Elizabeth and Michael

by Donald Bogle

  • • •

  Still relatively new to Hollywood, Shelley Winters had appeared in such films as The Great Gatsby, in 1949, and A Double Life. In A Place in the Sun, Stevens deglamorized her and let her wear little makeup. She had to ultimately represent everything the character Eastman hoped to escape. Though Winters had no scenes with Taylor, the two saw a lot of each other and became friendly. Winters witnessed not only Clift’s attraction to Taylor but also the response of the crew to her. No one seemed able to take their eyes off her—“with that beautiful black, curly hair, enormous violet eyes, tiny waist and gorgeous bosom.”

  She also saw the way Elizabeth had been isolated, growing up in a cocoon under control of the studio system and her mother, who, said Winters, “kept running around, complaining that because George Stevens had made Elizabeth go in that cold lake in a bathing suit, she would never be able to have children; to my knowledge, for the next twenty years Elizabeth never stopped having children.”

  Winters observed that, in many respects, Elizabeth seemed unaware of the way the real world worked. Except when in front of the camera, she was accustomed to having everything taken care of for her. “One day I was sitting in the one warm dressing room with Elizabeth,” recalled Winters, who was then writing a letter and asked Elizabeth for the date. “She answered that she didn’t know. I noticed the Hollywood Reporter on a chair next to her and asked her to look. She did and said, ‘It’s no good, it’s yesterday’s Reporter!’ So much for MGM’s Little Red Schoolhouse! I guess Elizabeth went to the Richard Burton University because when I met her again in later years she had acquired a very good British public school education and was much wiser, if sadder.”

  Of Elizabeth, Stevens said: “She had an artificial patriarchy imposed on her—the studio. It took the place of her retiring father. The studio, like a domineering parent, was alternately stern and adoring.” Aware always that though she was a professional, Elizabeth still was very young, Stevens took time to guide her through the release of emotions so crucial to her character. He also was respectful of Sara—and didn’t intervene with her coaching Elizabeth from the sidelines. For Winters, George Stevens was “the finest director and kindest man I was ever privileged to work with.”

  “Both Elizabeth Taylor and I fell madly in love with him. When we would see the rushes at night in the projection tent, we would each sit on opposite sides of him,” said Winters. “The whole experience was a joy.”

  For Elizabeth, working on A Place in the Sun under Stevens’s direction as much as with Clift as her costar would change her artistically. Earlier in his career, Stevens had mastered comedies, sometimes with significant social implications—such films as Alice Adams and Woman of the Year—in which American attitudes on class and gender would be questioned and criticized. He understood comic timing and comic reversals. But in this postwar period, as he made fewer films and freed himself from the constraints of the studio system, he turned away from comedies to dramatize a sometimes cruel or insensitive culture in such films as A Place in the Sun, Shane, and Giant. In total, Elizabeth would appear in three films directed by Stevens. It was A Place in the Sun that most influenced her as an actress. Though it would take her time following the film to find other compelling characters, she nonetheless would give some of her most complicated performances playing deeply troubled heroines in conflict with themselves and at odds with the attitudes of society, in such films as Raintree County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly, Last Summer, BUtterfield 8, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and even her underrated Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew.

  • • •

  During filming, Winters believed that “Monty was developing a terrific crush on Elizabeth. She loved being with him; he was fun and intelligent, and she had great respect for his talent. But she had been a working, sheltered child. Even then she was longing for the bright lights and the glamorous figures of the celebrity world.”

  Said Winters: “Sometimes he would drive me around the mountains in the little Ford jalopy that we used in the picture, and he would talk about other things. But he would make a special hesitant sound in his throat and had a dark look in his beautiful black eyes when he spoke about Elizabeth. It was a dead giveaway to the depths of his feelings for her. She would tease him and flirt with any attractive man within range of those violet eyes, but I think she was too young to realize how much she was hurting him.”

