(10 September 1949 - 1961) (divorced) 2 children
September 1948 spots 18-year-old Marjorie Steele, a cigarette girl at Ciro’s. He is there with Yvonne DeCarlo and Ava Gardner and Ava’s escort, glamour boy of the year, oil heir Dick Cowell, to see Sophie Tucker perform. After weeks of flowers and messages, Marjorie agrees to date.
whiledining with Marjorie at Romanoff’s, she insists on being introduced to Charlie Chaplin, an occasional tennis partner of his. The next day, Chaplin’s son, Sydney, approaches her at the Actor’s Lab cafeteria and asks her to dinner. They are out for many nights while Hartford is in New York. When Hartford learns about it, he summons her to New York’s Ritz-Carlton to "read for a play" that he considers producing.
proposes to Marjorie, and she accepts. A few days later he presents her with a 22-carat blue-white diamond ring. Charlie Chaplin has to talk his son Sydney into letting her go.
gets Marjorie a part in Tough Assignment by loaning the studio $25,000, with no interest
Marjorie’s ex-boss, Ciro’s Herman Hover, throws a party for the couple at his home on Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. Clark Gable and Virginia Grey, Shirley Temple, and Carmen Miranda attend. Hartford and Marjorie attend, improperly dressed in tennis whites, and are almost denied access by the bouncer.
10 September 49 marries Marjorie Steele in Gardnerville, Nevada. She has a bad cold and can’t travel the additional miles to Reno.
the Hartfords divide their time between New York, Palm Beach, Los Angeles, and Cap d’Antibes, where she likes to go skin-diving
50
his daughter Catherine is born
51
he casts Marjorie for his upcoming Face to Face
Early 50s
without his help, Marjorie stars in plays in London and New York
53
his son John is born
his wife announces she will sever all ties to his ventures so not to jeopardize her career. She spends her time with her children between Palm Beach and Manhattan; he is in Hollywood.
20 October 60
Marjorie files for divorce in New York City and asks for an unprecedented $25 million plus $1,000 a day for expenses
February 61
finally pays $385,000 outright and $60,000 in annual alimony. Marjorie will marry British actor Dudley Sutton in November 1961.
c. 61
discovers 19-year-old Pennsylvania-born Diane Brown while she’s modeling for Bride. Soon she accompanies him from London to New York to the Bahamas.