"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 very wealthy family and became a Broadway producer. Her close friend Jacqueline Susann introduced them in early 1945. They had a rocky romance and broke up several times before they were married. After honeymooning in Mexico they moved into a lavish apartment in New York City. Carole affectionally called her new husband "Poppie" and told friends she "had never been happier". She stopped acting for nearly a year to be a full-time housewife. There were rumors that he was going to produce a movie for her but it never happened. Carole and Horace both wanted to have a large family. When she was unable to get pregnant she became very depressed. She confided to her friend Marguerite Haymes that she had planned to commit suicide by driving her car off a cliff. At the last minute she changed her mind when she saw a kitten in the road. In the Spring of 1947 the couple bought a thirteen room Pacific Palisades mansion.
Carole and Horace Schmidlapp
They built a nursery and talked about adopting a child from an orphanage in Mexico. Carole said "I have now what I've always wanted in a marriage. I have the feeling of a deep security which will insure a permanent future with children of our own. I have a home now, not merely a house. My husband has a solid sense of values and brings out the best in me. We're already planning a home in the East with at least three children. When this happens, I'll commute to Hollywood for my picture assignments." Unfortunately by the Summer of 1947 the marriage was in trouble and Carole began having an affair with actor Rex Harrison. She spent several months working in England while Horace remained in New York City. In March of 1948 she filed for divorce. Just four months later Carole committed suicide. After her death Horace fought with her family over the estate. He later dated Lana Turner and Sheree North. Horace married Patricia Kennedy in 1958 and moved to Florida. He died in 1987 at the age of seventy-one.
