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​There’s A Real Life Love Story In 'Titanic' And It’s Way Better Than The Actual Story

​There’s A Real Life Love Story In 'Titanic' And It’s Way Better Than The Actual Story

It turns out that there is much more to the story of the old couple in bed as the water rushes in around them in the film Titanic.

James Dawson

James Dawson

So, it's coming up to the 20th anniversary of the release of Titanic - which is enough to make me feel old - and it turns out that even after two decades, we are still learning things from the film.

Yup, James Cameron's epic film is still talked about to this day.

In fact, Kate Winslet was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert the other night talking about her role in the movie and suggesting that maybe Leo's character didn't try hard enough to survive.

Before I begin [SPOILER ALERT] the ship sinks, and Jack Dawson (Leo, complete with 90's curtains) is left to a watery grave as Rose (Winslet) survives.

Credit: 20th Century Fox

What's interesting is that before that there is a montage of people on board the ship at the moment that it goes into the icy Atlantic Ocean.

One of those shots is of an old couple lying on a bed together as the ship goes down, refusing to be separated even if it means dying.

Firstly, this is something that maybe Rose could have thought about before floating off on a bit of wood leaving her - admittedly recent - love to die behind her.

Secondly, the old couple are based on real people.

The couple in question are Isidor and Ida Straus who were traveling in first class on the ill-fated voyage to America.

Credit: wikipedia.org

Isidor was a United States congressman, and was also a co-owner of the famous department store Macy's - a pretty big deal basically.

They had been married since 1871, so for about 41 years, and were one of the wealthiest families on the ship.

They'd been having a lovely holiday in France and then, on their way back to the USA, disaster struck.

Because they were first-class passengers, and Ida was a woman, she would have been practically guaranteed a spot in a lifeboat.

Not so much luck for Isidor, though. As a man, Isidor was meant to stand around and basically help out until he died, which seems totally reasonable.

He bravely took his wife to a lifeboat and told her to get on, but she didn't want to leave her husband to die whilst she survived, so they agreed that they would both go down with the ship together.

Even when Isidor was offered a lifeboat place, he still refused to go because he didn't want to leave the other men behind so they stayed together until the very end.

There was a deleted scene in the movie that showed this brave act - but it was cut out. Hollywood can be a cruel place.

Featured Image Credit: 20th Century Fox

Topics: TV and Film, titanic, US Entertainment, Movie