Bert & Morty

Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper claims she knew Elizabeth Taylor was going to leave husband no. 4, Eddie Fisher for future husband no. 5 (and 6) Richard Burton, and she tried to be the first to break the story but her lawyer wouldn’t allow it to be printed! He was not only Hedda’s lawyer, but also Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor’s! He felt it would be too embarrassing to have have to sue her since he represents all three of them.

Source: Fifty Years of Movie Gossip, The Sydney Morning Herald, Feb 3 1963, Page 32

Source: Art Matters

Marlon Brando did not always get along with his female costars. In at least two cases egos clashed over matters of top billing. A 1957 newspaper reported:

Marlon Brando’s hostility to Elizabeth Taylor during filming of Reflections in a Golden Eye is because even a Brando must take second billing to the 34 going on 35 actress. One of the reasons for the frictions between Sophia Loren and Marlon in the Chaplin picture, A Countess From Hong Kong, was because Sophia was taking second billing to her costar.

Source: Liz Sophia Share Brando’s Hostility, Edmonton Journal, Jan 6 1967, Page 30
Photo: SuperStock

In the summer of 1961, actresses Elizabeth Taylor and Gina Lollobrigida showed up to the Moscow Film Festival wearing identical dresses. They were Dior gowns of white cotton eyelet embroidery. Elizabeth’s had a pale blue sash and Gina’s had a red one. Gina wore flowers on her dress and Elizabeth in her hair.

Source: Liza and Gina Collide as Dior Doubles, The Miami News, Jul 16 1961, Page 8

Dean Martin was given a surprise party for his 44th birthday at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Unfortunately it didn’t end up being a surprise though because he showed up early! The highlights of the party were actor Peter Lawford playing waiter, Eddie Fisher singing a special song, “I Love Dino But Not Like My Liz,” and an enormous birthday cake shaped like a bottle of scotch. The guest list included Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop, Vic Damone, Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor.

Source: Dean Martin’s Party a Dilly, The Miami News, Jun 17 1961, Page 8
Photo: Dino’s Den

Love took a lacing in movie star circles this year (1950), with divorces outnumbering weddings almost 3 to 1.

Betty Hutton bounced into court, divorced Ted Briskin, dated a gang of local swains, and then decided she’d rather be Mrs. Briskin again. They struggled along… until she announced she’d been right the first time and got ready to file for another divorce.

Biggest surprise of the year was Barbara Stanwyck’s announcement that she was divorcing Robert Taylor after 11 years of what everybody thought was perfect bliss. Their pals said the marriage fizzled because Barbara got fed up with being a telephone wife.

Nancy Sinatra made headlines when she won a legal seperation from Frankie-boy, plus one-third of his $1,000,000 earnings. She said Frankie wouldn’t come home nights and was rude. She didn’t mention Ave Gardner, whose romance with the bow-tied crooner had been making round-the-world gossip for months. The day Nancy won her freedom, Frankie held hands with Ava in a New York night club.

Bette Davis dumped husband No. 3, William Grant Sherry, in Mexico. Actor Gary Merrill did the same thing to his wife. Then Bette and Gary said “I do” before a Mexican judge. A week later, Bette’s ex-mate ankled down the aisle with the nurse who used to take care of the Sherry’s 3-year-old daughter.

Martha Vickers announced she couldn’t get along any more with Mickey Rooney and hired a lawyer making it the third divorce in a row for Rooney. But he indicated divorce plans were being dropped so their baby’s Christmas wouldn’t be spoiled.

Evelyn Keyes divorced director John Huston.

Kirk Douglas’ wife (Diana Dill) set him free.

Jackie Coogan’s wife became his third “ex”.

Wanda Hendrix, the tiny actress who married the nation’s most decorated soldier sobbed real tears on the stand when she said she and Audie Murphey couldn’t make a go of it.

Ann Dvorak and dancer Igor Dega

The Louis Haywards

The Robert Montgomerys

Janet Blair and Lou Busch

Groucho Marx and Kay Gorcey

Joan Blondell and Mike Todd

Myrna Loy and producer Gene Elliott Roosevelt

As the end of the year rolled around, the “battling Hiltons” were headed for the divorce courts. Luscious “Liz” Taylor and Nicky Hilton Jr., after seven months of wedded misery, promised each other freedom for Christmas presents.

Other couples who split up… Jack Carson’s wife waited four years, decided he wasn’t coming back home after all, and told it to a judge… Benay Venuta and Armand Deutsch… Arline Judge – out of pictures but not out of husband material – divorced her sixth and was rumored to have her eye on No. 7.

Source: 1950 a Bad Year for Love Divorces Exceed Weddings, Spokane Daily Chronicle, Dec 19 1950, Page 82

When Elizabeth Taylor was young she did not like to wear shoes and favored bare feet. Once while doing a newsreel in Washington DC, a teenaged Elizabeth sneakily kicked off a slipper and it landed under Mrs. Harry Truman’s chair, the first lady of the United States at the time. Elizabeth desperately fished for the shoe with her toes, while keeping a serene pose for the cameras.

Source: Elizabeth Taylor, The Pittsburgh Press, May 23 1954, Page 56

In 1950 Montgomery Clift was making headlines for his simple, anti-Hollywood way of life. It was reported that he owned only three suits and when he escorted Elizabeth Taylor to the premiere of The Heiress, he had to rent the tuxedo he was wearing because he didn’t own one himself.

Source: Montgomery Clift Has Hollywood Baffled, Toledo Blade, Mar 26 1950, Page 70

A couple months after releasing a list of the Golden Dozen, the 12 most powerful actors in Hollywood, newspapers compiled a list of the most powerful female actresses, but they could only come up with 10.

(L-R) Ingrid Bergman, Doris Day, Ava Gardner, Audrey Hepburn, Susan Hayward, Deborah Kerr, Marilyn Monroe, Kim Novak, Jean Simmons, Elizabeth Taylor

Source: The Milwaukee Sentinel, Dec 1 1958, Page 19