The story of how Pattie Boyd and George Harrison first met in 1964: “The best-looking man I’d ever seen”
They were a couple for the rock and roll ages. Not John and Yoko, or even Paul and Linda. They were George Harrison and Pattie Boyd, and everyone knew it.
What started out as a simple romance of young love – albeit against the backdrop of Beatlemania – soon became one of the most idolised and eyed upon relationships in the cultural world at the time. When it all ended in 1977, amid a divorce of infidelities, friends, and lovers, it didn’t put the whole thing to bed, but only upped the intrigue even further.
But neither Harrison nor Boyd had any view of their turbulent future together when they first clapped eyes on one another, on the set of The Beatles’ first film, A Hard Day’s Night, in 1964. She was just weeks away from her 20th birthday; the guitarist was barely a year older. And yet here they found themselves – in a new and exciting world, on the ascension to stratospheric stardom, and there was no escaping each other.
Well, to be fair, there was some attempted escape, because when Harrison initially asked Boyd if she’d like to go on a date with him, she unceremoniously turned him down, citing the fact that she had a boyfriend at the time. She was playing a schoolgirl, and he was the star, after all. The whole dynamic of the moment was a bit odd.
Yet despite everything, there was something unique and unforgettable about a man like that, even with three other seemingly budding bachelors standing by his side. It was only a few days later that she had decided her destiny – to bin off her original lover, and sail off into the sunset with Harrison and live happily ever after.
That was the utopian vision, at least. The reality was that despite the guises of fame that surrounded them, the pair were frankly still too young for their own good, and so when they did finally get to go on their first ever date to the private members’ association at the Garrick Club, they had a third wheel in tow, in the form of The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein.
Without wanting to put too blunt a point on it, Boyd knew exactly the magnitude of the catch she’d scored. She perhaps looked back on that first encounter on set with more romantic eyes than the moment actually consisted of, but nevertheless, her assessment was clear. “On first impressions, John seemed more cynical and brash than the others, Ringo the most endearing, Paul was cute, and George, with velvet brown eyes and dark chestnut hair, was the best-looking man I’d ever seen,” she both scorned and swooned.
“At the break for lunch, I found myself sitting next to him, whether by accident or design, I have never been sure. We were both shy and spoke hardly a word to each other, but being close to him was electrifying.”
Boyd may have put up certain pretences, but it seemed that from that moment forward, she always knew exactly what she was meant to do.
However, there was also no denying the fact that although getting with a rock star and international heartthrob was intoxicating and glamorous, it also came with its fair share of downsides. Number one prime among them was that said starry accessory was often torn away, in far-flung parts of the world on tour, so they could only see each other as much as the manic life of a Beatle allowed.
This is not to say that this put immediate roadblocks in the way of the couple, but by the sheer fact that Harrison bought the Kingfauns’ house in Esher, Surrey, for them to both move into, before 1964 was even out, spoke volumes about their incessant need to be near each other whenever they could.
The impacts of their quick marriage, which had taken place by January the following year, were almost too seismic to name in the course of their potted histories. He wrote ‘Something’, on top of multiple other Beatles odes, about her. She became integrated into the band’s universe. And they shared an interest in Indian culture and Eastern mysticism, so they were kindred spirits to the absolute maximum.
Yet cynics might say that the warning signs of their relationship’s impending demise were there. They married extremely young, in such extreme and unusual conditions. As Harrison became more deeply entwined in his spiritual fascinations, the more it spaced Boyd out of the equation, and when both of their extramarital pursuits took hold, the days of their union were ultimately numbered.
The pair parted on amicable terms – even when she did go on to marry Eric Clapton, Harrison’s starry best mate – but even once the papers went through and the assets were settled, was there a flash in each of their memories which took them back to that film set in 1964? Who’s to say, but no matter the outcome, it was undeniably the moment that sent the rest of their lives on course.
