With the revelatory documentary Making Montgomery Clift, filmmakers Robert Clift (born eight years after his famous uncle's hyper-mythologized 1966 death) and Hillary Demmon compellingly. Happy Birthday, Montgomery Clift. If you have a story that tracks along that line, that will feel true to people. Montgomery Clift had the most earnest of faces: big, pleading eyes, a set jaw, and a side part that reminds you of old pictures of your granddad. [45][46] His anguished performance (which earned him his fourth Academy Award nomination) was often thought to be due to his own nervous breakdown. Barred from feature films, Clift turned to voice work. Lawrence, Amy (2010) "The Passion of Montgomery Clift", Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press. He is best remembered for his roles in Howard Hawks' Red River (1948), William Wyler's The Heiress (1949), George Stevens' A Place in the Sun (1951 . We also encourage everyone to report any crime incident they witness as soon as possible. Clift was recovering from a car accident during the movies shoot (the actor was dying on his feet, according to one biography), but Hepburn treated him with great kindness. [93][94] In his memoir, Arthur Laurents suggests that Clift had a fling with Farley Granger. He had a holistic view.. For such a small, slightly-built man Clift had an intensity and depth to his performance that could eclipse Brandoeven with all that actor's realistic improvisations, impressive physicality and "naturalistic body language." Clift and Brando, along with James Dean, were the three "Method" actors who revolutionized . Clift, who lived in Room 928 for three months while filming "From Here to Eternity" in 1952, was one of Hollywood's most appealing leading men, a slender Tom Cruise with edgy good looks. It all took a toll on him physically and mentally, and movie studios became wary of hiring him. The accident permanently damaged his looks and health, and his fortunes were further eroded by his abuse of drugs and alcohol. Directed by George Stevens. is for general information purposes only. In studying Clift's output, one can easily see a before-and-after version of the actor, with the line between the two marked by his near-fatal accident on a break from filming "Raintree County" in 1956. Little did he know, he was always destined for something more. Clift asserts that the actor's use of alcohol and prescription drugs stemmed, primarily, from a near-fatal car accident in 1956. Clift was recovering from a car accident during the movie's shoot (the actor was "dying on his feet," according to one biography), but Hepburn treated him with great kindness. But it was his next pairing with Elizabeth Taylor that proved to be his most dynamic on-screen. [6] His mother was Ethel Fogg "Sunny" Clift (ne Anderson; 18881988). In this exclusive excerpt from her forthcoming book, Anne. He spent months in the hospital and had major plastic surgeries. After leaving a party at Elizabeth Taylor's house, he wrapped his car around a telephone pole . Audiences turned out to see the movie and to catch a glimpse of the before and after versions of Clift on the big screen. news.AmoMama.com does not support or promote any kind of violence, self-harm, or abusive behavior. The film received added media attention due to the rumors that Clift and co-star Elizabeth Taylor were dating in real life. Sadly Clift had personal problems and after surviving a terrible car accident those problems only got worse. Clift, along with actor Kevin McCarthy, had been attending a party at Elizabeth Taylor's house in Beverly Hills. Most critics, in fact . Clift's second film role, though it premiered first that same year, was The Search which earned him his first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. And Jack Larson suggests that Clift preferred his work after the accident. Ex-lover Larson said in the film that Clift actually preferred his work after the accident to his performances before. [16] Close to a year later, around the time the family moved again, settling in New York City, Clift debuted on Broadway at 14 years old as Harmer Masters in the comedy Fly Away Home which ran from January to July 1935 at the 48th Street Theatre. The song "Montgomery Clift" by British band Random Hold concerns the legend that Clift enjoyed hanging from the window ledges of tall buildings. After leaving a party organized by co-star Elizabeth Taylor in May 1956, Clift raced along a steep road before crashing. Over the next 10 years, he earned prominent roles in plays by Tennessee Williams and Thornton Wilder, opposite stars like Fredrick March and Tallulah Bankhead. is also about him. Later that same year, he appeared in Cole Porter's "Jubilee." He also didnt want to sign a contract