ELIZABETH TAYLOR & MONTGOMERY CLIFT An unbreakable bond

One of the most beautiful women of her era, screen goddess Elizabeth Taylor had men falling at her feet (and she married seven of them, including actor Richard Burton – twice). But one man she adored was forever beyond her reach, at least romantically: actor Montgomery Clift.

At just 17, MGM’s former child star fell hard for the method actor from New York, who was 12 years her senior, while they filmed in late 1949. So palpable was their on-screen chemistry that co-star Shelley Winters “actually thought there was an affair going on”, says Charles Casillo, author of , excerpted here. Off screen, the two bonded over their showbiz childhoods (“the first dab of glue that bound them together”, says Casillo) and shared