(28 March 1960 - 24 August 1961) (divorced)
Early March 60
meets director Budd Boetticher. Later she will say, "I fell madly in love with him. I always liked directors. He was very charming. We had our work in common."
27 March 60
marries director Budd Boetticher at a Mexican cafe in Tijuana, Mexico. He`s 44; she`s 27. Ruben Padilla and Rand Brooks attend the couple. She and Boetticher return by automobile immediately after the ceremony and pose for the press at the El Cortez Hotel in San Diego.
28 March 60
after returning to North Hollywood, she is pictured carried by Boetticher across the threshold of her home
April 60
is replaced by Salome Jens as the ingénue lead in Angel Baby with Mercedes McCambridge and George Hamilton
19 April 60
her mother reveals that Debra has separated from Boetticher, barely three weeks after their marriage
June 60 she and Boetticher are heralded a surprise twosome of the week, showing up together at the Sportsmen`s Lodge. She tells columnist Harrison Carroll that Budd`s talking to her about a picture, but Carroll thinks "it`s more than that. I hear they have been dating quietly."
September 60
lunches with Boetticher at 20th Century-Fox and holds his hand during the entire meal while telling him she`s winging to Yugoslavia to make another picture.
November 60
she and Boetticher are reported reconciled. "She`s returned from Europe and if all goes well she`ll star in a Mexican flick which Budd will produce and direct."
January 61
her European picture stretches out longer than expected, but Boetticher expects her home by the end of the month. "`She`s worked very hard and is tired," says Budd. "If she feels well enough, we will go to Mexico. I want her to meet my friends there and to become well acquainted with the Carlos Arruzas. She will portray Mrs. Arruza in our picture, The Carlos Arruza Story."
7 May 61
she and Boetticher cross the Mexican boarder at Nogales, Arizona, in their shiny new white and silver Rolls-Royce to film El Toreo, a.k.a. Ole!, a.k.a. Arruza, a monumental documentary on famed matador Carlos Arruza. But Debbie-gal walks out in the middle of the project, leaving it high-and-dry until her look-alike, Mexican actress Elsa Cardenas, is hired to finish the movie and become the next Mrs. Budd Boetticher. The project eventually ends in the accidental deaths of Aruzza and most of the film crew seven years later.
24 / 29 August 61
her mother tells the press that Debra has obtained a divorce from Boetticher in Juarez, Mexico, after an 18-month marriage. "It`s all over. Debra got the divorce. She is very sick and upset. She didn`t decide on this step until late Wednesday afternoon. Debra does not do these things lightly." Later Debra will say: "I didn`t work after that divorce for five months. For the first time in my life, I didn`t want to do much of anything. My mother set up an engagement to go to Vegas which helped. I started dancing again. It was a very traumatic time. I felt sort of dead inside." Boetticher will die at age 85 in 2001 in Ramona, California.