If there’s one group of people who have raised the collective eyebrow of society more than any other, it’s those singular iconoclasts who have chosen to buck social conventions and never marry — not even once. PART THREE.

This series, exclusively for SingularCity, takes a look at the few, the proud, the never-married, and how they illustrate throughout history, a life without marriage can bring singular satisfaction.

Diane Keaton

Actor, director, producer, writer, photographer, singer, real estate developer, mother and muse: What hasn’t Diane Keaton done? Keaton turned 63 in January, and in those years, she has made more than 50 movies, winning an Oscar for her iconic role of Annie Hall in 1977 and inhabiting a breathtaking span of roles that range from comedic to the dramatic. She has lived a life of Garboesque seclusion, yet her love affairs with Woody Allen, Warren Beatty and Al Pacino garnered attention as much for their combined star power as for Keaton’s ability to inspire her on-, and off-, screen partners. Yet, through it all, Keaton has remained single. In an interview, she said, “I wouldn’t rule [marriage] out, but at the same time, I do not see that in my future. I mean, there’s a certain point in your life where you can’t help it, you’re biologically charged and driven towards the opposite sex. You dream about men, you love them, you’re excited by it, and I don’t feel that way now. There’s a kind of freeing aspect to that.”

 

Henry David Thoreau

Considering the almost uninterrupted praise that this author of such groundbreaking transcendentalist books as Walden and Civil Disobedience has received over the last century, it is easy to forget that Henry David Thoreau took a contrarian stance on everything from paying taxes to confining himself to a traditional marriage. Though Thoreau wrote sparingly about his precise viewpoints regarding marriage and committed relationships, his often-stated antipathy to the idea of submission to any outward will made his life as a singular a virtual inevitability. His brand of quiet anarchy likely grew from such extreme individualism. More interestingly, perhaps, Thoreau seemed to suffer little from loneliness as a result of his solitude but instead found almost unending inspiration in the natural communities he lived in and explored. Naturalists, individualists and lovers of fine prose have been making their appreciation known ever since.

 

 

Queen Elizabeth I

Called The Virgin Queen, Queen Elizabeth, the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, ruled from 1558 to 1603. She brought a Renaissance glory to England, and while she was loved by her people, she in all likelihood was not a virgin. Elizabeth was Henry VIII’s daughter by his second wife, AnneBoleyn; caught in an intricate web of ascension, aspiration and decapitation, Elizabeth was called a bastard after her mother’s beheading, and yet she inherited the throne of her father in a time of much religious, political and economic upheaval. While it was necessary for Elizabeth to marry to produce an heir, it was equally necessary that she not marry anyone Spanish, Catholic or sympathetic to the Spanish or the Catholics. Thus, no man became her husband. Elizabeth essentially held her maidenhead for political ransom, recognizing that in giving up her hymen, she would give up her power. Famously, she declared to an envoy of a wooing duke, “I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.”

Ralph Nader

During one of his many runs for the White House, Ralph Nader appeared on Chris Matthews’ TV talk show Hardball. In an effort to compare Nader to President Bush, Matthews said, “He’s raised two daughters; he’s had a happy marriage. You’ve never been married. Isn’t he more mature in his lifestyle than you are?”

Such is the bigotry residing in an astonishing number of people when it comes to never-marrieds. After establishing a career as a consumer activist that culminated in forcing Detroit to install seat belts in vehicles, Nader, 74, has run for President six times. Whether you regard him as a hero of the underclass or an extraordinary pain in the ass, he is arguably the most famous singular on the political scene. Nader is notoriously tight-lipped about his private life. He maintains a modest home in Connecticut (in the town where he was born) and shows no signs of letting up on his attacks on graft, abuse of power and cronyism in Washington.

Love Nader or hate him, you have to admire his unflagging single-mindedness.

Part One – The Never-Marrieds (Bill Maher, Coco Chanel, Wilt Chamberlain, Sheryl Crow)

Part Two – The Never Marrieds (Oprah Winfrey, Ludwig van Beethoven, Simone de Beauvoir, Al Pacino)

Part Four – The Never Marrieds (Hugh Grant, Condolezza Rice, The Wright Brothers, Cameron Diaz)