Lester wanted Pattie to be the Smith's Crisps girl. She was to be in television advertisements and do promotional appearances and stores throughout London. Around the same time,Lester was hired to do a film to The Beatles. He liked her work, so he cast her in his film. Pattie was casted as a schoolgirl in the opening scene, named Jean. However, her part is shortened to the line "Prisoners?" and she is also seen during the Beatles' performance of "I Should've Known Better". Boyd later commented that it would be her last acting role, (which it was), stating "I'm quite happy modeling."
After a few days of filming, Pattie and some of the other schoolgirls asked the Beatles for their autographs, except John (Boyd was afraid of his sarcasm). George signed autographs for Pattie and her sisters. He put one kiss on Pattie's sisters autographs, and seven for Pattie. Pattie on her first meeting with George: "George hardly said hello. When we started filming, I could feel George looking at me and I was a bit embarrassed."
George offered for her to visit his trailer, but as Pattie remembered,"I was loyal, not stupid". Realising he could not get far with that, he then proceeded to ask her on a proper date. Just when George was about to give up, she said yes. She already had a boyfriend, but she found that this date would probably be harmless and he'd never find out. Their first date consisted of going out to dinner and driving around London. Pattie secretly dated George for a few dates, but soon had to break up with Eric Swayne, a 30-year-old photographer, she dated for two years.
Boyd, circa 1964:" Eric was my boyfriend, but not any longer. George is tremendous fun to be with. We want it to stay just fun without having to talk about engagements and marriages."
Harrison, circa 1964:" She's my kind of girl and we like each other a lot but marriage is not on our minds. We hope to see more of each other when we can. It isn't a sin to have a girlfriend, is it?
Once Boyd broke up with her boyfriend,(to avoid tabloid scandal), the couple was able to plan their first holiday together, which would be with the Lennons, to Ireland. This was Pattie's first exposure to "Beatlemania", for soon the press found out were they were. Nobody knew George's girlfriend's name, but they were trying their best to find out. Their holiday was ruined, all they wanted now was to leave and go back to London. Pattie and Cynthia disguised themselves as maids, then hiding in the dirty linen basket. The basket was then pushed out by a bellboy, who took them to the airport. Unfortunately for the girls, he forgot about them, only thinking of the good deed he did. When they finally got out, John and George were laughing hysterically.
Despite problems in Ireland, the four of them were able to sneak away from the press, in which they traveled Waikiki, Hawaii. They were able to stay from May 5 to May 20, 1964. After that, they even stopped by Los Angeles with only being noticed once. But the press found them soon, and Pattie would not pose for the photographers. Oddly, George, who would learn to hate the press in later years, introduced Pattie as "my 29-year-old sister, my chaperone" as a joke.
With their relationship now public, Pattie started writing a column for 16 Magazine called "Pattie's Letter From London". By early 1965, Pattie moved into George's Esher bungalow. The fans hated Pattie for taking "their George" away after they realized how serious this relationship was. They used to stalk her, kicking, beating, and swearing at her. They even threatened to kill her. George tried to stop it, but he couldn't. Things were about to get worse for the fans. George proposed to Pattie on Christmas day, 1965. Boyd recalled in 1968:
"We were just motoring along [to Brian Epstein's party] listening to the radio when suddenly he very calmly told me he loved me and wanted us to get married. I think I just said yes or some such nonsense, but believe me, inside I was doing cartwheels. We really were very much in love."
They were married soon after the proposal, January 21, 1966 at the Epsom Registry Office in Surrey. Paul McCartney was the only Beatle in attendance. John and Ringo sent their best wishes, flowers, and very expensive gifts for the newlyweds. The couple were in outfits designed by Mary Quant, and to many, it was the picture perfect marriage. They posed for the obligatory wedding photos with their families, and were headed off to Barbados, where they let the press take photos of them on the beach together.
When they returned to Esher after their honeymoon, they entertained guests. Pattie's sisters came over a lot, because often George was out. George said he didn't want any more press, so Pattie was to give up her budding modeling career. Her last photo shoot was with her sister, Jenny, for Vogue UK. Pattie tried to help out the poor, but the press made a big story out of it. Again, Boyd was forced to become a northern wife and give up her career for the sake of her husband's.
