Famous Couples

Featured People

See all Famous Couples (7)

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  • In this group:
  • Napoleon
  • Joséphine de Beauharnais

  Napoleon and Josephine

  Napoleon did not care for Josephine's given name, Rose, so he renamed her Josephine, which she kept for the rest of her life. He proposed in January 1796 and sent her intensely romantic love letters from numerous posts around the world with the French army. Despite rumors of her infidelity and his jealous temperament, Napoleon and Josephine were crowned Emperor and Empress of the French in 1804. The couple divorced in 1810 after her infertility was confirmed, freeing Napoleon to take a wife who could provide an heir. The couple remained on good terms, with Napoleon once saying that the only thing to come between them was her debts.

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  Napoleon and Josephine

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  • In this group:
  • Lucille Ball
  • Desi Arnaz

  Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

  Model and comedienne Lucille Ball met Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz in 1940 while filming Too Many Girls. They fell for one another instantly and eloped later that year. In 1951, they debuted the hit television series I Love Lucy, starring as the zany middle-class couple Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. With near-perfect timing and a genius for ad-libbing, the red-haired Ball cruised through 179 episodes. The duo also founded Desilu Productions in 1950, a successful independent television production company. Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960, ending one of television's greatest marriages, though they remained friends until his death in 1986.

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  Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

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  • In this group:
  • Frida Kahlo
  • Diego Rivera

  Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

  Frida Kahlo first met Diego Rivera when she was an art student hoping to get advice on her career from the famous Mexican muralist. Although Rivera was married, a courtship ensued. They wed in 1929 (he was 42, she was 22) much to the disapproval of Frida's parents, who referred to the couple as "the elephant and the dove." With volatile tempers and countless infidelities, the marriage was notoriously tumultuous. The couple divorced in 1939 only to remarry a year later, though the second marriage was just as turbulent as the first. Both have long been recognized as important painters who achieved great international popularity during their lifetimes.

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  Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

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  • In this group:
  • John Adams
  • Abigail Adams

  Abigail and John Adams

  During their courtship and marriage, John Adams and Abigail Smith Adams exchanged over 1,100 letters, many filled with intellectual discussions on government and politics considered an invaluable account of the Revolutionary War. Abigail, a fierce advocate of rights for women and African-Americans, was an important partner throughout John's political career. The couple lived on a farm in Quincy, Massachusetts, where they raised five children. Abigail died in 1818; John died in 1826, 16 months after their son, John Quincy Adams, was sworn in as the sixth President of the United States.

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  Abigail and John Adams

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  • In this group:
  • Gracie Allen
  • George Burns

  George Burns and Gracie Allen

  George Burns met Gracie Allen in 1922, and they married in 1926. Their highly successful vaudeville act featured George as the straight man to Gracie's zany antics. The couple created its best-known sketch for radio, a situation comedy starring themselves as a working show-business couple. They carried the format to television in 1948, including next-door neighbors Harry and Blanche Morton, Gracie's infamous illogical logic, and the signature "Say goodnight, Gracie" at the show's close. The duo also made films, including an Oscar-nominated turn in A Damsel in Distress with Fred Astaire.

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  George Burns and Gracie Allen

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  • In this group:
  • Cleopatra VII

  Marc Antony and Cleopatra

  After Caesar's assassination, Cleopatra set her sights on the dashing Roman general Marc Antony. The two began an affair, resulting in twins in 40 B.C. Antony wed Cleopatra in 36 B.C., and appointed his new wife ruler of Egypt, Cyprus, Crete, and Cyria. This abuse of power so outraged the Roman Senate that they denounced him a traitor. After losing a major battle at sea, Antony and Cleopatra were forced to flee to Egypt in 31 B.C. In desperation, Cleopatra spread rumors of her own suicide. Antony, unaware of her plan, stabbed himself to death. When Cleopatra heard of this, she took her own life by inducing a poisonous snake to bite her.

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  Marc Antony and Cleopatra

See all Famous Couples (7)