Ted Hartley, the third and final husband of “Desk Set” star Dina Merrill, has died at the age of 100. He joined fellow Hollywood fixtures June Lockhart and Bob Hope by living to become a centenarian. The Hollywood Reporter says he died on October 10 in New York City, after a lengthy time of living in the Hamptons.
A cause of death has not been confirmed. The news comes just a few days after the loss of his fellow former New York resident Sally Kirkland, who lived there from the early ’60s to early ’70s while acting Off-Broadway and partaking in NYC’s avant-garde movement.
In one of his final interviews, Hartley spoke to Les Carats about “ONWARD,” a fine art exhibition he displayed at Nicolas Auvray Gallery in NYC.
Hartley agreed with the interview that the display was “joyful,” and added, “Joy can be expressed in so many different ways. He revealed he created most of his paintings in a studio located in East Hampton. “It’s perfect for me because I can look out and see the ocean right on the edge of property. The other thing you can do is you get to have a fire in the fireplace everyday. Long winters,” he said.
He also revealed in the interview that he formerly worked as a firefighter during his military service. “I was very proud to be a firefighter. Everything needs to have a little danger in it,” he laughed.
Dina Merrill and Ted Hartley Bought RKO In the Early ’90s
Merill and Hartley, who wed in 1989, took over the remnants of RKO in 1991 years after the start of its decline in the 1940s. The Discography of American Historical Recordings says the studio was formed in 1928 via a merger of Joseph P. Kennedy’s Film Booking Offices of America and the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain, becoming one of the “Big Five” studios of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
The Hollywood Reporter says the couple’s company, Pavilion Communications, bought a 51 percent stake, and Hartley went on to produce several films such as “Mighty Joe Young” and “The Magnificent Ambersons.”
How Many Times Was Dina Merrill Married?
Hartley was Merrill’s third husband. The pair were married from 1989 until Merrill’s death from Lewy Body dementia on May 22, 2017. Her obituary in The Hollywood Reporter says the “Butterfield 8” star’s first marriage was to Colgate-Palmolive heir Stanley M. Rumbough Jr. in 1946. The couple had three children before splitting in 1966.
The year of her divorce, she married “Obession” actor Cliff Robertson, with whom she welcomed one daughter. They split in 1989.
Merrill’s marriage to Ted Hartley was her longest.
