Marshall, a soft-spoken man who was one of the pillars of the Hollywood British community, was widely respected and well-liked due to his talent and professionalism, pleasant and easygoing demeanor, sensitivity, gentlemanly and courteous manner, witty sense of humour, and his "very great personal charm". Among the actor's many friends in the British community were
Edmund Goulding, Eric Blore,
Ronald Colman,
Clive Brook,
Merle Oberon,
C. Aubrey Smith,
David Niven,
Basil Rathbone,
Sir Cedric Hardwicke and
Brian Aherne. Other friends included
Raymond Massey,
Rod La Rocque,
Vilma Bánky,
Kay Francis,
Mary Astor,
Irving Thalberg,
Norma Shearer,
Joan Crawford,
Melvyn Douglas,
Bette Davis and
Grace Moore. Although popular and likeable, Marshall suffered from bouts of depression through much of his life. In his free time, he especially enjoyed sketching the following year, they were married. Five years later, he first appeared with
Edna Best, who became his most frequent stage co-star; they also made three films together (
The Calendar,
Michael and Mary and
The Faithful Heart). Marshall and Best were married in November 1928, following their respective divorces (they had been cohabiting for the previous three years). In 1931, Best broke a lucrative contract with
MGM and walked off the filming of
The Phantom of Paris with
John Gilbert in order to be with Marshall in New York, where he was performing in a play. In response to a press inquiry, he said: "I'm sorry if Hollywood is annoyed, but Edna and I happen to be in love with each other and we want to be together." They would bring a nanny to help look after their daughter. At some point, Best and young
Sarah returned to London while Marshall received more film offers. They continued making trips to see each other. In late 1933, actress
Phyllis Barry had tea with Marshall and Claudette Colbert after they returned from Hawaii, where they had been filming
Four Frightened People. She remembered that Marshall "insisted on my talking all the time because he said I sounded just like his wife". By the time Marshall was filming
Riptide in early 1934, he reportedly was drinking heavily due to his problems with Best and increased phantom pain. (Director Goulding and co-star Norma Shearer successfully convinced him to curb his consumption of alcohol.) Not long after, Goulding introduced him to Gloria Swanson. In 1940, after a long separation from her husband and wanting to marry someone else, Best divorced Marshall on grounds of desertion (he lived in Hollywood, and she lived in Britain). She remarried almost immediately. a sister of film star
Rosalind Russell. Two years prior to their marriage, Russell's recently divorced ex-husband, songwriter Eddy Brandt, initiated an alienation of affection suit for $250,000 against Marshall, whom he accused of stealing his wife. Brandt later told the press that he and the actor settled out of court for $10,000. Marshall publicly denied this claim. In 1947, Russell divorced him in Mexico. They parted on amiable terms. Instead of explaining the reasons for her divorce, she told the press at the time: "I will never say anything against Bart. He is one of the most charming people I have ever known." He was married to his fourth wife, former
Ziegfeld girl and actress
Patricia "Boots" Mallory, from 1947 until her death in 1958. They were wed in August 1947, with
Nigel Bruce acting as best man. After a 16-month illness, Mallory died of a throat ailment at age 45. Marshall was deeply troubled by her death and had to be hospitalised for pneumonia and pleurisy less than two months later. He married Dee Anne Kahmann, his final wife, on 25 April 1960 when he was almost 70 years old. She was a twice-divorced, 38-year-old department store buyer. They remained married until his death. in 1961 Marshall had a daughter
Sarah by Edna Best and another daughter Ann by Lee Russell. Sarah Marshall followed her parents and grandparents into the acting profession, appearing in many of the most popular television shows of the 1960s, including
Star Trek,
The Twilight Zone,
Perry Mason,
F Troop and
Daniel Boone. Herbert and Sarah Marshall acted together in a television version of
J.B. Priestley's play
An Inspector Calls in 1951. His younger daughter, Ann Marshall (often called Annie), worked for many years as
Jack Nicholson's personal assistant. He also had at least four step-children, two from his marriage to Best and two from his marriage to Mallory. His grandson Timothy M. Bourne, Sarah Marshall's only child, is an independent film producer. Bourne was the executive producer of the Academy Award-winning film
The Blind Side (2009).
Affair with Gloria Swanson In the early 1930s, Marshall was commonly rumoured within Hollywood social circles to have had affairs with both his
Trouble in Paradise co-stars
Kay Francis and
Miriam Hopkins. In January 1934, Marshall, while still married to Best, began a serious affair with actress
Gloria Swanson, who recounted their relationship in her memoirs,
Swanson on Swanson (1980). She described Marshall at the time of their first meeting as "a handsome man in his early forties with a gentle face and soft brown eyes", who had "one of the most perfect musical voices I had ever heard". Swanson also wrote that the actor was "sweet beyond belief" and "a nice man", who "utterly charmed" her and her children. He constantly wrote her love notes, and when she was out of town, he sent her romantic telegrams almost hourly. (Many of these personal documents now reside at the University of Texas at Austin's
Harry Ransom Center archives, as part of the Gloria Swanson Papers.) Newspapers and film fan magazines widely discussed his affair with Swanson at the time, which he made little attempt to keep secret. In November 1936, Swanson left him once she accepted that he would not divorce Edna Best to marry her. Although insisting they were "madly in love," she believed that he would not demand a divorce because of his typically docile nature, reluctance to deliberately hurt people, and guilt over his separation from his young daughter. "He would always turn to alcohol rather than face a painful scene," she remembered. Despite an emotional parting, near the end of her life Swanson, who was married six times, wrote: "I was never so convincingly and thoroughly loved as I was by Herbert Marshall." A few months into their relationship, Marshall became a subject of media gossip after a confrontation at
El Morocco in New York City. A photographer snapped pictures of the couple dining together. When Marshall saw that Swanson was annoyed by the photographer, Wray later added details unreported at the time. According to her, Marshall referred to Saunders as a "bestial bastard" after the screenwriter ogled Swanson's
décolletage. Articles about the incident commonly mentioned Marshall's prosthetic leg, which had only very rarely been talked about in the press up to that point. ==Later years==