It was love at first sight when they first met in the early 1950s. Many in Hollywood assumed they were a couple. Moviegoers wondered when they might marry. Though Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) and Montgomery Clift (1920-66) loved each other deeply, it was not the kind of love people thought it was. Clift and Taylor loved each other as only sisters could.
Elizabeth Taylor was a straight woman. Montgomery Clift was a gay man. Both knew that he had to remain closeted or his career would be destroyed. Taylor was the only person with whom Clift could be himself.
When Taylor and Clift shot "A Place in the Sun" (1951), the first of three films they would make together, they were considered by the press to be the two most beautiful people alive. And indeed they were. "A Place in the Sun" opens with a shot of George Eastman (Clift) on a California highway as he hitchhikes. His back is facing the camera. When a truck driver stops to give him a ride, Clift turns around and faces the camera. His sensuality is breathtaking.
Later in the film George, a poor young man from the wrong side of the tracks, enters into a forbidden love affair with the wealthy Angela (Taylor). George and Angela cannot fight the intensity of their attraction, which they each sense is going to get them into trouble. They dance together at a party. Their lips touch for a kiss that might very well be the tightest close-up in movie history. The intimacy of this moment is almost embarrassing for viewers.
The camera abruptly cuts to a close-up of Taylor's eyes as they dart back and forth, nervously looking around the room. "Are they watching us?" Angela asks as she grabs George's hand and pulls him from the room. Every moment in this intense sequence is shot with the tightest possible close-up in order to underscore the deep connection, and terror, of these doomed lovers. In hindsight, it's as though we're peeking inside the souls of Taylor and Clift as their intense but doomed friendship plays out before our eyes.
Five years later Clift and Taylor were cast in "Raintree County" (1956), a romantic drama set against the backdrop of the Civil War. The story begins in 1859, when Southern Belle Susanna Drake (Taylor) tricks "yankee" John Shawnessy (Clift) into marrying her. Though he is an abolitionist, John moves to the South to live with Susanna and her family. John soon learns that the Drakes have a history of mental illness. It becomes apparent that Susanna is showing signs of being ill.
"Raintree County" was a troubled production. Midway through filming, Clift ran his car into a tree. He barely got out of his car alive, and required multiple surgeries on his face and jaw. Part of his face remained paralyzed for the rest of his life. Though he returned to finish "Raintree County," Clift's good looks were gone.
It's a flawed film. The three-hour final cut features many subplots that have nothing to do with the main storyline. The film runs too long and requires a great deal of patience from viewers. In spite of all these problems, "Raintree County" offers a number of magical moments when Taylor and Clift share their scenes. Their intense love for each other spills onto the screen, giving viewers another peek inside their souls. Clift, who was suffering from a great deal of physical pain in the aftermath of his accident, had begun to escalate his drinking, and to take a dangerous mix of pills, during the filming. Taylor was worried sick for her beloved friend.
What Taylor and Clift were going through as friends in real life may have mirrored the fictional anguish being experienced by John and Susanna as Susanna's mental health issues began to manifest in "Raintree County."
By the time Taylor and Clift filmed "Suddenly Last Summer" (1959) a few years later, Clift was caught up in a dangerous downward spiral. His excessive drinking and pill-popping had destroyed what was left of his looks. Still in his 30s, Clift looked as if he were closer to 60.
Written by the legendary gay playwright Tennessee Williams, "Suddenly Last Summer" was a dark, Gothic tale of madness and repressed homosexuality. Late-1950s audiences must have been shocked when Catherine Holly (Taylor) spoke openly of "procuring" for her late cousin Sebastian. She would walk along the beach in a one-piece bathing suit in order to attract the attention of the young men whom Sebastian wanted. The film didn't shy away from incest themes, either. Catherine's aunt, Mrs. Venable (Katharine Hepburn), recalls how she and Sebastian, who was her son, were never looked upon as mother and son. They were viewed as a couple.
Clift plays Dr. John Cukrowicz, the psychiatrist who must piece the mystery together. Mrs. Venable wants the doctor to perform a lobotomy on Catherine, claiming that her niece is insane. Catherine turns out to be quite sane, it's Mrs. Venable who's mad. She wants the lobotomy performed because she's terrified of the truth.
Though Clift made several more films after "Suddenly Last Summer," his career dwindled by the early 1960s. His excessive drinking and his torment regarding his sexuality destroyed him, and his career went down in flames along with his life. He was abandoned by Hollywood and by most of his friends. Only Taylor stood by him.
In 1966, Taylor was offered the female lead in "Reflections in a Golden Eye," a then-shocking tale of repressed homosexuality on an army base. She accepted the role, but requested that Clift be her co-star. Clift was by that time considered an unemployable drunk, so Taylor's request was denied. Forever her friend's greatest champion, Taylor offered to insure Clift out of her own pocket so that the studio wouldn't lose their investment in case something went wrong. The astonished suits at Warner Brothers agreed. But the film as envisioned by Taylor never came to pass. On July 23, 1966, Clift died of a heart attack at his home in New York City. He was 46 years old.
Taylor outlived her friend by 45 years. For the rest of her life she spoke of her deep love for Monty, as she called him, and of her respect for his talent and range as an actor. Two decades after Clift's death, Taylor stepped up to the plate for gay men who were dying of AIDS. She spoke publicly and candidly of her disgust at how the Ronald Reagan administration had ignored the epidemic, and at how people with AIDS were being treated. Taylor raised public awareness and critical funds for AIDS research, ultimately becoming one of the greatest heroes of the plague years. Until her dying day she remained a vocal ally for people with AIDS, and for LGBT equality.
Clift, sadly, remains a case study of the harm that can be caused when society forces LGBT people to live in the closet. His life was one of great artistic achievement, but it was also filled with tragedy. During this Pride season, we at the B.A.R. remember Liz and Monty with love.