It’s hard not to like Jason Alexander. Everybody recalls him from his role as George Costanza in Seinfeld and as Richard Gere’s nasty, hard-driving right-hand man, Philip Stuckey, in Pretty Woman. He’s a talented, funny, and one-of-a-kind actor you just can’t forget.
What you may not know is that there is a sweet story involving his courtship of his wife, Daena E. Title, that will surely endear them both to you. Jason Alexander’s wife is every bit as special as he is.
Who Is Daena E. Title?
Like Alexander, Title was strongly drawn to the creative arts. Born in 1957, Title was raised in Long Island, New York, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Theatre Studies from Wellesley College in 1979. After graduating college, she lived in Manhattan where she worked as a writer and actress.
Her acting career included a role in For Better Or Worse (1995), which starred Lolita Davidovich and James Woods. The director was none other than Jason Alexander.
Despite an auspicious beginning in the entertainment industry, it was visual art that truly interested Title. She summarized her professional viewpoint and mission on her web site: “These mixed media canvases are my social commentaries on the ongoing love-hate relationship between women, societal standards and self-esteem. I enjoy the intersection between authenticity and conformity, beauty and distortion, complicity and rebellion. I am obsessed with what it is to be female, attractive and performative in today’s world, and how we can find our truth in all that noise.”
She typically uses oil paint, mixed media, or acrylics on canvas. Her works have been displayed in galleries across the country, from New York City to Los Angeles.
Her Whirlwind Romance With Jason Alexander
How Title and Alexander found each other—and the way he wooed her and won—is like a real-life romantic comedy. They met in their twenties while both were struggling actors and Alexander was working as a casting agent.
Alexander recounted his first date with Title on The Late Show with James Corden. When Corden said to him, “You’ve been married for 33 years.”
Alexander joshed with mock solemnity, “It feels like 33 minutes—underwater.”
Corden asked Alexander about his and Title’s first date, and it was a doozy of a question. Looking back, Alexander confessed, “I knew I was playing way above the rim with this girl.” At the time, he said he only had a thousand dollars in the world.
They went to a cafe in New York where their waiter was Bruce Willis and the bartender was John Goodman.
“Within three weeks,” Alexander told Corden, “we were living together. Within six weeks, I started proposing. She turned me down three times.”
Undeterred, Alexander played his trump card. He rented a billboard in Times Square. Corden held up a photo of it. The message emblazoned on it was “Daena, I Love You, Please Marry Me Forever, Jason.” On it were four hearts.
Title found the gesture irresistible, and the couple wed on May 31, 1982, after less than a year together. Alexander and Title have now been married for over 40 years. They have two adult sons, Gabriel and Noah Greenspan (Greenspan is Alexander’s legal name).
Title Is A Breast Cancer Survivor
Alexander’s former Seinfeld co-star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, prompting Alexander to reveal that Title had survived her own battle with the disease a few years earlier.
“My wife went through this a couple years ago. … I find that women and couples and families that have been through this, they all pay it forward, so the minute you hear someone’s going through it, everybody says, ‘Do you need to talk? Do you need advice? Do you need contacts, doctors—‘ Whatever it may be.”
Luckily, Title is in good health now and the couple is free to continue their enduring love story!