Every love story is different. Some people spend years looking for the love of their lives. Others are lucky enough to find their forever partners right away.
For James Garner, it was love at first sight when he met Lois Clark.
They had met each other at a friend’s barbeque.
Right then and there, he knew she was the one.
He asked her to dinner and they went out right away.
In the memoir James wrote in 2012, he narrated:
“I fell in love for the first and last time on August 1, 1956, at an Adlai Stevenson for President barbeque. That’s where I met Lois Clarke. It was love at first sight. The thunderbolt. She was as beautiful as she was sweet… It was a barbeque and I ended up in the pool with the children.”
They dated for two weeks.
And after that, they ended up getting married.
The ceremony was done on August 17, 1956, at a courthouse in Beverly Hills.
Almost everyone was against their marriage.
His family was the first people to oppose him.
For them, the two had almost nothing in common. Without any similarity, they’ll likely break up and end up with heartaches.
First, James was a methodist while Lois was Jewish. He was from Oklahoma while she was from Los Angeles. In addition to that, it was James’ second marriage.
James was taller than Lois at six feet and three inches. She loves spending time indoors while he was the outdoorsy type. He considered himself a realist while she was a dreamer.
None of those things mattered to the couple.
He shared:
“None of the naysayers had stopped to consider that Lois and I complemented each other. What they saw as weaknesses, we saw as strengths.”
Together, they built their family.
Lois got married and the couple had a baby girl together.
They named her Gigi.
James eventually adopted Lois’ first child Kim, completing their small but happy family.
The couple’s marriage wasn’t perfect at all.
Like most couples, they had their fair share of arguments and challenges.
In fact, back in 1970, they separated for about three months.
Even though there were rumors of James seeing a guest star on The Rockford’s show, he always denied it.
He said:
“Lois and I were never in serious trouble. Ninety-nine percent of the problem was the pressures of Rockford. It wasn’t us, it was me needing to get away to get my head together.”
Their marriage lasted nearly 60 years.
James died at age 86 of natural causes and they were still together when he passed away.
Even though they’d only seen each other for 14 days before getting married, they were able to overcome the different challenges that came their way.
Their story proves that even if two people seem to be different from each other if they are meant to be, love will find a way,
Learn more about their Hollywood love story in the video below.
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