Mel and Anne worked together occasionally, including in 1984’s To Be or Not to Be. On and offscreen, they always got a kick out of each other. “I’m married to a beautiful and talented woman who can lift your spirits just by looking at you,” Mel once gushed. Raved Anne: “When he comes home at night and I hear his key in the lock, I say to myself, ‘Oh good! The party’s about to begin!’”
Sadly, that party ended in 2005 when Anne died of uterine cancer at 73. Mel, her husband of more than 40 years, “was deeply wounded — he couldn’t get out of bed,” says McGilligan. “But he slowly bounced back.” Now, at 92, Mel is “like the Energizer Bunny — he keeps going and going.” As Mel says, “If you’re quiet, you’re not living. You’ve got to be noisy and colorful and lively.”
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