The Best Real-Life Romances on Film

While many Hollywood movie romances are too contrived to be true, some based on real-life love stories are just as sweet offscreen. Jeff Nichols' biopic 'Loving' (which happens also to be the pair’s last name) sheds light on a little-known romance that triumphed over a system built to prevent them from being together. Here's their story, as well as some other real-life movie romances you know (and some you don’t).

This true-life tale of an interracial couple who changed the course of American legal history is as devastating as it is inspiring. The film stars Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as the title pair, whose marriage was illegal under the state of Virginia's segregation laws. After being arrested and imprisoned, they fought back and took their case all the way to the Supreme Court.

Writer-director Michael Haneke pulled from some very personal source material when he came up with this Oscar-winning picture about an elderly pair who face the heartbreaking trials of end of life together; it was based on an experience he had with members of his own family.

Johnny and June Carter Cash's long-lived romance was far from storybook at first, and James Mangold's cinematic account of the musical duo's love legacy, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, didn't spare the details of their ups or downs. Their story of dedication and persistence prevailed on-screen, though, and the movie immortalized the iconic couple even more than their eponymous duet already had.

The tale of America's "Cinderella Man," retired boxer James J. Braddock, is one of chance, optimism, and fortune at a time when the nation had little of that to speak of: the Depression. Braddock returned to the ring, much to the chagrin of his wife Mae. While she worried deeply about his safety against some formidable foes, she refused to turn her back on his ambition and stayed in his corner through their darkest hours.

The public marriage and private understanding of musician Cole Porter and his wife Linda Lee Thomas revealed that nothing is absolute when it comes to matters of the heart. Their sense of camaraderie and defiant affection for one another as Porter carried on homosexual extramarital affairs, mostly with Thomas' blessing, was complicated but genuine.

Ron Howard's stunning portrait of Nobel Laureate mathematician John Nash and his devoted wife Alicia is a testament to what love can endure. While some of the details of Nash's struggle with schizophrenia weren't an exact representation of his life, the sense of compassion and empathy that emanated through their journey was very real.

The harrowing true-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender man who was raped and murdered by two men in 1993, was given excruciating cinematic life in Kimberly Peirce's critically acclaimed biopic. Amidst all of the anguish was the poetic love story of Brandon and Lana, played by Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny, whose devotion transcended labels and prejudices.

Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis found himself opening a real-life gateway to unexpected emotions and questions of faith when he met American poet Joy Gresham in the 1950s. The writers were married out of convenience at first but found inspiration in one another and, eventually, a sense of devotion and attachment neither expected.

This story of a man whose new bride suffers complete memory loss after a terrible car accident, starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, was based on the real-life experience of a couple named the Carpenters, who had to start their love anew after brain trauma cost her all memories of the man she once knew.

King George VI struggled to overcome his speech impediment for his historical last-minute address, but with the unyielding support of his wife Elizabeth and a speech therapist, he rose to the occasion. Tom Hooper's depiction of the duo, played by Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter, showed that the king and queen approached the crown as a cohesive unit.

The passionate and often tumultuous relationship of artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera has intrigued art historians for generations, and Julie Taymor's 2002 biopic, featuring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina as the complicated pair, gave cinematic life to the highs and lows of their far-from-picture-perfect love story.

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty famously played these two infamous criminals, who met when she was a waitress and he was an ex-con. Almost immediately they began a crime spree robbing and killing people with their gang until finally their story came to a gruesome end. They were cornered and killed by police in Louisiana, their bodies riddled with some 50 bullets.