  But there were other aspects of Clift’s personality Winters either did not see at that time or that later she was not willing to discuss publicly. Clift had an ongoing relationship with an older woman, the singer Libby Holman, who had been embroiled in a scandal in which it was believed she had murdered her millionaire husband. Later he developed a close relationship with older actress Myrna Loy. No one could quite figure out what these relationships were all about, just as many were not sure what kind of relationship he had with his coach Mira. Clift, however, made it clear that Mira was his coach, not his lover. He also had same-sex relationships. During these years and those to come, he had various male lovers and often a series of one-night stands. For a time, women interested him as much as men. “If Monty liked you—man or woman you ultimately went to bed with him,” his good friend actor Jack Larson said. “If he liked you, he couldn’t keep his hands off you—touching—caressing—hugging—he was very physical and very, very affectionate.” But Clift was elusive, restless, and, sexually, hard to pin down. Still, to those who saw Elizabeth with Clift—including Sara—it was apparent that she was drawn to him and might even be in love with him.

  “Watched Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift do a sizzling love scene in ‘A Place in the Sun,’ ” Hedda Hopper reported after visiting the set when interiors were shot at Paramount in Hollywood. “Not a carpenter, electrician, prop man or laborer left the set. Some even sat on top of ladders to get a better look. That Liz gets them all—from 15 to 50. What a dish!” Hopper added: “I tried to watch Monty’s girl friend, Mira Rosovakaya [sic]. . . . She never leaves the set.”

  Regardless, the Taylor-Clift relationship grew more complicated than either was prepared for. In later years, there were stories that at some point in their lives they were briefly lovers. Still, the romantic Elizabeth had to accept the fact, as filming drew to a close, that if she were to have a relationship with Monty, it would be a friendship. Once she accepted that fact—and it took time—she never looked back. He became her closest friend outside of her family, more so than her childhood friend Roddy McDowall. When she visited New York, she often stayed at Clift’s place just as he often stayed at hers during trips to Los Angeles. The two shared secrets and opened the doors to look into each other’s soul. When together, they were in their own world, one which others were not privy to. Seeing his emotional bruises and scars, she loved mothering him and was devoted to him for the rest of his life. With Monty, she indeed had one of the greatest, most enduring relationships of her life.

  • • •

  Once A Place in the Sun wrapped, life for Elizabeth was back to normal, meeting the demands of MGM. Even while completing the film, “I spent my free time and Sundays having my wardrobe fitted for Father of the Bride,” she said. There were also the usual makeup tests, hairstyle tests, costume tests that were photographed or sometimes filmed and which took up hours of her day. Never was there any letup. The MGM publicists kept her occupied with a steady stream of premieres and photo ops. Even casual dates with singer Vic Damone and baseball star Ralph Kiner were covered full blast by the press.

  In late January 1950, Elizabeth completed her high school requirements with an overall B average. Her favorite course had been civics, in which her final grade was a ninety-eight. No longer would she have to attend school on the MGM lot. Once she turned eighteen the following month, she would not be required to have a guardian—meaning Sara—at the studio. “I don’t have to have my mother with me on the set, but I certainly intend to,” Elizabeth told the press. “Now that I’m an alumna, mother and I will
have more time together. We can share all our plans and confidences.” Naturally, Sara was relieved that nothing had changed between the two of them. The studio kept her on salary. But what Elizabeth really wanted now was her independence and freedom.

  Arranging for her to “graduate” with a class from LA’s University High School, MGM had no intention of missing this kind of photo op. The day before the actual ceremony, Elizabeth was outfitted in a cap and gown for MGM photographers. They did the same the next day at the actual graduation.

  Work also began on Father of the Bride, the comic tale of the trials and tribulations of a beleaguered father, played by Spencer Tracy, as he gives the hand of his daughter (played by Elizabeth) in marriage. There was irony in the casting of the mother character in the film. When Sara had appeared in the play The Fool, she had worked with prominent actor Richard Bennett. Sometimes his young daughter visited him backstage and spent time playing in Sara’s dressing room. That little girl had been Joan Bennett, now cast as Elizabeth’s mother. Taylor and Tracy got along well and remained friends. Under the direction of Vincente Minnelli, their scenes together had a warmth and intimacy that was genuine, not manufactured. So pleased was MGM with the rushes for the film that already there were plans for a sequel, Father’s Little Dividend.

