There have been some great real-life Hollywood love stories between actors like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, and Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, but there’s something extra special about the 45-year marriage between Juliet Mills and Maxwell Caulfield. Much of it comes from the fact that he’s 18 years her junior, which filled the people around them with skepticism but never made the couple doubt their feelings for one another. Mills — known for the title role on the ABC sitcom Nanny and the Professor — had been married to Russell Alquist, Jr. from 1961 to 1964, with whom she had son Sean. Then she was married to Michael Miklenda from 1975 to 1980, and they had daughter Melinda. Maxwell Caulfield — known for his role as Michael Carrington in the film Grease 2 — was working on a stage production of The Elephant Man, when he met Mills. Despite their age difference — she was 39 and he was 21 — an instant connection was made. While all those around them were skeptical, Mills and Caulfield walked down the aisle on Dec. 2, 1980. The couple continued to appear in a host of productions after they were married. According to Caulfield: “They say that show business couples don’t work very well together, the sparks don’t fly because they know each other too well. In the plays that we’ve done together, we’ve found the opposite to be true. She’s the cat’s whiskers.” For her part, Juliet summed up their ongoing love affair with the following: “When you’re in love, you don’t need words. A look, a touch, a sigh — you’ve said it all.”
