Fletcher |
Unknown
|
John
Maynard Keynes (economist)
Duncan Grant (painter) |
Unknown
|
Frederico
Garcia Lorca (author, poet, playwright)
Phillip Cummings |
Unknown
|
Anne
Cormac Bonny (pirate)
Mary Read, alias “Mark” Read (pirate)
These two women where hot-headed, bisexuals who also happened
to be theives, arsonists, and cut-throat murderers. Historical
knowledge about them is based largely upon “A General History
of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates,”
by Captain Charles Johnson (probably a pseudonym for Daniel
Defoe). It was published in 1724 after Anne and Mary were
brought to trial for piracy on the high seas in 1720.
|
Unknown
|
Lucius
Morris Beebe (author; philanthropist; named one of the ten
best-dressed men in America for several years)
Charles Clegg (literary collaborator)
Beebe and Clegg traveled for many years in Beebe’s elaborate
private railroad car. Among the more than 30 books Beebe wrote
were many on railroads.
|
Unknown
|
Cheng
I (pirate)
Chang Pao (pirate, colonel)
Pirating in the South Seas, Cheng I kidnapped Chang Pao, 15.
They became lovers, then Cheng adopted Chang. After Cheng’s
death, and a failed campaign to become emporer, Chang became
a colonel in the Chinese army.
|
Unknown
|
Gilgamesh
(Babylonian king)
Enkidu
Tales of heroic deeds by this couple are recounted in the
world’s earliest known epic poem, “Gilgamesh” (2,000-2,700
years BC). In one version of the tale, Gilgamesh is so distraught
when Enkidu dies that he travels to the underworld in an attempt
to retrieve him.
|
Unknown
|