Love Stories: 'It's not true': The misconception actor Ed Harris had to clear up about his 40-year marriage
By Merryn Porter |
O?ne of the most prolific actors of his generation, Ed Harris has been making movies since the 1980s.
But it seems acting not only gave Harris, 76, a decades-long career, but was responsible for him meeting the love of his life, actress ?Amy Madigan.
Harris, who most recently appeared in the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick, has been married to Madigan for 40 years, and in that time, the pair have acted together at least a dozen times.
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And while they have rarely spoken about each other, when they do, they have each touched on how special it is to share their life with someone who understands the business.
As for their first meeting, few details are known, but Madigan, who hit the big time when she started in the 1989 smash hit movie Field of Dreams, alongside Kevin Costner, cleared up one big misconception.
Madigan, also 74, said many assumed the pair met on the set of their 1984 movie, Places in the Heart, and embarked on a love affair.
"It's a nice Hollywood story, but it's not true," she once told the Chicago Tribune of the affair rumours.
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She said they actually started dating two years prior จC well after she had first seen him on stage in 1980 in the play Cowboy.
She told ?Life magazine in 1985 that for her, it was love at first sight.
"It was like something you see in a movie or hear in a song. I just thought, 'Well, there he is.' It was obvious to me that I'd see him again," she said.
They have not discussed how they got together, but while filming Places in the Heart, the couple decided to wed.
While it was the first time they worked together, it was not their last, starring in a total of nine movies and a number of Broadway productions.
In 1985, Harris, whose breakthrough role was as astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff, praised working alongside his wife. "The acting thing is so intimate and personal, if we're not working together... you can't really talk about your day very well," he said.
"When you're working together, though, there's so much that is shared, so much unspoken thought and emotion that goes into the work, that it really draws you closer," said the start of blockbuster movies Nixon and Apollo 13.
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Madigan agreed, saying, "The closeness of being married gives us the ability and the freedom to do those kinds of things. I mean, with another actor you'd have to spend a lot of time and energy getting to know them first."
Ten years into their marriage, the couple welcomed their only child, daughter Lily, who was alongside her famous parents when Harris received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015.
Both Harris and Madigan have enjoyed successful careers and many accolades, including an Emmy award nomination for her and no less than four Oscar nominations for him. He is also the recipient of two Golden Globes and two Screen Actors Guild awards.
