She may be known as a Hollywood legend, but 67-year-old Sissy Spacek is also a down-to-earth Texas gal who married a Midwestern man and built a quiet life with him in the Virginia countryside.
Sissy met her future husband at the beginning of her acting career, when they were both in their twenties on the set of Badlands in 1972. Jack was an art director for their film and Sissy was playing the lead character, Holly. Soon after meeting, the two became caught up in quite the adventure—one that solidified her feelings for the award-winning director.
"Jack had built this incredible treehouse on a river," she told Texas Monthly. "One day he asked me to ride home with him on a boat. We loaded up, and there came a terrible flash flood. The boat sank. Right then I knew life with Jack was going to be eventful."
Jack was immediately interested in Sissy, too. They were attracted to each other "because we had the same kind of conviction to work," Jack told Rolling Stone. But they never thought a marriage spanning four decades would come next. "We never expected a lifelong relationship," Sissy told People. "In fact, we even opened a bank account and put $30 in it, because that's how much it cost to get divorced. Now I think it would take something dramatic like death to end it."
The pair were married in 1974 in a private ceremony. Clad in jeans and accompanied by just one guest—their dog—the two were wed in a small California chapel. Since their nuptials, the two have built a very private life for themselves, but worked on several successful films together including Carrie (1976), Raggedy Man (1981), and Violets Are Blue (1986).
During the height of her career, the two escaped Hollywood for a bit and headed for the country in 1981. There they raised their daughters, Schuyler and Madison, on a 210-acre horse farm in central Virginia.
Throughout their 43 years together, they've managed to find a balance between keeping a low profile and working together in Hollywood. And according to the couple, they've made it work because of their shared passion.
"First we met working together, and throughout the 1970s we just did almost every film together," Sissy told The Huffington Post. "We really supported one another and we really understood the business. It was what brought us together. And we were passionate about the same things, including movie-making. And that's something that we continue to share."
Working together came naturally for the husband-and-wife team. Their shared interests, enthusiasm for work, and willingness to work together may be what makes their bond so strong. "You know we tell ourselves often how lucky we are," Jack said, "and how much we've enjoyed our life."
