Landis, Carole

Married in Yuma

(Frances Lillian Mary Ridste, 1919.01.01-1948.07.15)  Actor.

Carole Landis, 1941.

On January 14, 1934, when Carole was just 15 and attending San Bernadino High School in California, she eloped to Yuma with 19 year-old Irving Wheeler.  Even though Arizona's laws at the time were less stringent than California's, they did require that both partners be 16.  Three weeks later, the marriage was annulled.  Carole returned to school but on August 25, 1934, she remarried Wheeler.  Less than a month later, Wheeler threatened to throw her out.  She walked out but the twice marrieds were not divorced until 1939--just in time for her to marry her second of 5 husbands.

Lapre, Don

Alumni of Sunnyslope High School

Lived in Phoenix Metro area

Arrested in Tempe

Died in Florence

(Donald D. Lapre, 1964.05.19-2011.10.02)  TV pitchman.

The self-proclaimed "King of Infomercials" started his career of marketing products questionable value 1990 with his Unknown Concepts credit-repair business.  An FHA insurance refund pamphlet, and a "900" phone line scheme followed.  By 1992 he was hosting "The Making Money Show with Don Lapre" telling views how to get rich quick if they just buy a package of booklets, tapes and tips from him.

Later, he came up with "The Greatest Vitamin in the World"--which the FDA did not think was so great, shutting down his claims that it treated diabetes, stroke, heart disease, insomnia, cancer, and arthritis.

In June, 2011, he was indicted by a federal Grand Jury in Phoenix on charges of bilking 220,000 victims out of more than $52 million for worthless internet businesses.

When he was arrested within the month, he attempted suicide by trying to slit his femoral artery.

Just a few days before his trial was to start, he was found dead from an apparent suicide in his jail cell in Florence, Arizona.

Laurel, Stan

Married in Florence

Married in Yuma

Married in Yuma (again)

Married in Yuma (again...again)

(Arthur Stanley Jefferson, 1890.06.16-1965.02.23)  Actor.

Stan Laurel, 1925.

The skinny half of the famous Laurel and Hardy comedy team must have thought that Arizona was the ideal place for a marriage.  Stan Laurel chose the state as the site for three of his five marriages (or four of his six marriages, depending upon how you count them).  Not to detract from the romance of desert nuptials, he might have liked the location for other reasons.  Prior to 1957, Arizona had the advantage of requiring neither a blood test nor a 3 day waiting period before a hurried couple could marry.

In 1935 Stan married his second wife, Virginia Ruth Rogers, in Florence, Arizona.  Virginia Ruth filed suit for divorce within 2 years, but just as the decree was becoming final, she filed an affidavit asking that the final decree not be entered.  Her claim was that because of the numerous reconciliations and separations a final decree would not be legal.  Her motive might have had something to do with news that Stan was about to marry the Russian singer Vera Ivanova Shuvalova.

The court did not delay the final decree, and it was entered on December 31, 1937.  Immediately, Stan headed for Yuma with the Russian singer.  Virginia Ruth followed seeking to stop the Yuma nuptials, but to no avail.  Stan's third marriage took place as he had planned, on January 1, 1938.  Virginia Ruth's affidavit left some doubt as to the validity of the New Year's Day marriage.  On February 27, 1938, when a final ruling was entered on the divorce decree, the couple returned to Yuma for a repeat of the ceremonies.

Virginia Ruth did not take the marriage or the remarriage as a defeat.  When Stan's third marriage ended in divorce in 1940, she was ready, willing and able to take him back.  Stan married Virginia Ruth for a second time in 1941.  By 1946, however, divorce proceedings were again in the works.

In May, 1946, Stan Laurel and Ida Kitaeva Raphael learned that Stan's divorce was final.  The next day the two set out for Yuma to be married.  They arrived in Yuma late because they had gotten lost along the route and had to get the judge out of bed to perform the wedding.  They drove the rest of the night to spend their honeymoon at the Grand Hotel in San Diego.

As Stan's Arizona marriages go, the third time was a charm.  The couple was still married nearly two decades later when Stan suffered a heart attack and died.

Lawrence, Martin

Treated in Tucson

(Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence, 1965.04.16-    )  Actor, comic.

