rage reviews
by bill biss
ELIZABETH AND MONTY: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THEIR INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP Charles Casillo
T
here is a tremendous amount of love, friendship, life, tragedy and triumph in Charles Casillo’s biography, Elizabeth and Monty: The Untold Story of Their Intimate Friendship. The two movie stars’
stories were complicated. At the very least. Casillo took the time and the research to flesh out two of the most beautiful, delicate and strong stars that dived into the motion picture business with their eyes wide open. Their meeting and instant friendship lasted until Montgomery Clift died. It didn’t hurt that when Elizabeth Taylor and Monty met in 1949, they were Gemini twins . . . in the sense that they both were the personification of female and male beauty. Yet through thick and thin, they remained lifelong friends. The book is heart-wrenching in all reality. After Monty’s car accident in 1957, it’s like watching a car crash in slow motion in Clift’s life. Taylor saved his life during that horrible night. But Monty tried and tried to pull himself back; and Taylor always considered him a strong, smart homosexual man who would remain a dear friend. Casillo has done a magnificent job with every chapter of presenting
their friendship and their lives that started on the movie set of A Place In The Sun, and continued with Raintree County and Suddenly Last Summer until Clift’s death in 1966. Monty was so instinctive yet so personally destructive, and it’s proven that in the mores of the times: Whatever profession you are in can prove that it is slowly deadly if the man in front of the mirror gets troubled. Montgomery Clift was 45 years old when he died. Elizabeth Taylor. What can you say about this legend that hasn’t
already been said? Yet there is proof in the pudding that she was an individualist. Sure, she had a domineering mother like Monty but you have to give it up for her strength, respect and courage during her friendship with Clift. It hurt her to see him while she ripped out the teeth stuck in his throat after the car accident, which helped save his life. She loved Monty, and that kind of love doesn’t give anyone the right to say the two were not the very best of friends. “Mother Courage” or Bessie Mae (Monty’s nickname for Elizabeth) is rightfully owned. For Charles Casillo to give new light to Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift is a place in the sun.
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ragemonthly.com | JUNE 2021
Bill Biss has been writing since 2000 about the people who create magic in music, film and book. His knowledge of the entertainment business has even impressed gossip columnist Liz Smith. He has been a member of Team Rage since its inception in 2007.
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