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Monty claims that as a young boy, wearing a wig, he was Elizabeth Taylor's stunt double for National Velvet. Larry says Monty did no stunt riding, and the book Liz, by C. David Heymann, lists Billy Cartlidge as Taylor's stunt double. Monty also claims that James Dean, a great buddy, lived with him before the filming of East of Eden. But, no, it seems; Dean's pal was Tony Vargas, according to Renebome and Vargas himself. California rancher Bill Dorrance, an early teacher of horse whispering, was "like a grandfather to me," Monty writes. But Dorrance's son Steve says his father hardly knows Monty. Similarly, horse trainer Don Dodge, in whose stable Monty claims to have worked 16-hour days, told TIME, "Oh my goodness gracious! Those things just aren't true."
And if they aren't? Monty's editor at Random House, Deborah Futter, sees the many accusations as "part of a family squabble." Monty himself, a friendly, convincing talker, boyish smiler and earnest eye contacter, is not apologizing. Choking back tears, he told an audience recently, "When you read that book, that was my life." It was written for his maltreated friends, the world's horses. "Don't take this wrong," says Monty to a reporter who has grown skeptical, "but if everything I said was 100% false, look at the good it's doing."