A new culture in London was emerging at the same time. Soon, glasses of wine turned into marijuana, and later LSD. Boyd's first experience with LSD took place in 1964. Cynthia Lennon recalled the incident in the 1980's:
"I'll always remember that when we walked into this man's (a one-time friend of George Harrison's) drawing room, there wer four lumps of sugar arranged along the mantelpiece. We all(her, John, George and Pattie) had a delicious dinner and lots of wine. When the coffee came, one of the four sugar lumps was put into each of our cups. It was as if we sudenly found ourselves in the middle of a horror film. The room seemed to get bigger and bigger. Our host seemed to change into a demon. We were all terrified. We knew it was something evil-we had to get out of the house. But this man told us we couldn't leave. We got away somehow, in George's Mini, but he came after us in a taxi. It was like having the devil following us in a taxi. We tried to drive to some club-the Speakeasy, I think it was. Four of us, packed into a Mini. Everybody seemed to be going mad. Patti wanted to get out and smash all the windows along Regent Street. Then we turned around and started heading for George's place in Esher. God knows how we got there. John was crying and banging his head against the wall. I tried to make myself sick, and couldn't. I tried to got to sleep, and couldn't. It was like a nightmare that wouldn't stop, whatever you did. None of us got over it for about three days."
As Boyd's drug consumption increased, so did her need for fulfillment. The couple had taken a trip to India in 1966, and were fascinated by the country. When a friend suggested to Boyd to hear Marharsi Mahesh Yogi speak, she thought it was a good idea. She told Harrison, and eventually most of The Beatles and their entourage went to hear him speak. Boyd thought it would be a good idea to get spiritual fulfillment by going to this lecture, since she wasn't happy being by herself all the time. However, she would eventually regret this decision for two reasons. First, George fell deeply in love with India and being very spiritual, a major part in the breakup of their marriage. Secondly, they all came back disappointed by not receiving spiritual satisfaction, and were cheated by the Maraharsi, whom had less than spritiual practices ( a possible ploy by Magic Alex). The end of their happy marriage was coming.
On March 12, 1969, Pattie answered the door of their bungalow to find Sergeant Norman Pilcher. He had a warrant to search their house for illegal substances. They tore the house up looking for whatever they could find. They were charged with possession of cannabis resin [marijuana]. They were taken to the jail and released on bail. They plead guilty, and they claimed they had no idea the drugs were where they were. They had a stash somewhere else they said, which weren't found. Ironically, the Sergeant who searched the house was charged with planting illegal drugs on an innocent suspect a few years later. However,this wasn't the first time that Pattie and George were involved in drug busts. A bit earlier in 1967, Pattie, George, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, along with some other friends, were partying at one of the places of Mick and Marianne. As usual, drugs were present, mostly LSD, but also heroin, (a famous Faithfull vice). The police knew what was going on, but with the Beatles' lawyer David Jacobs and manager Brian Epstein, which the police respected, they were alright. Only a few hours after the Harrisons left did the police raid the house. Of course, by the time of the Harrison's drug bust, both David Jacobs and Brian Epstein were dead.
Harrison's infidelities were also increasing by this time. There was always some affair to be carried on for him, and with his increasing drug and religious isolation from Boyd, it only got worse. Harrison acted upon the chances given to him, complete opposite for Boyd. There were plently of opprunities for her, even an tryst with John Lennon. Boyd still cared deeply for her husband, even though she knew there were problems, therefore she never had an affair at this point.
While their marriage was coming apart, Eric Clapton became friendly with George Harrison. Clapton did uncredited work on Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and they became instant friends. Clapton would spend a lot of time with George and Pattie, and he could tell things weren't good between the couple. He became extremelly jealous of Harrison, as he fell madly in love with Pattie. He wrote "Layla" which spoke directly to Pattie as possible. He even had a brief affair with one of her sisters. He even rejected his religion, he felt it was to blame for Pattie's uphappiness. Boyd did carry on a brief affair with Clapton, but as she later admitted, she was not one to carry on extramartial affairs. She still loved Harrison, and was at the same time fascinated and frightened by Clapton's obsessive love for her. With the death of good friend Jimi Hendrix, as well as Boyd's rejection, Clapton fell into a 3-year bout of drugs and depression.
