A Couple We Can Believe In: Sam and Kate

Talk about a match made in theatrical heaven. Both were born in Reading, a small town west of London but didn’t connect until Sam Mendes was casting for a play at the city’s storied Donmar Warehouse theatre in 2001. Press reports suggest that the events of 9/11 took their relationship to new level - Mendes was scheduled to fly on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon – and the two got hitched very quietly in the Caribbean in 2003. Since then, a son, films and many awards for both. Then in 2008 came their first film together: Revolutionary Road, the cinematic take on Richard Yates’ novel about a suburban marriage fracturing under the weight of the wife’s unfulfilled artistic hopes – quite the opposite of the couple’s real-life version. He directed, she played the wife and reunited with her Titanic love Leonardo DiCaprio, who played hubby. She didn’t get her long-time coming Oscar for this role but eventually won for The Reader. We imagine some sort of his n’ hers Oscar (he got his on his first feature film attempt, American Beauty) display at their New York home. And they’re also on an equal footing in every part of their alliance. “It’s not a question with us of ‘Does he wear the trousers or do I?’” Winslet said in a recent interview. ”It’s like we’ve got a pair and we each wear one leg.”