  Life seemed to go on as before—or so it appeared. But for Elizabeth, something momentous had occurred. She had fallen in love—this time for real, she believed. Perhaps it was partly a way of compensating for her then possibly unconsummated relationship with Montgomery Clift. Perhaps it was partly a desire to break free from the studio. No doubt, like many young women of her generation, it was also the belief that love, followed by marriage, was part of her manifest destiny. But Elizabeth also wanted to get away from home. Earlier she had received a marriage proposal that left her cold. Multimillionaire Howard Hughes, who had dated a lineup of Hollywood stars, from Katharine Hepburn to Ava Gardner, set his sights on Elizabeth, offering a million dollars if she became his bride. Impressed with Hughes’s offer, Sara had the Hollywood lawyer Greg Bautzer draw up an agreement. But Elizabeth flatly refused. She was not going to be sold off to the highest bidder. Later she expressed her feelings bluntly: “I married to get away from my parents,” she said.

  Now thoughts of marriage and a white picket fence around a dream house in which she’d reside with a dream prince were on her mind night and day. During the previous November, she had been a bridesmaid at Jane Powell’s wedding, and certainly she must have asked herself when her day would come. By then, she had already met the young man of her dreams, Nicky Hilton, or rather Conrad Nicholson “Nicky” Hilton Jr., the son of the enormously wealthy Hilton Hotels magnate. Good-looking, social, pampered, accustomed to a life of luxury, and the oldest of three sons, young Hilton, born in Texas in 1926, was said to be his father’s favorite. Though Nicky had experienced his father’s ups and downs—during the Depression, when Conrad Hilton Sr. saw his hotel empire just about collapse and went broke—that was a distant memory. By 1940, the senior Hilton was back in the millions, with homes in Malibu and Bel Air, and he socialized with the rich and famous. By then, he and his wife Mary, though devout Catholics, had also divorced. Then Hilton Sr. married actress Zsa Zsa Gabor. Nicky dropped out of Loyola College, joined the navy, and then returned to Los Angeles, where he was a well-suited, highly social young man about town. The girls were crazy for him, and he was crazy for them.

  Having observed Elizabeth from afar, not only on the screen but also at social events whenever and wherever he could, he was mesmerized. He had even gone to the bridal party of Jane Powell at Los Angeles’s glamorous nightclub the Mocambo—mainly in hopes of seeing Elizabeth. To say that Hilton was rather obsessed with her would not be an exaggeration. But he still hadn’t been introduced to her. Finally, he met her at the Paramount studios. The day after their meeting, she arrived home to find three dozen long-stemmed yellow roses waiting for her. There followed an overflow of gifts, phone calls, dazzling nights on the town, and nonstop attention, adulation, and adoration from the ardent young Hilton. Conrad Hilton Sr. liked her immensely; so did Nicky’s mother, Mary. For the Taylors, there was, as perhaps expected, a mixed response. Costume designer Helen Rose recalled that “there was no happier person than Sara Taylor. Francis was not so sure. Elizabeth was still in her teens and very unsophisticated, and though Nick was in his early twenties, he had been reared by a wealthy indulgent father and was considerably spoiled. Yet, theirs seemed like a storybook romance.” For Sara, Nicky could give Elizabeth a life of comfort, privilege, and social standing. The two also looked terrific together. One issue of concern was religion. Because the Hiltons were Catholics, Elizabeth agreed to study Catholicism, with plans to convert to the religion. Nothing was said, at least not publicly, about Sara’s Christian Science.

  Finally, on February 21, 1950—just six days before Elizabeth’s eighteenth birthday—Hedda Hopper broke the news that Elizabeth would wed Hilton on May 6. Her maid of honor would be her childhood friend Anne Westmore. One of the bridesmaids would be Jane Powell. Another would be Mara Reagan, then the girlfriend of Elizabeth’s brother, Howard, and later his wife. Howard Taylor would be one of the ushers. Nicky’s brother would be best man. MGM’s costume designer Helen Rose would create Elizabeth’s wedding gown as well as those of the bridesmaids. MGM would foot the bill. “They can afford it after the price Paramount paid them for Liz’s services in A Place in the Sun,” said Hopper. Another great designer, Paramount’s Edith Head, who had designed Elizabeth’s stunning gowns in A Place in the Sun, would create her going-away suit. The rest of Elizabeth’s trousseau would be done by Ceil Chapman in New York.

