Joe Mantegna tapped into one of life’s fulfilling blessings by having a partner ready to make sacrifices for his success. Behind this successful on-screen star is a supportive woman who has remained in his corner for forty-seven years. Inside their love journey.
Fans of the CBS series “Criminal Minds” would recall that one of their favorite cast members, David Rossi, played by Joe Mantegna, was a compelling character to watch.
Rossi had been in and out of several relationships and marriages, trying to find his soulmate. However, he claimed that he missed an opportunity for true love as his childhood sweetheart was the one who got away.
In reality, Joe’s love life is binding. Not only is he with the woman of his dreams, but the actor has been latched onto his high school love, Arlene, for about fifty years.
Consequently, the duo whipped up the most fairytale-like romance in Hollywood by sticking together through thick and thin and being supportive of each other, even though it entailed making sacrifices.
Their connection began as teenagers. The pair met in a drama club, where they were cast for a play. However, their relationship was not romantic until a few years later.
After their first meeting, they became acquainted but returned to their separate lives. Joe schooled in Morton East High School and junior college in Cicero, Illinois, while Arlene studied at Morton West High School in Berwyn, Illinois—but the play brought them together.
In 1969, when they got shortlisted as the finalist for “Hair,” a Chicago play in Schubert Theater: this time, they had brushed up their acting skills and were more professional; they recognized each other, and soon a romance was born. According to Joe:
“As it turned out, we both got cast. And, you know, it turned into something else.”
Many years later, Joe still holds the genesis of their romance dear and talks about it at any opportunity. In 2019, he shared a throwback image of him and Arlene posing as cast members of “Hair,” the drama that ushered in their history.
The image showed Joe dressed in a studded long sleeve shirt, with his black hair draped over his shoulder. The actor’s hands were tucked into Arlene’s, the blonde beauty who sat in front of him. Joe’s caption read:
“Yes that’s me and my darling wife Arlene when we did Hair. #hairthemusical.”
Despite being in love when reuniting, the couple did not marry immediately. Instead, they spent a few years having fun because they were “hippies,” according to Arlene.
By 1975, they decided it was time to be a formal couple. So after sharing vows privately in the city of love, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, they had a wedding ceremony.
Joe did not immediately cross from Broadway to TV,...
