Actor Jim Nabors marries male partner in Seattle
American actor Jim Nabors, the star of 1960′s television comedy “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” married his longtime male partner at a Seattle hotel this month.
Nabors, 82, also a singer, wed 64-year-old Stan Cadwallader, his partner of some 38 years, in a ceremony before a judge on January 15 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, where the couple traveled after same sex marriage became legal in Washington state last month.
“I was just trying to solidify all of our years together” – Nabors told Reuters on Wednesday from Hawaii, where the two live. “When you find a good friend in this life, you hang on to him.”
Nabors said the ceremony in his hotel room was “very touching” but laughed off any suggestion of feeling different afterward.
“Oh please, nothing’s changed” – Nabors said. “Most of the things you promise, we got through that 38 years ago.”
Jim Nabors.
Actor Jim Nabors says marrying his longtime male partner doesn’t change anything about their relationship — he just wanted it to be formally acknowledged.
“I just wanted it legal” – the 82-year-old actor best known as Gomer Pyle in “The Andy Griffith Show” told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Nabors married 64-year-old Stan Cadwallader in Seattle on Jan. 15. Nabors says they have been partners for 38 years.
Nabors said they flew from Honolulu just for the short ceremony and were married in a hotel room by a judge friend who drove up from Olympia, Wash.
Nabors said he’s not an activist but feels strongly that gay marriage should be a right for everyone.
“I think every person on this earth has a choice of who they want to spend their life with” – he said.
News of Nabors’ marriage was first reported by Hawaii News Now. Nabors told Hawaii News Now he’s been open about being gay with co-workers and friends but hadn’t acknowledged it to the media before. He said he’s not ashamed of people knowing, he just didn’t tell people because it was “such a personal thing.”
The couple met in 1975 when Cadwallader was a Honolulu firefighter.
“I’m 82 and he’s in his 60s and so we’ve been together for 38 years and I’m not ashamed of people knowing, it’s just that it was such a personal thing, I didn’t tell anybody” – Nabors said. “I’m very happy that I’ve had a partner of 38 years and I feel very blessed. And, what can I tell you, I’m just very happy.”
Nabors said he’s been open about his homosexuality to co-workers and friends but never acknowledged it to the media before. He doesn’t plan to get involved in the issue politically.
“I’m not a debater. And everybody has their own opinion about this and actually I’m not an activist, so I’ve never gotten involved in any of this” – Nabors told Hawaii News Now.
Nabors became an instant success when he joined “The Andy Griffith Show” in spring 1963. The character of Gomer Pyle – the unworldly, lovable gas pumper who would exclaim “Gollllll-ly!” – proved so popular that in 1964 CBS starred him in “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”
In the spinoff, which lasted five seasons, Gomer left his hometown of Mayberry to become a Marine recruit. His innocence confounded his sergeant, the irascible Frank Sutton.