‘Elizabeth and Monty’: Bio Explores Famed Friendship

Author Charles Casillo is the first to write a duo biography of iconic film team
 Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.

Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift’s fabled friendship has been written about before. However, Elizabeth and Monty: The Untold Story of Their Intimate Friendship, by Charles Casillo, is the first full-length book about their relationship. The duo biography comes out May 25^th.

 Author Casillo mixes interviews from show business folk that he has gathered over the years. Also, Casillo has a discerning eye, as he culled information from a wide range of books and interviews that have documented the stars' lives and careers. As author of several movie biographies and a show biz professional himself, Casillo has a keen knowledge of classic Hollywood and offers an even-handed, empathetic eye toward great stars living and working under the scrutiny of the press and public.

Montgomery Clift & Elizabeth Taylor: The '50s movie dream team.

Elizabeth and Monty is a subtle rebuttal of the recent Making Montgomery Clift documentary. The project was made by Clift's nephew, utilizing materials archived by Clift's brother. The doc correctly zeroes in on the biggest problem of celebrity bios of troubled stars: Books and film stories of tragic stars accentuate the negative, and give the impression that such stars never had a happy moment in their lives. Marilyn, Judy, and Monty are always held up as cautionary tales of this genre. While Elizabeth Taylor was alive, the tabloid media was gleeful when she was sick, divorced, or fat, with handwringing over how fame and fortune doesn't bring happiness. Making Montgomery Clift shows a playful side of Monty, not tormented from being gay, per se. However, what the doc doesn't address at all is WHY Monty was so spectacularly self-destructive. Charles Casillo goes further in exploring that Clift wasn’t unhappy about his gay side, but having to hide it. The author does feel that Clift’s core unhappiness goes back to a childhood, where he was held up by his strong-willed mother as the special one in the family. Yet, Casillo sensibly points out that there is too much emphasis on trying to show a specific incident or reason as to why an artist like Clift went off the rails. Whatever the reasons were, the sensitive Clift reacted to it throughout his short life. Elizabeth had a similar upbringing with her mother, which is perhaps why Taylor and Clift bonded instantly. She similarly melded the same way later with Michael Jackson, who had a difficult childhood and stage parent from hell, too.

Elizabeth Taylor was an empathetic, loyal friend to Montgomery Clift.

Clift’s good friends—performers who didn't become professional show biz tale tellers later—recalled how they had to ultimately walk away from him. Those reliable sources note his obsession with pills, massive boozing, and how he turned into an infantile version of Mr. Hyde when high on either or both.

'Raintree County': Even before Montgomery Clift's famous car crash, at 35,
Monty's alcohol and pill abuse was already taking its toll on his face and body.

As for Elizabeth, I think her issues with substances started with her unending health issues, some nearly deadly. But like many showbiz people, who are expected to “sparkly, Neely, sparkle” 24/7, Elizabeth found that a pill or a cocktail, then more and more, took the edge off. I found it admirable that Elizabeth, at an age when most addicted stars were well down the slippery path, sought help, and did so publicly. That inner strength was perhaps what once led Elizabeth to swear that she’d never end up like Judy. It's interesting though, that while Monty and Elizabeth had a love/hate relationship with fame, Taylor wore it far more lightly.

The car accident that changed Montgomery Clift's life, after leaving
Elizabeth Taylor's home on May 12, 1956.

The book balances the hectic personal and professional lives of both stars well, wisely focusing on their most important times together. In intelligent, yet very readable prose, Casillo tells of “Bessie Mae” and Monty’s relationship, on-screen and off. I also admire that the author doesn’t shy away from the more sexual aspects of Taylor and Clift’s personal lives, but doesn’t sensationalize them, either.

Montgomery Clift at age 39 in "Suddenly, Last Summer."

Taylor and Clift teamed for three films—A Place in the Sun, Raintree County, and Suddenly, Last Summer—and their last attempt was a reunion that wasn't meant to be: Reflections in a Golden Eye. Casillo offers great on-screen and off-screen backstories on all counts.

Montgomery Clift in his last completed film, 'The Defector,' in 1966.
Monty's co-star is friend and one-time lover Roddy McDowall. 

Monty died shortly before filming began on Reflections in a Golden Eye. And judging from Clift’s looks in his last film, The Defector, Monty was in no shape to play an Army type, in such a demanding role. Had he been in better shape Clift might have been just fine, a counterpoint to macho From Here to Eternity. 

Elizabeth Taylor is flanked by Richard Burton & Montgomery Clift at the
'Night of the Iguana' premiere in 1964. The film's director, John Huston,
was to direct Taylor and Clift later, in 'Reflections in a Golden Eye.'

In Making Montgomery Clift, Clift's nephew notes that Monty made just as many films after Raintree County as he did before. That basically sums up the rose-colored glasses clarity of this Clift family doc. True, Monty turned in some fascinating performances that were informed by his post-accident persona, but his few hit movies were carried by other stars. And Elizabeth Taylor figured prominently in his latter day work. MGM floated the idea of partially recouping costs with their insurance and replacing Monty on Raintree County. Also, during Suddenly, Last Summer, the powers that be wanted to re-cast the erratic Clift. Elizabeth’s response to these suggestions was along the same lines: “Over my dead body.” And when studio execs didn’t want Monty for Reflections in a Golden Eye, because he was considered uninsurable, Taylor settled the situation by putting up her million dollar salary as collateral. You how many friends there are like that in Hollywood? Yeah, one in a million! As for the doc’s claim that Clift wasn’t all that perturbed losing his looks to his car crash—please. What actor, much less one of show business’ most handsome faces, would think that? Again, author Casillo subtly refutes this notion with facts from Clift’s friends.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship: Elizabeth Taylor & Montgomery Clift
at the premiere of 'The Heiress' in 1949. Taylor was 17 & Monty a dozen years older.

Charles Casillo could have written volumes about the twist and turns of Taylor and Clift’s lives. Casillo offers a fine focus on the two film legends times together, a recap for their fans and a primer for those just finding out all about Elizabeth and Monty.

Author Charles Casillo.

This duo biography is out May 25.

Here’s the link to Charles Casillo’s Elizabeth and Monty: The Untold Story of Their Intimate Friendship at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Monty-Untold-Intimate-Friendship/dp/1496724798

Rick’s film blog here: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/

My review for Taylor and Clift’s A Place in the Sun here: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2020/10/monty-still-has-place-in-sun-1951.html

My review for Taylor and Clift’s last pairing, Suddenly, Last Summer, here: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2018/03/suddenly-last-summer-1959.html

My tribute to the 10 year anniversary of Elizabeth Taylor’s passing here: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2021/03/reflections-of-life-long-elizabeth.html

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