Nobody seemed immune to Elizabeth’s charms except perhaps the one person whose approval she desperately craved. “Her father, Robert Montgomery, was a movie star, and her mom, Broadway actress Elizabeth Allen, gave up her career to be his wife,” explained Pilato. “Robert never wanted his daughter to be an actress.”
Undeterred, Elizabeth attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan and convinced her father to book her on his TV show, Robert Montgomery Presents, in 1951. But that didn’t mean he’d come around. While Elizabeth won accolades on Broadway, Robert remained a harsh critic. “He’d send notes like, ‘You didn’t do this right onstage,'” Pilato revealed.
Efforts to please Papa failed miserably. Her year-long marriage to Frederic Cammann in 1954 was also a disaster. “Fred was young, handsome and rich,” said Pilato. “He was of the upper crust of New York, and Robert Montgomery loved that.” But the union was doomed from the start. “She wanted to be a star,” said Pilato, “and Fred wanted a wife.”
Elizabeth’s complicated relationship with her father colored her relationships with men most of her life. Within a year of her divorce, she’d marry Gig Young, an actor twice her age and an abusive alcoholic. “She was just sticking it to her father by marrying Gig, until finally she wised up and just couldn’t take the abuse anymore,” said Pilato.
