Ian McShane has a face that looks like a crumpled road map of every dive bar in London. That gravelly voice and those "don't mess with me" eyes have made him a legend in everything from Deadwood to the John Wick franchise. But behind the scenes of a career defined by playing dangerous, hard-drinking rogues, there is a surprisingly stable reality.
Honestly, in a town like Hollywood where marriages often have the shelf life of an open carton of milk, McShane has pulled off the ultimate plot twist.
He’s been married to the same woman for over four decades.
Ian McShane and wife Gwen Humble have been a unit since 1980. That’s an eternity in celebrity years. But to understand how they got there, you kind of have to look at the wreckage he left behind before they met. It wasn't always mineral water and quiet nights in Venice Beach.
The Wild Years and the Path to Gwen
Before Gwen Humble entered the picture, Ian McShane was the definition of a "hell-raiser." We’re talking about a guy who was part of that legendary British wave of actors who seemed to view sobriety as a personal insult.
His first marriage to actress Suzan Farmer in 1965 lasted about three years. Then came Ruth Post in 1970. That relationship gave him two children, Kate and Morgan, but it also buckled under the weight of his lifestyle. By the mid-70s, McShane was famously involved in a high-profile, rather chaotic affair with Emmanuelle star Sylvia Kristel.
It was a mess. He’s admitted in past interviews with Woman's Own and The Guardian that he was "running around like a headless chicken" during that era. He had no permanent home. He was drinking to get drunk, not because he enjoyed the taste.
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Then came 1980.
Meeting on the Queen Mary
The story of how Ian McShane and Gwen Humble met is actually pretty cinematic. They were both cast in a 1980 romantic comedy called Cheaper to Keep Her. Filming took place on the Queen Mary, the massive retired ocean liner docked in Long Beach.
McShane was playing the lead, and Humble—an American actress known for her roles in The Buccaneers and guest spots on classics like Three's Company and Barnaby Jones—was his co-star.
Here’s the thing: McShane was used to love scenes. He was a professional. But when he had to film one with Gwen, he actually got shy. He told journalist Brendan Martin that he felt an awkwardness he’d never felt with another actress before. He genuinely liked her.
They didn't wait around. They got married on August 30, 1980, right there on the ship where they met.
Who is Gwen Humble?
Gwen isn't just "the wife." She’s had a solid career of her own, mostly in television. You might have spotted her in:
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- JAG
- Remington Steele
- Murder, She Wrote
- Absolutely Fabulous
- Lovejoy (alongside Ian, naturally)
She’s originally from the Midwest—blonde, athletic, and apparently possesses the kind of "strong personality" required to keep a former hell-raiser on the straight and narrow.
Survival in Venice Beach
These days, the couple splits their time, though they’ve famously called Venice Beach, California, home for a long time. They moved there around the early 2000s, right when McShane’s career was getting a massive second wind thanks to Deadwood.
Why does it work?
McShane credits Gwen with helping him finally put down the bottle. About three years into their marriage, he realized the partying was going to destroy everything he cared about. He quit. He swapped the whiskey for mineral water, and he hasn't looked back.
It’s also about distance. McShane is famously "un-showbizzy." You won't find him and Gwen at every opening of a subsidized envelope. They stay away from the Hollywood party circuit, preferring the relatively grounded vibe of Venice.
The Family Dynamic
While Gwen and Ian don't have children together, she became a permanent fixture in a family tree that was, for a while, quite strained. McShane has been open about the fact that his relationship with his children from his second marriage, Kate and Morgan, took years to repair.
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Being a "traveling actor" isn't conducive to being a present father. However, time (and likely Gwen's steadying influence) helped. Today, McShane is a grandfather of three, and the family unit seems much more cohesive than it was during his "wild man" phase in the late 70s.
What Most People Get Wrong
People see McShane on screen as Al Swearengen or Mr. Wednesday and assume he’s this intimidating, dark figure in real life.
The reality is a bit more boring—in a good way. He’s a guy who likes his routine. He likes his wife's company. He’s basically a reformed character who found the right partner at exactly the moment he was ready to stop crashing his own life.
Why Their Marriage Still Matters
In a 2026 context, where celebrity relationships are often curated for social media feeds, McShane and Humble are an anomaly. They don't have a joint Instagram. They don't sell their "secrets to love" in a lifestyle blog. They just stayed together.
The "secret" seems to be a mix of:
- Mutual Professional Respect: Both being actors, they understand the weird hours and the travel.
- Radical Sobriety: Ian’s decision to get clean was a turning point that saved the marriage before it could fail.
- Privacy: They kept the "business" out of the bedroom.
If you’re looking for a takeaway from the long-term success of Ian McShane and Gwen Humble, it’s probably this: find someone who makes you want to be a better version of yourself, and then actually do the work to become that person.
Next Steps for Fans:
If you want to see the couple's chemistry on screen, track down the older episodes of Lovejoy where Gwen guest stars. It’s a rare glimpse into the early years of a partnership that ended up being the most stable thing in Ian McShane's legendary life.