The Truth About Norman Lear's Ex-Wives

As he wrote in his memoir, Norman Lear and Charlotte Rosen got engaged after seeing each other "fewer than a dozen times." They met in 1939 on a hayride. He was 17. She was 18, and working at a cosmetics counter. Lear writes that the two had hardly any common interests. He was, nonetheless, "attracted to the idea of a Charlotte long before I met her." In 1942, Lear dropped out of college to join the Air Force (via WWTW). A year later, Norman and Charlotte were married.  

A decade, a daughter, and a move to Los Angeles later, and their marriage was falling apart. As he explains in his memoir, Lear wanted to move to New York to advance his career. But Charlotte, who was, per Lear, "seeing a therapist five times a week," didn't. She was intent on staying in L.A. to continue therapy. And while Norman found a "lovely" place for him, Charlotte and their daughter, Ellen, to live, Charlotte never moved. Ellen did, eventually, when she was 14, to stay with Norman and his new wife, Frances.