#phyllisthaxter #montgomeryclift #janetcharlton
Actress Phyllis Thaxter died at the age of 92 on August 14, and we remember her as usually playing good-girl types like she did in “She’s Working Her Way Through College “ with Ronald Reagan. But her private life turned out to be more interesting than we expected. Her daughter Skye Aubrey shared a secret with The Hollywood Reporter’s Merle Ginsberg. When she was 20, Phyllis costarred with Montgomery Clift, also 20, in the 1940 Broadway play “There Shall Be No Light.” She fell in love with Clift and they moved into an apartment together. Eventually he broke her heart and told her that he didn’t really think he could ever be married. He was right – he never DID marry, and he is now generally believed to have been gay but never came out.
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I thought everybody knew he was gay.
Yes, he was and Liz Taylor was also in love with him but remained one of his best friends when he told her he liked men. During the filming of ‘Raintree County’ Clift left a party at Taylor and Mike Todd’s and crashed his car. His face suffered terrible injury and you can see that he was only photographed from certain angles after the accident during the film. Liz rushed to the scene and held his head in her lap until the ambulance came for him. He was an alcoholic and addicted to pills and so, died an early death. He was a really beautiful looking man.
Right, Kitty. This is not exactly breaking news….everyone for the last 30 years knew Monty was a fag.
Generally believed to have been gay? Wow, that’s a news flash.
Yes, everyone knows MC was gay, but I enjoyed this tidbit from the past. Janet, please do more posts on old Hollywood!
……..but her secret love was Ronald Reagan, folks!!
I’m sure the pills and alcohol were his way of dealing with his inability to “come out”.
Beautiful but sad man.
interesting history nugget for those of us who are less informed about Hollywood lore. thanks.
My wife loves his old movies and still has a little crush on him. If someone hints about him being anything but straight, she zaps them with the evil eye!!!
Hard to believe he has been gone 46 years. He was only 45 when he died.
Yeah, I like bits like this…thanks
He was bi-sexual.. and a mean drunk