Gary Merrill on July 28, 1950. That same day, he married Bette Davis, his co-star from "All About Eve", and adopted her daughter Barbara from a previous marriage. He and Davis adopted two more children, Margo and Michael, but they had a bitter divorce in 1960. Often politically active, he campaigned in 1958 to elect the Democrat, Edmund Sixtus Muskie, as governor of Maine. Merrill also took part in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 to promote Black voter registration. In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam War policy, he unsuccessfully sought nomination to the Maine legislature as an
Bette Davis accepted the award on Bancroft's behalf. Davis also received her only BAFTA Award nomination for this performance. Daughter Barbara (credited as B. D. Merrill) played a small role in the film, and when Davis and she visited the Cannes Film Festival to promote it, she met Jeremy Hyman, an executive for Seven Arts Productions. After a short courtship, she married Hyman at the age of 16, with Davis' permission. In October 1962, it was announced that four episodes of the CBS-TV series "Perry Mason" would feature special guest stars who would cover for Raymond Burr during his convalescence from surgery.