Was Lizabeth Scott Really A Lesbian

Lizabeth Scott was a popular 1940s femme fatale who the tabloids claimed was a lesbian

She was born Emma Matzo on September 29, 1922 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Her father, John Matzo, owned Matzo's Market. Lizabeth was the oldest of six children. She went to Marywood Seminary, a Catholic girls school, and Scranton High School where she appeared in several plays. At the age of seventeen she moved to New York City and started modeling for the Walter Thornton agency. Lizabeth went on tour with the road company of Hellzapoppin and appeared in an off-Broadway production of Rain. Then she was hired to be Tallulah Bankhead's understudy in the Broadway show The Skin Of Our Teeth. While working on the show she fought with Tallulah and had an affair with the show's married producer Michael Myerberg. After seeing her screen test producer Hal B. Wallis offered a long term contract at Paramount. In 1945 she made her film debut in the comedy You Came Along. She also began a secret affair with Hal B. Wallis who was married. Lizabeth co-starred with Barbara Stanwyck in the film noir The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers and with Burt Lancaster in Dead Reckoning. With her long blonde hair and sultry voice she quickly found herself typecast as a femme fatale. Her success continued with starring roles in Desert Fury, I Walk Alone, and Dark City. Other actresses at the studio believed she was getting better roles due to her romance with Hal. Because she lived alone and didn't date anyone publicly rumors began that she was a lesbian.

 While filming The Big Steal in 1949 she had a breakdown on the set and was replaced by Jane Greer. She tried to change her hard-boiled image by working with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the 1953 comedy Scared Stiff. Unfortunately most of her scenes were cut out. By 1954 her contract with Paramount was over and her career was in trouble. Lizabeth had also begun suffering from crippling stage freight. Then in the Summer of 1955 Confidential magazine published a story that claimed she was a lesbian who had hired call girls. She was furious and filed a $2.5 million libel suit. A trial was held in California but it ended in a mistrial. In 1957 she was Elvis Presley's leading lady in Loving You and recorded her own album. Around this time her long term affair with Hal came to an end. During the 1960s she made occasional guest appearances on television and took classes at the University Of Southern California. Lizabeth announced her engagement to oil executive William Duggar in 1969. Sadly he passed away before they could be married. Her final acting role was in the 1972 comedy Pulp. Then she started working in the real estate industry. In her later years she became very reclusive and refused all interview requests. She became close friends with Michael Jackson who often escorted her around Los Angeles. On January 31, 2015 she died from congestive heart failure at the age of ninety-two. Lizabeth was cremated and her ashes were given to a friend.