It’s an irresistible story: Three of the world’s most iconic superstars, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and Marlon Brando, jumped in a car together to flee New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Liz, the ever-bejeweled dame of classic Hollywood; Brando, the greatest actor of his generation; and Jacko, the King of Pop, terrified, crammed into one car, grabbing KFC takeout and making pit stops at gas stations.
And so Sky Arts Television’s “Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon” was born. The British TV production is expected to hit the airwaves this year, and it’s already stirring controversy with the casting of a white actor, Joseph Fiennes, to play Jackson.
Unfortunately, it never really happened.
I know, because I helped Jackson’s family return to California after the 9/11 terror attacks.
The three legends — who never spoke publicly about their 9/11 experience before their deaths, fueling the urban legend that was first printed in Vanity Fair — were in New York to participate in Jacko’s two concerts at Madison Square Garden on Friday, Sept. 7, and Monday, Sept. 10.
On Tuesday, Sept. 11, they awoke at their Plaza hotel suites to find chaos. Jackson had been up early, about 4:30 a.m., searching newspapers and scouring the television for the first reviews of his shows.
As the catastrophe unfolded, Brando refused to leave his room. But Taylor took off to meet Debbie Reynolds, who had attended the concerts but needed to be back on the West Coast for an engagement. Taylor called her ex-husband, Virginia Sen. John Warner, to ask for help.
Knowing that Taylor and Brando were OK, Jacko checked in on his mother, Katherine, and his brothers (they had performed with him for the first time in 17 years), who were staying across town at the W Hotel.
I was friends with Jermaine, and since I was a longtime Queens resident, he asked for my help getting out of the city.
I helped them book two RVs — each fit 18 passengers and were driven by their security guards.
But Jacko was not with them. He had moved into the Trump International and sent his spokesman, Bob Jones, to check on Brando.
“Brando doesn’t want to talk to anybody. He said he’s not going to come out of his room until the world ends,” Jones said.
Jackson actually made his escape from New York in his tour bus two days after the attacks. Liz Taylor and Marlon Brando were not with him — but his young children Prince and Paris, friend Frank Cascio, Cascio’s brother Aldo and father, Dominick, and two security guards were.
After learning that the Lincoln Tunnel had reopened, Jacko headed to the Meadowlands, stopping at a hotel near Giants Stadium before deciding to bunk at Cascio’s home in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Planes were still grounded.
But something kept nagging at him — the fate of the dozens of fans who had camped outside The Plaza all week. He ordered the tour bus to return to Manhattan on Thursday and Friday to offer rides out of the city to anyone who needed them.
“I’ve got to make sure they’re OK,” Jackson told me by telephone that Friday. “What would they think if I’m safe and they’re left hanging out there with nowhere to go? They came from England, they came from France and they came from Japan. How are they getting along?”
Jackson wound up footing the bill for nearly three dozen fans to stay in New Jersey. He even treated them to fast food and movie outings.
“We should get that in the newspapers,” Jones told Jacko.
“No,” the singer protested. “The people in those buildings [the World Trade Center], the paramedics, firefighters, the police, the mayor. They should be in the newspapers.”
Jackson stayed in the New York City area until late December, when he finally returned to Los Angeles.
Stacy Brown is a freelance journalist and Michael Jackson biographer who for years had a close relationship with the Jackson family.