HBO Max’s true crime-inspired drama series Love & Death dramatizes the real life case of Candy Montgomery, the housewife from Wylie, Texas who killed her friend, Betty Gore, in 1980 following an affair with Betty’s husband Allan.
In the show, which closely follows the timeline of real events, Candy (Elizabeth Olsen) met Allan (Jesse Plemons) at a volleyball game hosted by their church, the Methodist Church of Lucas, which both attended with their respective spouses. Candy was immediately attracted to Allan, and began to pursue him romantically, even asking him at one point: “would you be interested in having an affair?”
After declining her advances for a while, Allan eventually did begin a relationship with Candy. According to Allan’s testimony during the trial, they were seeing each other for 10 months, meeting up at a hotel in Plano, Texas every couple of weeks, before mutually deciding to end the affair in December 1979.
The murder of Betty Gore took place after the relationship had been cut off: Candy visited the Gore house and was confronted by Betty, who suspected that she and Allan were sleeping together. Candy testified that Betty attacked her with an ax, and that she was acting in self-defense when she killed her.
On the day that Candy killed Betty, Allan was away on a business trip.
Jesse Plemons as Allan Gore in Love & Death.
Allan remarried quickly
The Dallas Morning News reported that Allan Gore moved away from Wylie and remarried very shortly after the death of his wife, getting married while the trial of Candy Montgomery was still taking place. However, the marriage did not last very long. He also did not retain custody of Alisa and Bethany, the two daughters he had with Betty, who went to live with Betty’s parents.
He now lives in Florida
Gore has lived privately ever since leaving Wylie. He is now retired and lives in Sarasota, Florida, with a domestic partner who he has been with since at least 2016. He has not publicly commented on Love & Death.
Philip Ellis is a freelance writer and journalist from the United Kingdom covering pop culture, relationships and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV.
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