The star of the television series Martin (1992-1997) says his then wife used "a lot of trickery" in getting him to check into the Sierra Tucson drug-rehab center in Tucson.  She appears to have had good reason for the trickery--she pointed to his "irrational and abusive behavior" and use of "psychotropic" medicine.  In May before entering Sierra Tucson he was found ranting "Fight the power!" in a busy Sherman Oaks, California intersection and had to be forcibly subdued by police.  In August he was arrested at Burbank Airport for carrying a loaded revolver.

The treatment was abbreviated at best.  Martin says, "I was there for one day and came home. I found that it took me to get myself together, instead of some program."   If he did get himself together, it didn't take immediately since the next January his Martin co-star, filed a suit alleging sexual harassment and in March he was arrested for punching a man in Hollywood night spot.

Lee, Tommy

Arrested in Phoenix

(Thomas Lee Bass, 1962.10.03-    )  Musician.

Tommy Lee, 2005. Photo by Joel Telling .

The former drummer for the rock band Motley Crue is no stranger to arrests on assault.  In December, 1997, the band was performing in Phoenix.  The band urged fans to rush the stage.  When a security guard attempted to keep fans off the stage, Tommy Lee and bassist Nikki Sixx assaulted the guard.

Tommy received a 30 day sentence which he was able to serve concurrently with a six month sentence in California on charges of assaulting his wife, Pamela Anderson.  Pamela has only almost been arrested in Arizona, thanks to an indiscreet Playboy photo shoot on Route 66.

Lemon, Meadowlark

Lives in Scottsdale

Meadowlark Lemon, 1988.

(1932.03.25-    )  Basketball player.

As of 2005, the most famous Harlem Globe Trotter, the the "Clown Prince of Basketball", was reported to be an ordained Minister living in Scottsdale.

Liddy, G. Gordon

Lives in Scottsdale

(George Gordon Battle Liddy, 1930.11.30-    )  Talk show host, White House "Plumber," felon.

The "G" man, as syndicated talk radio listeners may know him, did not personally bring down the Presidency of Richard M. Nixon, but he masterminded the Watergate burglary which brought national attention to corruption at the White House.

Limbaugh, Rush

Treated somewhere in Arizona

Rush Limbaugh, 2009.

(Rush Hudson Limbaugh III, 1951.01.12-    )  Ultraconservative radio talk host.

On his show, Friday, October 11, 2003, Rush announced that he was leaving the microphone for 30 days to seek immediate treatment for his addiction to prescription pain drugs.  According to N.Y. Post sources, the place that the highest paid talk show host in radio history would be receiving treatment was the pricy Sierra Tucson addiction treatment facility.

Lofgren, Nils

Lives in Scottsdale

Nils Lofgren, 1997. Photo by Gerry Gardner .

(Nils Löfgren, 1951.06.21-    )  Guitarist, actor, composer.

The guitarist and member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band lives in Scottsdale.  In 2003, Nils and his wife, Amy, bought a 3,400 square foot home near the McCormick Ranch Golf Club.  The reported price of the eight room, three bath home was $1,600,000.

According to a waiter at Scottsdale's China Gate restaurant, Nils is a frequent guest at the restaurant, and Bruce Springsteen has been a guest annually.  Bruce orders vegetarian.

Lombard, Carole

Married in Kingman

Honeymooned in Oatman

Carole Lombard, c. 1938.

(1908.10.06-1942.01.16)  Actor.

Carole Lombard wed Clark Gable at the Methodist church in Kingman in 1939. The newlyweds honeymooned in Oatman at the Oatman Hotel.

Loud, Kevin

Lives in Paradise Valley

(1955-    )  Reality television subject.

The original reality television show was broadcast on PBS in 1973.  The series, An American Family, followed the Loud family as the flamboyant older son came out of the closet, and the Loud marriage disintegrated. Kevin, the second oldest of the Loud's 5 children, eventually made his way to Arizona.

In 2004, Kevin and his wife Judith sold their Paradise Valley home near the Hermosa Inn for $1,919,000, and purchased another PV home next to the Camelback Golf Club for $1,120,000.

Luce, Clare Boothe

Lived in Phoenix

Clare Boothe Luce, 1932.

(1903.03.10-1987.10.09)  Congresswoman, ambassador, journalist, playwright, author.

Aside from the above titles, Clare Boothe Luce also claimed the title of wife of Time, Life, Fortune and Sports Illustrated magazine founder Henry Luce (1898-1967).  She is credited with warning a disbelieving FBI about a potential the attack on Pearl Harbor, and later being the first to discover the Russian missiles in Cuba.  She retired to Arizona.