I absolutely love Liz♥️
If you are in love with Liz like I am you definitely do not want to miss this one.
Highly recommend.

The devoted friendship between Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift is one of the most famous relationships in Hollywood history so I was very excited to get my hands on a book that focused on it. It quickly became apparent that the title is misleading in two ways: first, most chapters are about Taylor *or* Clift; and second, basically everything Casillo writes about has been covered in other biographies of the actors.

What we have here is mostly repeated rumors (did we *really* need *another* book speculating on the size of Clift's genitals?), highlights of Taylor's romantic entanglements, salacious gossip about Clift's sex life and his years-long decline, amateurish "insights," and repeated statements about the stars' physical attractiveness, with the occasional chapter about Taylor's and Clift's friendship thrown in.

The only thing that keeps this book from being another Hollywood Babylon is Casillo's obvious sympathy for his subjects, but that's really not enough to recommend it.

Received via NetGalley.

A huge fan of biographies, autobiography and memoirs this didn’t disappoint. Vintage Hollywood was a different time not all of it should be remembered as a positive experience but we should look back on it so we don’t make the same mistakes.

So, this is a weird one. I’m not sure I learned that much new about Elizabeth Taylor - but it’s not that long since I read Furious Love about her and Richard Burton so perhaps that’s the reason why. I learned a lot more about Montgomery Clift, but there are frustratingly few conclusions here about the whys and wherefore as of his self destructive behaviour - even before the car crash. If you like old Hollywood, go for it, it’s readable but imperfect.

I am a huge fan of movies and books about movie stars. That is I was delighted to request and receive this ARC of Elizabeth and Monty from NetGalley and Kensington Books. I want to thank both NetGalley and Kensington Books for the chance to read this in return for a review. I have read several books in the past about Elizabeth Taylor, as well as Montgomery Clift. While much of the information was familiar to me, there was still new nuggets to be gleaned, as well as a different perspective, given the years since both screen icons have died. It is good to remember that things were different in the 50's both for the good and bad. The bad- people who were gay were closeted and not respected. The good- while there were gossip columnists and magazines, we did not have the constant barrage of "entertainment news " that we have today. The studio system very much ran things, no indie movies , no regional film festivals. The studios and critics were feared and favored. The book give a good overview of those times as well. The friendship between Elizabeth and Monty begins when they made the movie- A Place in the Sun. It ends with his death. The book gives a lot of good detail in their lives , careers and loves. It also gives a bit of an epilogue re Elizabeth in her later years. There were no pictures, in the version that I read, which was a bit disappointing. However, it is a good solid well researched book about 2 iconic Hollywood figures.

Elizabeth and Monty is a look at Elizabeth Taylor's strong relationships with gay men, starting with her closeted father, and on into her work as the first celebrity AIDS activist. Montgomery Clift, a closeted gay man during the studio system days of hollywood, felt that nobody understood him better than Elizabeth, his "Bessie May." She staked her career on helping him time and again, when the powers of drink and drugs threatened him with no more roles. They could always turn to each other, and wound up being friends until Monty died. Not a complete biography of either star, but an interesting look at their relationship dynamic and the way that the studios treated gay actors during the heyday of Hollywood.

I absolutely loved this book! Casillo's book opens with a powerful scene that illustrates the deep love and affection Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift had for each other. The book exquisitely details the trajectory of their lives and how they intertwine throughout the years. The chapters alternate between Monty's life and Elizabeth's life but the thread throughout is their life-long friendship. Friendship is probably not strong enough a word -- platonic romance may be a better description as Casillo reveals throughout the book.

I have read biographies about both stars (and indeed Casillo draws on source material such as Patricia Bosworth who wrote a wonderful biography on Clift and who sadly died of Coronavirus last year). But Casillo also conducted his own interviews including one with Patricia Bosworth among others who knew the stars. Even though I have read about Taylor and Clift in the past, I learned new information about them in this book. What also makes this book a real treat is the way Casillo really brings their relationship to life.

I could not put this book down I was so engrossed!

