Plot

A lost and grieving Elizabeth Taylor returns to work after the tragic death of her husband Mike Todd and courageously delivers one of the greatest performances of her life.

A lost and grieving Elizabeth Taylor returns to work after the tragic death of her husband Mike Todd and courageously delivers one of the greatest performances of her life. This is a triumphant true story about Elizabeth's courage in the face of tragedy and strength against the studio system of the 1950s.

In 1958, while Elizabeth Taylor was shooting Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, her husband Mike Todd was killed in a plane crash. The two had been married for just nine months and had a six-month-old baby named Liza Todd. Elizabeth intended to travel with him to New York City on their plane, "The Lucky Liz," but she had a bad cold and was too ill to fly. Mike said goodbye to her five times before he left. A year earlier, at the 29th Academy Awards, Mike said that he had won the two biggest prizes one could get: the Oscar, and Elizabeth Taylor. "I'm so happy," he said. "I hope I live through all of this." Tragically, he would not.

Elizabeth was given a couple of weeks off work; she had developed a terrible stutter after Mike's death. The only way she could speak without a stutter was in character with her Southern accent as Maggie "the Cat" Pollick. Director Richard Brooks visited her at home where she had been in isolation and asked her to return to set. Elizabeth said that Mike had liked her in the film and that she wanted to finish shooting Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for him. That was partially true - and what was also true is that Mike had left behind so many tax debts that Elizabeth needed to return to work to support her three children. Elizabeth was also concerned for the cast and crew members who might lose their jobs if she didn't return to work.

On her first day back to set, the cast and crew filled Elizabeth's dressing room with violets, her favorite flower. Elizabeth had been on suicide watch. She was so weak from grief that she fainted at every take. Under immense pressure from the studio, Richard Brooks had to push Elizabeth and the film to completion, and the studio sent a production assistant to monitor Elizabeth's health (the young man who escorts Elizabeth to her dressing room in DAME). Despite her immeasurable sorrow, Elizabeth completed the film and delivered one of the greatest performances of her career, including the iconic line: "I know what it's like to lose somebody you love."

In the film, Elizabeth wears a diamond heart pendant necklace. A gift from Mike, Elizabeth wore the necklace throughout the film because it reminded her of him.

DAME takes place in the first eight minutes of Elizabeth's first day back to set. An intimate and moving journey through a Hollywood legend's private grief, DAME depicts her climb back and ultimately her public triumph over the film studio system of the 1950s. It is a story of loss, compassion, and courage - themes that defined Elizabeth and her celebrated career.