After a long marriage, Dumbrille's wife, Jessie Lawson, mother of their son John and daughter Douglass (Dougie), died in 1958. In 1960, at the age of seventy, Dumbrille caused a stir when he married Patricia Mowbray, the 28-year-old daughter of his friend and fellow actor, Alan Mowbray. In response to criticism of the May–December marriage, Dumbrille provided a succinct answer: "Age doesn’t mean a blasted thing. The important thing is whether two people can be happy together. Pat and I agreed that I had some years left and we could best share them together. We don’t give a continental damn what other people think."