Julie Newmar Husband: J. Holt Smith, Marriage, and Family Facts
If you’re searching Julie Newmar’s husband, you’re probably trying to answer a straightforward question: was Julie Newmar ever married, and if so, to whom? The short answer is yes—Julie Newmar married J. Holt Smith in 1977, and they later divorced in 1984. The longer answer is that many websites accidentally blur “husband” and “ex-husband,” which makes her relationship history sound more mysterious than it really is. Once you lay out the verified timeline and keep gossip out of it, her story becomes clear—and, in many ways, refreshingly simple.
Quick answer: Was Julie Newmar ever married?
Yes. Julie Newmar married J. Holt Smith, a lawyer, on August 5, 1977, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1984. They had a son, born in 1981.
If you see pages implying she was “never married,” they’re usually mixing up the public image of a glamorous Hollywood icon with the reality that her personal life wasn’t a constant headline. The verified record shows she did marry and raise a child.
Who is Julie Newmar?
Julie Newmar is an American actress, dancer, and singer whose career spans stage, film, and television. She is best remembered by many fans as Catwoman from the 1960s Batman television series, a role that helped cement her as a pop culture icon. But her career is bigger than a single costume or era—she also built a reputation in theatre and continued working across decades.
Because Newmar’s image is so tied to glamour and strong on-screen persona, people often assume they know what her personal life looked like. In reality, she kept many aspects of her private world—especially family life—out of the celebrity churn. That privacy is part of why searches about her relationships remain common today.
Who was Julie Newmar’s husband, J. Holt Smith?
Julie Newmar’s husband was J. Holt Smith, who is described in biography sources as a lawyer. He is not a public figure in the way Newmar was, which is one reason there is less widely circulated information about him. When a celebrity marries someone outside the entertainment spotlight, mainstream reporting tends to focus on the basic facts—marriage date, location changes, and family milestones—rather than building an ongoing narrative around the spouse.
That dynamic appears to fit this relationship. The historical record emphasizes the timeline and the family they built, not a long trail of public appearances or interviews together.
Marriage timeline: when did they marry and when did they divorce?
The marriage timeline is one of the clearest parts of the “Julie Newmar husband” story.
According to a standard biographical summary, Julie Newmar married J. Holt Smith on August 5, 1977. The same biography notes that the couple moved to Fort Worth, Texas during the marriage and that they divorced in 1984.
This is also where many online pages slip into confusion. Some sites will list him as her “husband” in the present tense, even though the divorce year is clearly documented. Others omit the divorce entirely, leaving readers to assume the relationship continued.
A simple fix is to say it clearly: J. Holt Smith was Julie Newmar’s husband from 1977 until their divorce in 1984.
Their son and family life
Julie Newmar and J. Holt Smith had one child together, a son born in 1981. Many biographies mention this as a key family milestone, but Newmar has generally not treated her child’s life as public property. That decision—keeping family details limited—likely contributes to why some casual readers don’t realize she was a parent.
For celebrities of Newmar’s generation, especially those whose peak fame arrived long before social media, privacy around children was more common. It was also often a deliberate choice to protect a child’s normalcy. In Newmar’s case, her public persona was iconic and highly recognizable, which could make privacy even more valuable.
Relationships before the marriage
Before marrying J. Holt Smith, Julie Newmar’s biographies note a high-profile engagement that didn’t end in marriage: she was engaged to novelist Louis L’Amour, but the engagement ended. Her biography also mentions that she had relationships with several notable men, including actor Robert Vaughn and musician/actor Donald “Shorty” Bacon.
The reason to mention these at all isn’t to turn her life into gossip. It’s to provide context for why people searching “Julie Newmar husband” sometimes encounter a list of names and assume that one of them must have been a spouse. Most of the names commonly associated with her were relationships or an engagement—not a marriage. The verified marriage was to J. Holt Smith.
How to verify celebrity spouse claims quickly
If you want to fact-check any celebrity “husband/wife” question in seconds, a simple method helps:
Look for sources that include specific dates and basic context, not just names.
Cross-check at least two reputable references. When the marriage and divorce years match across established bios, the information is usually solid.
Be cautious of pages that feel overly dramatic or overly detailed without citing where their details came from. The more specific the claim (exact locations, private conversations, personal motivations), the more important sourcing becomes.
In Julie Newmar’s case, you can verify the basics with one well-referenced biography: married to J. Holt Smith in 1977, divorced in 1984, son born in 1981.
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