James Garner was glad to hear that Lois Clarke, who wanted to be an actress, had also gone to a rally for Adlai Stevenson in 1956 without a date.

They had met a few days previously at a BBQ held by a friend, when they were both hanging out by the pool. Garner described it as “love at first sight.”

“I was over-obsessed in love with this girl; she was stunning.” He wasted no time in inviting her to dinner that night, as well as every night for the next two weeks, leading up to the day they were married in the Beverly Hills courtroom on August 17, 1956.

His family was opposed to the marriage, citing the age difference as the key reason. “None of the doubters had considered how well Lois and I complimented one another.” ” We identified benefits in things that others thought were flaws.”

Garner passed away in 2014 after being married for 57 years.

Clarke aspired to be an actress when she was younger, but after a few years, realized that the limelight was not for her.

According to a cover article in one of the publications in 1985, Garner said that she did not want “any of her husband’s public life.”

Their former home in Brentwood, California, was characterized by novelist Jane Hall as an “iron-gated house that…offers a view from every room, while the world remains walled outside.”