{"id":22499,"date":"2025-12-14T09:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T09:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=22499"},"modified":"2025-12-14T09:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T09:49:10","slug":"one-crash-one-life-after-montgomery-clifts-face-was-smashed-in-a-hollywood-wreck-elizabeth-taylor-used-her-bare-hands-to-pull-broken-teeth-from-his-throat-and-sav","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=22499","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOne Crash. One Life.\u201d After Montgomery Clift\u2019s Face Was Smashed in a Hollywood Wreck, Elizabeth Taylor Used Her Bare Hands to Pull Broken Teeth From His Throat\u2014and Saved Him."},"content":{"rendered":"

In the glamorous but often callous world of 1950s Hollywood, few friendships were as intensely loyal or well-known as the platonic bond between two of the era\u2019s most beautiful and troubled stars: Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. This deep devotion was dramatically tested on a single, fateful night in 1956. Taylor\u2019s swift, heroic action saved her best friend\u2019s life, transforming her from a glamorous actress into a real-life rescuer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Scene of the Tragedy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The horrific car accident occurred on May 12, 1956, after Clift left a dinner party at Taylor\u2019s Beverly Hills home. She shared the home with her then-husband, Michael Wilding. Clift was in the middle of filming the epic drama Raintree County<\/i>, which reunited him with Taylor after their iconic pairing in the 1951 film A Place in the Sun<\/i>. Driving down the winding, fog-shrouded road, Clift\u2019s car tragically slammed into a telephone pole, crumpling the vehicle like an accordion. Actor Kevin McCarthy, who was driving ahead of Clift, rushed back to the scene, quickly realizing the severity of the wreck.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Heroic Intervention<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

When McCarthy, followed moments later by Taylor and Wilding, arrived at the wreckage, the scene was catastrophic. Clift was crumpled under the dashboard, his face horrifically smashed, a bloody pulp. Panic was the immediate reaction from the men, who struggled to pull Clift from the demolished car.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taylor, however, reportedly fought her way through the panic “like a tiger.” Without a moment’s hesitation, the star\u2014dressed in her expensive evening gown\u2014climbed into the twisted wreckage through the back door. She crawled over the seat to reach Clift, cradling his head in her lap.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Taylor cradled him, Clift began to choke. Realizing the danger, Taylor, with chilling presence of mind, reached her bare fingers into his mouth and throat, pulling out the broken teeth that were blocking his airway. “She stuck her fingers down his throat and she pulled those teeth. Otherwise he would have choked to death,” recalled Kevin McCarthy, who witnessed the harrowing scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her gown was ruined, stained with blood, but her swift, terrifying action averted immediate suffocation. Doctors and witnesses later shuddered with admiration, crediting Taylor with single-handedly saving his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Aftermath: A Life Forever Altered<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s heroism didn’t end there. As the ambulance arrived, followed by a swarm of frenzied photographers eager for a morbid shot, Taylor shielded Clift\u2019s disfigured face. She threatened the photographers that if they took a single picture of her injured friend, she would ensure they never took another picture of her. They backed off.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the accident saved his life, it tragically derailed his career. Clift spent three months in the hospital, his delicate features forever altered, and the trauma led to a lifelong dependency on painkillers and alcohol. Taylor remained his staunchest friend and ally until his untimely death in 1966, constantly championing his career and demonstrating a loyalty that transcended the superficiality of Hollywood, proving that her beauty was matched only by her ferocious courage.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the glamorous but often callous world of 1950s Hollywood, few friendships were as intensely loyal or well-known as the platonic bond between two of the era\u2019s most beautiful and troubled stars: Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. This deep devotion was dramatically tested on a single, fateful night in 1956. Taylor\u2019s swift, heroic action saved…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}