  Word of the upcoming nuptials surprisingly had not come from the Taylor family. Instead, Conrad Hilton Sr., so excited “to have Elizabeth Taylor a member of his family that he couldn’t keep his secret,” broke the news to Hopper. Shrewdly, Hilton Sr. understood that Hedda was the columnist he should talk to.

  Afterward came a whirlwind of activities. Elizabeth, Nicky, and Sara flew to Chicago, then on to New York, where Elizabeth’s trousseau was fitted. In New York, Elizabeth made radio appearances. There was a stampede to give the bride-to-be all sorts of perks and gifts. After she appeared in an ad for Gorham’s fine silver, the company presented her with a solid silver dinner service for thirty-six people. After she had posed for another company in a sumptuous mink coat, she was given the coat. Still another company presented her with expensive carpets that were shipped to the West Coast. Her uncle Howard sent her pearls valued at $65,000. So many wedding gifts had arrived at the Taylor home that furniture had to be moved out to make room for everything.

  • • •

  Requests, pleas, and inquiries for Elizabeth’s services poured into MGM. Producer Stanley Kramer wanted to borrow her for his film Cyrano de Bergerac, but Metro refused to loan her out. Later William Wyler wanted her for the lead in Carrie opposite Laurence Olivier. Elizabeth was eager to work with the director and the actor, but MGM didn’t let it happen. Instead, there was renewed talk about her appearance in Quo Vadis. The studio also let the press know that the Fashion Academy had selected Elizabeth in the Best All-American field on the list of Best Dressed Women of 1950. The California Florists Association named her the Flower of Womanhood. Some coverage must have seemed silly to Elizabeth. But it was all a part of the way Hollywood operated, a way that MGM kept her name out there. The Big Hangover would be released shortly after the wedding, and Father of the Bride would hit theaters a few months later. The real wedding would be a perfect tie-in for the celluloid one.

  Finally, Hedda Hopper made the pronouncement that everyone in the industry knew—and which the Time cover story had confirmed: “Not many girls in society, on the screen or stage or in any walk of life have had the acclaim and publicity that have been given Elizabeth Taylor.”

  • • •

  Everything had moved so quickly that Elizabeth barely had time to think. Or, more important, she barely had time t
o get to know her future husband. Taylor herself may have questioned what was happening in her life and if her decision was the best one. Two days before the wedding, she took ill with a cold and a fever and was pumped up with penicillin, then spent much of the day in bed, though she rose in the afternoon the next day for the wedding rehearsal. Afterward, she returned home and went to bed again.

  Finally, on May 6, the big event went as scheduled at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Thousands of spectators—standing four feet deep—lined up across the street from the church to catch a glimpse of the bride. Traffic was directed by MGM’s police chief Whitey Hendrey, who stationed Beverly Hills cops and studio officers outside the church to handle the cars and the crowd.

  Among the guests inside: Spencer Tracy; Fred Astaire; Rosalind Russell and husband, Freddie Brisson; Ginger Rogers; Van Johnson and his wife, Evie; William Powell and his wife, Diana; June Allyson and her husband, Dick Powell; Gene Kelly and his wife, actress Betsy Blair; Peter Lawford; Bunny Waters; actresses Janet Leigh, Terry Moore, and Amanda Blake; Alice Faye and her husband, Phil Harris; former child stars Mickey Rooney, Roddy McDowall, and Margaret O’Brien; Joan Bennett and her husband, the producer Walter Wanger; actor George Murphy and his wife, Julie.

  Not present that day was Montgomery Clift, who, like William Pawley Jr., was opposed to the marriage. Pawley had heard stories of Hilton’s excessive drinking and violence—and perhaps that was why he had pleaded with Elizabeth not to marry Hilton. For Monty, the wedding represented the possible loss of his soul mate. Throughout the Taylor-Hilton courtship, she was in communication with him, sometimes calling him, sometimes writing letters, revealing her fears and mixed emotions, asking his advice. She no doubt wanted Clift to tell her to break it off. He never did. Both knew that she really wanted Clift to ask her to marry him. No matter what Clift’s sexual preferences were, she would have dropped Hilton in a minute to run off to the altar with Clift. At one point, she reportedly asked if he’d come see her after the marriage to Hilton. His response was that Hilton was not his kind of guy. Nicky was too brash and frat boyish for Clift. In the end, her marriage to Hilton was painful for Clift. Thus he stayed away from the ceremony.