In 1953, he was briefly engaged to the Chilean actress Marina Cisternas.
Engaged in early December 1953 to actress/model Marina Cisternas, the New Year's Eve nuptials were met with disapproval by Harold and Mildred (Harold's parents). The two said that, should the wedding materialize, they would not attend. The divorced Cisternas boasted of how she and Harold, Jr. , had bought a home in the Laurel Canyon district of Los Angeles, and that "we are fixing it up ourselves." The engagement, perhaps due to his parents' disapproval, was broken on December 22, 1953.