A Critics' Choice nominee and a Ghostbusters actor are still going strong decades after being matched by a computer dating service. Technology first brought this couple together in 1966, but fate took them in separate directions before they were reunited eight years later.
A Lasting Hollywood Love Story
On Wednesday, the couple were spotted out and about in Los Angeles together, looking content and casual. Her acting career took off once they got together, and she has graced the small and big screen in Mom, Dharma & Greg, Midnight in Paris, Veep, Pump Up The Volume, In The Loop, and more. While her husband had a shorter acting career, Ghostbusters fans may recognize him as the Con Edison worker who was forced to shut down the protection grid with disastrous results.
If you guessed Mimi Kennedy and Larry Dilg, you are correct! Kennedy, 77, and Dilg, 78, were seen out in Los Angeles taking a leisurely stroll, looking content as they enjoyed the sunny spring day. The couple have been married for nearly 50 years and have technology in part to thank for bringing them together.
How They Met
They were paired up on the computer dating service Operation Match when he was 19 and she was 18, they told The Cut in 2022. 'I got the Operation Match thing in my sophomore year at Amherst College, which was right down the road from Smith. It was an all-boys school, just like Smith was an all-girls school,' he said. But by the time the IBM computer had matched them up, Kennedy was no longer available.
'I get Larry's name and five other names. Two of the guys contacted me — because girls don't call boys. Those two guys made me think, Eh, no. And by that time, I was falling in love with this guy I found on my own,' she said. Dilg, meanwhile, wasn't looking for anything serious: 'I, of course, hadn't responded at all. I got this form back and, I mean, I wanted to get laid. I thought, Okay, finally. I thought I would get all these names and it would be great. But I got only one name. So I looked her up in the freshmen book from Smith. And there's Mimi Kennedy's freshman picture from Our Lady of Mercy High School. Oh my God, it's a nun! That's not what I asked for! I didn't call her, because I just thought that I did something way wrong in filling this out, obviously.'
It would take a few more years for them to finally get together. Dilg said they fell in love 'instantly' once they reconnected in New York City, while a gut feeling also told Kennedy he was the one for her. 'We met at a place called Haymarket, which had sawdust on the floor, in the theater district. We were all waiting for Larry to arrive, and in he walked, then I had that small still voice within me that said, “This one's yours.”' They wed in 1978 and now have two children together.
Successful Careers
Mimi is now a critically acclaimed actress who is also politically active. The author of two memoirs, Kennedy boasts an incredible acting career that has spanned decades, with parts on Broadway, the big screen, and TV — including a role opposite Jeff Goldblum on an episode of American Playhouse entitled Popular Neurotics. She also is politically active and serves as a board member of the Progressive Democrats of America.
While Dilg wasn't an actor for very long, he landed a role in one of cinema's most iconic films, Ghostbusters, playing a brief yet memorable role as a Con Edison worker who is instructed to shut down the protection grid to the protestations of Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray). It is one of the last roles he had as an actor, with his resume also boasting Strangers Kiss, The New Mike Hammer, Thornwell, and an appearance in the show 3 Girls 3 as 'Dead Guy.'