While Clapton went into seclusion from the public, Pattie had problems of her own. She had suspected that George had cheated on her, but the proof came during night at Ringo and Maureen's house, which proved to turn into the breaking up of two marriages. Harrison suddenly said how much he loved Maureen, and Boyd broke down in tears. Ringo Starr, who knew of Harrison's ways, could just roll his eyes. After Harrison's affair with Maureen Starr, Boyd started to defy what was told of her by Harrison. She started modeling again, and began a relationship with Ron Wood (Small Faces, Rolling Stones). Despite this, they were still together, although just barely. A car ride in 1972 almost proved fatal to Boyd.
George Harrison always loved racing cars, and when he drove along roads, he drove just as fast. Boyd was in the car when they crashed, and she was knocked out unconscious. She had broken ribs, which required several weeks in a hospital and more in rehab. When Boyd got her strength back, she was back out again with Harrison. Eric Clapton, even though still in depression, would often come out to some parties. On one particular night, he was at the same party with George and Pattie. Clapton got Harrison's attention when Boyd was away, and simply told him, "I'm in love with your wife." Harrison just replied, "Fine, you get her, I get your girlfriend." By this time, Pattie came back on the scene and was completely shocked that Clapton had the nerve to tell George that he loved her and that Harrison was insensitive to her. She left angry at the both of them. But it was only a matter of time before Boyd left Harrison.
* * *
One night in 1974, George decided on the spur of the moment to try one more time to straighten out his marriage to Pattie, but it was too late. Pattie had flown to Los Angeles in desperation and was staying with her sister Jenny, and her husband, Mick Fleetwood. Soon after, she went to see Eric Clapton in Miami. After all his heartache of not being able to have Pattie as his wife, he finally had the woman of his dreams. George's and Pattie's divorce was finalized June 9, 1977. George on Eric's relationship with Pattie: "We both loved Eric, still do, but there were a few funny things. I pulled his chick once. That's happened, and now you'd think he was trying to get his own back at me....Pattie and he got together after we'd really split, and actually we'd been splitting up for years. That was the funny thing, you know. I thought that was the best thing to do, for us to split, and we'd should've done it much sooner. I didn't have any problems about it; Eric had the problem. Every time I'd go and see him he'd really be hung up about it, and I'd be saying, 'Fuck it man, don't be apologizing,' and he didn't believe me. I was saying, 'I don't care.'
Pattie married Eric Clapton March 27, 1979 in Tuscon, Arizona. Forty of their closest friends, including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Denny and JoJo Laine, Mick Jagger, Elton John and David Bowie, were in attendance. Someone even had the nerve to sing "Something" at the party they held at Hurtwood Edge for their friends in England. George and his new wife, Olivia, came for the party after which an all-star band played. Their was a semi-Beatles reunion, with George, Paul and Ringo taking the stage. The night after the marriage, Eric brought Pattie on stage on his tour and sang to her, "Wonderful Tonight", a song inspired by her. The next day he sent her off to England.
Pattie was again being left at Hurtwood Edge by herself. The northern wife pattern started again. Her alcoholism continued to worsen, along with Eric's. Clapton's love for Pattie was still there, but he claimed later he just didn't know how to have a "normal relationship". By 1985, Boyd had enough. Clapton had had very public affairs and had two children by other women, and by this time Boyd was publicly humiliated. She knew she couldn't have children, and this was in part to blame for the failure of her marriages. They were separated, and by 1989, the divorce was finalized.
Pattie currently lives with her boyfriend in the London area. Pattie has put the past behind her, but she admits she sometimes feels special when she hears "Layla" or "Something", "but the moment passes." Pattie is still a part of exclusive London circles, and is invited frequently to Mick Jagger's house, as well as Keith Richards'. They've been friends for years, and she's always treated like "royalty" by them. They respect her because she never sold her story, or as many say "their soul" to the public, (similar to Jane Asher, different from Cynthia Lennon.) They also respect her because she doesn't live off the name of her two famous husbands, and has made a name of her own with her work as a photographer, most notably for a London law firm.
Pattie, George and Eric are all on speaking terms, but one could only guess how well. Pattie and George were both at the funeral for Eric's son,Connor, when he tragically died. In 1998, however, Clapton said his relationship will "never be the same" with Harrison.