I highly recommend this book!

This book chronicles the life of two stars from birth to death and perfectly captures the highs and lows so much so that you feel like you were there.

4 stars

Appeal Terms:
Storyline and Pace: sweeping and intensifying
Tone: bittersweet, gossipy, high-drama, mildly sensuous,
Writing Style: candid, journalistic

I tend to steer away from nonfiction as I would much rather hear someone talk about their life or watch a ridiculous biopic about them. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this deep-dive into the troublesome life of Monty and the salacious starlet Elizabeth. Truthfully, I knew little to nothing about the two of them, though I walked away feeling as if I got a lot of insight into the two of them. Would we have gotten along? Probably not, but I still enjoyed reading about their crazy antics!

I want to read more by Charles Casillo since he has this unique way of making these stars larger than life but still incredibly human.

~NetGalley Review~

(I talked about this on Goodreads and will probably mention it on Tiktok)

I love reading stories about old Hollywood talent and I have read a few about Elizabeth but not many about her and Monty. This was a wonderful story of their friendship we should all be so lucky to have a friendship like theirs .

Who doesn’t know Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift—at least their names, that is? Two Hollywood stars whose lights were shining most brilliantly in their day and keep on sparkling even now. They were—and are—also two of the most fascinating characters one can study, and their life stories, made of countless ups and downs, moments of happiness and dramas, read like strange fairy tales where one ends up doubting whether to envy them or pity them.

To be fairly honest, like many people of my generation, I guess, I knew more about Elizabeth Taylor before reading this book than I did about Montgomery Clift, whose name I consciously became aware of through an R.E.M. song called "Monty Got a Raw Deal" featured on their album "Automatic for the Peopl"e (one of my favorite albums ever). I also knew he was gay, which uelled my interest ever since I found out. Only when reading this book did I realize I had even seen him in several films, mostly those of the end of his career (namely in "Freud: The Secret Passion", which our psychology teacher made us watch in high school). It was therefore with unfeigned pleasure that I requested this double-biography, and with genuine pleasure, too, that I started reading it.

And it was a fascinating tale I read. Even more so as nothing in it is a tale but the story of two real persons’ lives—lives that showed some surprising similarities. The author retraces their childhoods, talks about their dysfunctional families, their domineering mothers, and their meeting in the movie "A Place in the Sun", where they immediately struck a strong friendship that lasted till the end. He tells us about young Elizabeth’s unrequited infatuation for the dashing and drop-dead gorgeous actor, who had built the first part of his career on Broadway before heeding the call of the movie business out West.

I won’t disclose more about the content of this book. Movie aficionados probably already know everything there is to know about these two film stars; for all the others, the least hint or detail might be considered a spoiler. All I want to say straight away is that I really enjoyed this book, which in long parts read like a novel, not because the author invented things, but allowed gaps to show where truths couldn’t be unearthed. From what I understand, he gathered lots of data first-hand, through personal interviews and press clippings, and of course, there remain things open to conjecture and analysis, which he indulges in, but never without honestly telling the reader that ultimately, only those involved know for sure what happened and why. All these bits and pieces the author wove into an interesting, riveting narrative with an untrembling hand, and he also succeeded in “fictionalizing” those parts that would have been dreary if written in a less intimate style. The prose was therefore engaging and drew me in right from the start.

What I enjoyed was that the book made me see both Elizabeth’s and Monty’s lives in all their glory and gloom, dwelling on the important steps of their careers and their personal lives, always coming back to the main focus: their lasting friendship. In one word, a double-biography I highly recommend.

Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor had a fascinating relationship. They often said they were the male/female complements of each other and that indeed seemed to be true. Both were preternaturally beautiful, both with dark hair and unusually blue eyes, both slight in stature with heavily defined eyebrows, both child-like, drug dependent and sexually promiscuous, as well as deeply sensitive and empathetic. They both too had complicated, toxic relationships with their mothers, and were the victims of awful tragedies and physical maladies. One of them, however, was a force of nature that no amount of tragedy could squash (Elizabeth) and one proved to be too tragic for this world (Monty).

