Christopher Walken is one of the most recognizable actors of his generation. Most audiences could pick out his voice from the crowd. The Academy Award-winning actor has mastered nearly every film genre, establishing himself as one of the greats.
However, lesser known is his wife of over 50 years, Georgianne. Here’s everything we know about Georgianne Walken’s life, family, and career.
Who Is Georgianne Walken?
Georgianne Leigh Korzen was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 8, 1944. Her surname was changed to Thon when she was young to match her maternal aunt, Irene Thon, who raised her. She started the casting company Walken/Jaffe with her casting partner Sheila Jaffe.
According to IMDb, Georgianne has worked as a casting director on over 90 films and TV shows. Some of her most notable credits include Entourage and The Sopranos.
For her casting work, she’s been nominated for a total of 8 Emmys. She won the award for her work on The Sopranos in 1999.
While it’s clear her expertise lies in the casting department, she also has a couple of acting credits. She played Wendy Abramson in the 1983 film Brainstorm, and she also had a small role in a 2006 episode of The Sopranos.
The Walkens Met During A 1963 Tour Of ‘West Side Story’
As reported by The Guardian, Georgianne met Christopher during a 1963 touring production of the musical West Side Story. They were cast as boyfriend and girlfriend in the play.
Per Christopher Walken A to Z: The Man, the Movies, the Legend, it was love at first sight. “She was a fox,” Walken said of Georgianne. “She is a fox. We loved each other right away.”
According to Georgianne, the feeling was mutual. “When you met him, you knew he had this future,” she said. “He was good and was going to be better … I had never met anybody like that in my life.”
Georgianne believed in Christopher so much, in fact, that she worked to support both of them in the early days. She gave up her own acting aspirations to sell cosmetics to help make ends meet while Christopher pursued his stardom.
It seems like that trend never quite stopped as Georgianne pioneered her own successful casting agency, giving both of them the financial stability they needed.
“My wife takes care of everything for me,” Walken once stated. “She takes care of the bills, the money. I don’t have any part in it. Everybody has to do something. I do movies, and she takes care of me.”
They Married In January 1969
Christopher and Georgianne married just five years after meeting, and they are still together today. They share a home in rural Connecticut, and they don’t have any children of their own. However, Christopher has insisted that he doesn’t have any regrets in that department.
“I do like to work as much as I can because I don’t have children, I don’t have hobbies, I don’t do anything else. And I’m glad that I don’t have children. I have two brothers and they have plenty of children, they come to my house and I am always very glad when they leave,” Christopher once admitted, per the Golden Globe Awards.
Christopher once told The Guardian that he and Georgianne live a “conservative” life. “I’ve been married nearly 50 years. I don’t have hobbies or children. I don’t much care to travel. I’ve never had a big social life. I really just stay home, except when I go to work,” he explained. “So in that sense, I suppose I’m a regular guy.”
Although he claims to not have hobbies, it seems like Christopher is the real chef at home. He once told the Observer that his wife doesn’t cook, but he quite enjoys cooking while studying his lines.
Georgianne and Christopher are also huge cat people. In an interview with The Talks, Christopher revealed that he and Georgianne had a cat named Bowtie. They also apparently had another cat named Flapjack who sadly passed away.
Their Marriage Survived The Controversy Surrounding Natalie Wood’s Death
One of the biggest marks on Christopher Walken’s legacy is the 1981 death of Hollywood legend Natalie Wood. Wood’s mysterious drowning has been the object of fascination for plenty of Hollywood historians. There have been all kinds of conspiracy theories about her boat trip to Catalina Island.
Christopher, who had co-starred with Wood in Brainstorm just prior to her death, has forever been attached to that mystery. He was one of the three people aboard the boat when Wood mysteriously drowned. Many have questioned why Georgianne wasn’t with him on the boat when it happened, implying that Christopher was being unfaithful.
Yet, there has never been significant evidence to suggest a crime took place or that anything untoward had happened between Christopher and Wood. Wood had never learned to swim, and it’s understood that she fell overboard in what must have been a tragic accident.
Christopher has stayed tight-lipped about the incident, insisting he doesn’t know what happened. “She slipped and fell in the water. I was in bed then. It was a terrible thing,” he told People in 1986.
Despite the publicity storm, Christopher and Georgianne remained dedicated to each other. They’ve shared over 50 years of wedded bliss and are on track to enjoy many more.