"He's my definition of an ideal husband. In Horace I've found a man instead of a boy " ~ Carole
On December 8, 1945 Carole married William "Horace" Schmidlapp, her fourth husband. Horace was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1916. He came from a wealthy family and became a Broadway producer. Carole's close friend Jacqueline Susann introduced her to Horace in the Spring of 1945. They were married in New York City and honeymooned in Cuba. Carole called her new husband "Poppie" and took time off from her career while she lived with him in New York. There were rumors that Horace was going to produce a movie for her but it never happened. In the Fall of 1946 Carole's film contract at 20th Century Fox was cancelled and she was hospitalized for an "acute abdominal condition". She became very depressed and planned to commit suicide by driving her car off a cliff. Carole said she changed her mind after seeing a kitten in the road. She and Horace bought a thirteen room Pacific Palisades mansion in the Spring of 1947. They both wanted to have a baby so they built a nursery in their new home.
Carole and Horace Schmidlapp