One of the main tragedies of this pair is that they were quite in love - but with Monty begin a confirmed homosexual, and Liz being a confirmed lover of sex with men - well, that wasn't going to work out. It's to their credit that the pair were able to develop a deep lifelong friendship, Especially Liz, who fell in love with Monty at the tender age of 18, and was able to set aside the fact that he led her on for many months during their filming of the classic A Place in the Sun, then confused her repeatedly by bringing male lovers around her until she was finally able to piece together why he wouldn't get physical with her. At a time when homosexuality was a crime and could easily destroy a career, it's understandable why he broke the news in such a roundabout and insensitive way. But I'm not sure many would have been able to forgive him.

The book gives tons of fascinating insight not only into the pair's dynamic, but each of them separately. It is truly sad to read at times, especially with Monty determined to self-destruct, and his many friends and lovers - and even fellow concerned actors like Marlon Brando - desperately trying to intervene, and all failing. Such talent, such beauty, such success... and yet a crippling sense of depression and doom, and a horrific drug dependence, all conspired to bring Monty down in what should have been his prime.

I take a star off for a couple of reasons - one, as others have mentioned, the book is riddled with editorial errors. Not just typos, which is expected in an ARC, but even faults of logic, such as that a woman who is five feet eleven inches tall is "short of stature." This goes so far beyond the usual typos. I hope the author and editor take another couple of intense passes on this book, because Monty and Liz deserve better.

Also, the book has a tendency to dip into salaciousness once too often. While celebrity bios are by their nature often salacious - these people tended to live big, dramatic, gossip-worthy lives - there were quite a few times that it seemed as if "facts" were actually rumors. And there is one piece of information about Monty's manhood that I'm pretty certain none of us needed to know. Yes, it may have been yet another thing that contributed to his dark state of mind - but all of us are reading this book are his fans, and as fans, this isn't something we want in our heads when we're watching his divine movie performances. At least, I don't. As Monty once said when this bit of trivia about his manhood made the tabloids, "Is nothing sacred?!"

Otherwise, Monty and Liz fans should find this an intriguing bio, well worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor were loyal to each other until the end and were friends that shared their triumphs and life’s upheavals. This book explores their friendship.
What a fantastic read, this book gave you a glimpse into the Hollywood glamour of the time while also telling the tale of two stars who become firm friends.
This biography is well researched and easy to read that gives a new insight into the two stars.
Would recommend this book to anyone who loves old Hollywood.

On the X, Y and Z of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift’s friendship… They met as his date for a premiere and became the best of friends.

In 1949, before the then seventeen-year-old child star Elizabeth Taylor met her future co-star of A Place in the Sun (1951), Montgomery Clift, she panicked thinking herself a “Hollywood Nothing” and him an “accomplished New York actor”. Then Elizabeth met Montgomery for their arranged studio “date” for his movie, The Heiress.

Despite their over 10 year age difference, an easy and strong platonic friendship developed between the stunning young acting pair. Almost immediately, Elizabeth and Montgomery bonded in their on-off resentment for their pushy mothers, their childhood acting lives and a shared dark sense of humour. It was a close and confiding friendship that lasted until Clift’s death at 45, 16 years later.

The pair met again on the set of A Place in the Sun, a film celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. In this film, their natural chemistry sizzled as they played on-screen lovers. This causing speculation off set as to whether they were indeed a couple. At this time, she was now a young Hollywood starlet and he was fresh from Broadway and with The Heiress movie under his belt.

Off screen, the pair shared a sparkling close and confiding relationship. Both these two young talents were destined for greater things. Yet over the years, they remained firm friends. However, their love for each other always platonic. He was gay and this was accepted by his Hollywood peers and she had many marriages.

Montgomery was the one constant in Elizabeth Taylor’s life through many of her marriages (he passed away after she married Richard Burton for the first time), off set scandals and her movie career. She was his saviour, always there to support him in his best and worst of times and through his good and bad movies. The pair confided with each other in everything and everything.

