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Elizabeth and Monty

The Untold Story of Their Intimate Friendship

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3 of 3 copies available
3 of 3 copies available
Violet-eyed siren Elizabeth Taylor and classically handsome Montgomery Clift were the most gorgeous screen couple of their time. Over two decades of friendship they made, separately and together, some of the era's defining movies—including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Misfits, Suddenly, Last Summer, and Cleopatra. Yet the relationship between these two figures—one a dazzling, larger-than-life star, the other hugely talented yet fatally troubled—has never truly been explored until now.

"Monty, Elizabeth likes me, but she loves you."
—Richard Burton
When Elizabeth Taylor was cast opposite Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun, he was already a movie idol, with a natural sensitivity that set him apart. At seventeen, Elizabeth was known for her ravishing beauty rather than her talent. Directors treated her like a glamorous prop. But Monty took her seriously, inspiring and encouraging her. In her words, "That's when I began to act."
To Monty, she was "Bessie Mae," a name he coined for her earthy, private side. The press clamored for a wedding, convinced this was more than friendship. The truth was even more complex. Monty was drawn to women but sexually attracted to men—a fact that, if made public, would destroy his career. But he found acceptance and kinship with Elizabeth. Her devotion was never clearer than after his devastating car crash near her Hollywood home, when she crawled into the wreckage and saved him from choking.
Monty's accident shattered his face and left him in constant pain. As he sank into alcoholism and addiction, Elizabeth used her power to keep him working. In turn, through scandals and multiple marriages, he was her constant. Their relationship endured until his death in 1966, right before he was to star with her in Reflections in a Golden Eye. His influence continued in her outspoken support for the gay community, especially during the AIDS crisis.
Far more than the story of two icons, this is a unique and extraordinary love story that shines new light on both stars, revealing their triumphs, demons—and the loyalty that united them to the end.
"Casillo weaves an engrossing story about the intertwined lives of his subjects — the parallel worlds of privilege that they came from, the personal misfortunes that each suffered and the seemingly inextricable path that led to that fateful night. The author approaches them both with sympathy and comes away with a melodrama as good as any that they ever starred in."
The New York Times
"In a riveting new book that brings Hollywood's golden age to life with colorful, well-researched details and interviews with stars who knew Taylor and Clift, Casillo explores the intense bond the two shared."
People Magazine
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    • Booklist

      April 15, 2021
      In Hollywood during the 1940s and '50s, there were no more physically beautiful stars than Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, and when the two appeared onscreen together, the effect was electrifying. A potential comeliness competition could have torpedoed lesser relationships, but Clift and Taylor established a friendship that defied expectations. For the oft-married Taylor, their friendship could have, should have, gone beyond such platonic confines. Clift, however, was gay, one of Hollywood's less-well-kept secrets at a time when homosexuality was anathema. A combination of alcohol and drug addictions and the stress of sexual secrecy eventually led to a life of dissipation for Clift, while Taylor's predatory romantic escapades only enhanced her mystique. Film industry biographer and novelist Casillo (Marilyn Monroe, 2018) traces the professional and personal triumphs and tragedies of two Hollywood icons, focusing as much on their private peccadilloes as on their career-defining and, in Clift's case, career-destroying roles. Tinseltown was a different sort of town when Elizabeth and Monty were making their marks, and the pressures they felt to conform to society's image of stardom exacted devastating tolls.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      April 2, 2021

      Casillo (The Fame Game) explores the seemingly unlikely friendship between stars Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, often called "the most beautiful couple in cinema history." When they met, Taylor was 17, a product of the studio star system since she was a little girl, and though she was a talented performer, she was known more for her beauty than her acting. Clift was 31 and a serious Broadway stage actor. When they starred in A Place in the Sun, they found they had much in common, most notably their overbearing mothers. Not realizing that Clift was gay, Taylor fell in love with him but eventually settled for a long and enduring friendship until Clift's death at 45, caused by his alcohol addiction and exacerbated by a car accident that shattered his face. Casillo covers both stars' careers, but it's their personal lives that take precedence here. Celebrity-watchers might already know some of these facts about Taylor's and Clift's lives, and readers might wish that Casillo had been clearer about the line between reality and the invented dialogue and dramatized events that he drew from interviews. Nevertheless, they'll still be absorbed by this book, which has the feel of a novel. VERDICT A well-researched work that will appeal to readers who like their celebrity biographies juicy.--Rosellen Brewer, Sno-Isle Libs., Marysville, WA

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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