Now this story of the friendship between these two acting talents is told by Charles Casillo in his book Elizabeth and Monty, The Untold Story of Their Intimate Friendship. This book will be published on the 25th of May by Kensington Books. Casillo is an accomplished author and a screenwriter. His biographies include Marilyn Monroe and The Marilyn Diaries. His written work also included in publications such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine and many more.

In the prologue of this new book, Casillo details how in 1957, a motor accident changed both their lives as they worked again on the set of Raintree County. It happened one night after Montgomery drove from Elizabeth and her then (second) husband, Michael Wilding’s dinner party. This affecting them both in different ways.

Casillo believes that this accident led directly to Montgomery’s career waning as his dependence on drugs and alcohol led to erratic off set behaviours. Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s Hollywood career flourished to superstar status. He was to ironically save her life during the filming of Raintree County too, providing a needed medication (from his own “supplies”) as she fell ill.

Casillo tells about their two separate stories from childhood and over the same timeline, in this detailed biography. The book has over 41 chapters with enticing titles such as Who is Bessie Mae? and Cleopatra in London. There are chapters about the pair too in this book telling of their off-screen friendship and their joint movies.

These stars reconnected in their joint movies and there are many mentions of their meeting up as supportive friends to each other over the years. The book is written in a non-judgmental way on these subjects and many other well known Hollywood names make it an exciting and captivating read, I read this book over a few days and I would heartily recommend it as a Hollywood biography.

Casillo takes us on their Hollywood journey, with vivid descriptions of their films, behind the scenes tales and flourished with quotes and anecdotes from those who know them. In this well researched book, there are wonderful quotes from Hollywood headliners from Frank Langella to Shirley McClaine. This description of Elizabeth and Montgomery’s lives is so detailed you feel like an observer. Casillo uses a wide range of media including television documentaries, books and more to illustrate their lives.

In reading the book you will lose yourself in those acting talents lives and times of the 1950s and 1960s Hollywood and beyond, with these two stars friendship over the years. As Casillo takes you back to their friendship, he skillfully documents their lives, loves and triumphs, sad and tragic times and shares their happy shared occasions with parties and premieres. It’s a star-studded and beautifully detailed book where these two stars shine brightly as always the best of friends, and now thanks to Charles Casillo this Hollywood friendship has its rightful place in the sun.

(This review is set up be published on the books publishing date the 25 May 2021, the below link will be valid to use then. I can change this date if advised to do so by the publisher or author)

There are stars from a certain era in Hollywood that always make one thing that their lives were nothing but glamour and wonder. They're the definition of true movie stars. Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift are among them. I grew up knowing their names from movies I love to watch, but aside from a few tidbits about Taylor, who I knew more for her AIDS work, I didn't really know much about their lives outside of the characters they portrayed. This book goes deep into all of their secrets, heartbreaks, traumas, and triumphs.
I don't think there's an actor out there with a story quite as tragic as Clift's. From childhood onward, he definitely suffered, almost as if in payment for his talent and beauty. Beauty he lost in a tragic accident at which Taylor was present. That is what opens the book before Casillo takes the reader back to both star's childhoods and to the moment they met and began a lifelong friendship.
It's a very well-developed and well-researched book. Casillo found quotes, letters, comments, old reports, and articles to fill in moments from the different stages of both actor's lives from birth to meteoric rise to tragic descent to eventual reinvention. It's a roller coaster of excess and emotions that sometimes reads like a sopa opera more than something that anyone could live through.
I'm walking away from this book with an even bigger appreciation of the work of both actors and with a desire to find a friendship as special as the one Liz and Monty had, but hopefully without all the horrible bumps the hit along the way.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the early read!
I also got a copy through Goodreads' First Reads in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. Before this book, I had only seen Monty in one film, The Heiress. I am new to the black and white world . and at the time i was thinking he is so handsome why have i never heard of him or seen him in anything else? Now i know. And i now know his whole story. I am now looking and waiting for more movies on TCM. I did not even know he was friends with Liz Taylor but OH MY GOSH even though this book was non-fiction it read like a novel! I could not stop reading it! Wow is all i can say.

I enjoyed the book and found it a compelling read. Being a lifelong fan of classic Hollywood, I've read numerous biographies of both Clift and Taylor so I was familiar with many of the stories. There were some, however, that I had not heard before. The book alternates between chapters on Taylor and Clift. Since their lives were often separate, the book often focuses on one without the other. There are some delicious gossipy details included and some disturbing ones as well. The sad and tortured life of Montgomery Clift is especially sad. It is interesting to see how two of the most beautiful and talented stars in Hollywood turned out completely different. One minor issue - sometimes the timelines are a bit confusing. For example, one incident in which Taylor rescues Clift from a seedy bar (a sequence that I must confess sounds unbelievable) mentions that it was the last time she saw Clift. However, in the following chapters, he is there with her attending a play with Burton and Taylor. Other than that, this is a fun read and a fascinating one.

I am adding to this review to mention that I did finally finish this book, it gets somewhat better in the middle. I am going to keep it at 2 stars because this was just a gossip re-hash. Nothing new here. Salacious is the word for this book. I learned more about the sex lives of these characters than I really ever wanted to know. This is one of the reasons I stay away from biographies-I find that the author/s usually have their own agenda and I'm generally not going to embrace it.



I am reading this as an ARC and wonder if the editing got any better with the books that the Goodreads winners have gotten? I know I'm not supposed to be mentioning editing problems (because this is an ARC), but at this late date, the book should have been somewhat readable. I've even found inconsistent dates that are extremely important. I genuinely hope that this book eventually finds a competent editor, or at least I hope the author invested in Grammarly to help out!!!

This book was one of the biggest disappointments in reading that I have ever come across. Had I known that this would be only about Montgomery Clift and his many, many lovers, addictions, and all-around disgusting behavior, with so much less about Elizabeth Taylor, I would never have picked up this biography. If you like sex in all of its down and dirty ways, if you like hearing the sordid gossip of old-time dead actors who are also drug addicts and mentally deficient, then this is the read you have been waiting for.

Now I know why I have always stayed away from gossip rags while I was younger (and still do) - I don't want to know who is screwing who and how. I don't want to know about the stars' penis size or actually the lack of such.

I have made it to the 30% mark, and I don't know how I will get any further. I will rewrite my review if the book gets any better/clearer. (less)

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an wARD of this book.
Well researched account of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Court during the golden age of Hollywood. Lots of gossipy details about famous stars. Gratuitous lists of who was gay in case anyone is not aware. Includes things I never knew about Monty and his very sad life. Was occasionally draggy and repetitious but enjoyable.
3.5 stars

Classic Hollywood—the era of the huge stars—beautiful and tragic. Guess that would describe both of these Hollywood legends.

I have to give it to author Casillo for all the research that went into this biography. Monty Clift was a successful Broadway actor when sixteen year old Elizabeth met him. Two polar opposites drawn to each other initially by their common experience of having stage mothers.

The chapters trade off alternately Taylor’s experiences and then Clift’s experiences. There was a LOT of name dropping, most names easily recognizable, as well as some fascinating behind the scenes tidbits about films, particularly those in which both starred.

There is a great deal of description which is then repeated, portions spun, rinsed and repeated, although with so many names involved in the narrative perhaps dropping a name more than once was appropriate. However, I got the point the first time.

We knew about Elizabeth’s penchant for men, the excitement, the thrill of the conquests (eight marriages), the tragedies, the drinking, the pills. We knew that Monty Clift was gay when it was dangerous to be so. We didn’t know of his destructive nature, the booze, the drugs, the pills and his propensity to go off the deep end into unnaturally offensive behavior. He was exhibiting self-destructive behavior, however, before a horrific accident changed forever his face.

Interesting account of Hollywood circa 1950s/60s...and the redeeming quality of Ms Taylor in her later years. 3.5 stars

such a fun and intriguing look into their friendship. i loved learning about how they grew up and how they came together. such a beautiful connection and friendship