with a studio, then the only viable way into the business. . National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Inc. "Elizabeth Taylor at the 11th Annual GLAAD Media Awards", "TCM Fest: West Side Story's Queer Origins and Other LGBTQ+ Highlights", "Montgomery Clift's Pedigreed Upper East Side Townhouse Could Be Yours", "A Star Is Born Is the Ultimate Hollywood Horror Story, and Lady Gaga Might Be Perfect Casting", "Clift Takes Role in Columbia Film: Will Portray Paul Morel in Adaptation of Lawrence's Novel, 'Sons and Lovers', "The 21st Academy Awards (1949) Nominees and Winners", Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "The 24th Academy Awards (1952) Nominees and Winners", "The 26th Academy Awards (1954) Nominees and Winners", "The 34th Academy Awards (1962) Nominees and Winners", New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Montgomery Clift papers, Additions, 19291969, Montgomery Clift: better than Brando, more tragic than Dean, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Montgomery_Clift&oldid=1140258718, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2022, Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata, TCMDb name template using non-numeric ID from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. But the documentary notes Clift made as many movies after the accident as before, and that those projects included some of his most acclaimed performances. [96], Clift supported Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 United States presidential election.[97]. [9] Clift had English and Scottish ancestry on his father's side, wealthy relatives who hailed from Chattanooga, Tennessee. kofender. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. Clift would appear in one last film, The Defector, before dying, apparently in his sleep, in 1966, at the age of 45 a culmination of years of drug and alcohol abuse. In January 1963 Montgomery Clift made an uncharacteristic appearance on television to be interviewed on New York Herald Tribune columnist Hy Gardner's show. [24] In January 1951, he participated in the episode "The Metal in the Moon" for the series Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the chemical company DuPont Company. All rights reserved. Marilyn Monroe, on the set of The Misfits, wearing costar Monty Clift's Lee Storm Rider denim jacket, ca. He suffered a concussion, broken jaw, broken nose, fractured sinuses, fractured cheekbones, and several facial lacerations which required plastic surgery. At the time, audiences had rarely seen a type of masculinity softened with Clift's . He earned an impressive four Academy Award nominations during his career. More about Her Life, Maddie Brown Shares Her Postpartum Journey Weeks after Giving Birth to Third Child, Jamie Lee Curtis Admits 'Saying Goodbye' to James Corden Was Harder than She Thought as His Show Ends, Tom Brady & Pregnant Bridget Moynahan Split - She Wed Husband at Secret Ceremony 9 Years Later, Ron Howard Was Most Concerned about His Kids' Values Inside His Decision to Protect Them, Susan Saint James Put Her Career on Hold to Be a Mom - She Was Struck with Death of Younger Son, The information in this article is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. On July 22, 1966, Clift was in his New York City townhouse, located at 217 East 61st Street. Elegantly titled and captioned in white ink, the pages reveal that Clift had a filmmaker and photographers eye for framing, sense of place, and capturing action at its seminal moment. By the age of thirty, Montgomery Clift seemed to have everything: youth, beauty, talent, and the prospect of a lucrative film career with limitless possibilities. Here, a primer on a little-understood ingredient, plus 15 products that address everything from wrinkles to dark spots. 1467, Montgomery Clift: Beautiful Loser, Hoskyns, Barney, p. 96, Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them, by Langella, Frank, p. 336, Capote: A Biography, Clarke Gerald, p. 235, Montgomery Clift: Beautiful Loser, Hoskyns, Barney, p. 34, Lost Friendships: A Memoir of Truman Capote,Tennessee Williams, and Others, Windham, Donald, p. 64, Original Story By: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood, Laurents, Arthur, pp. In 1939, as a member of the cast of the 1939 Broadway production of Nol Coward's Hay Fever, Clift participated in one of the first television broadcasts in the United States: the Hay Fever performance was broadcast by NBC's New York television station W2XBS (the forerunner of WNBC) and was aired during the 1939 New York World's Fair. [49][50] On a taped phone call, Clift said that he played the character in a way that "holds onto himself, in spite of himself" with dignity.[51]. [26] By this time, Clift had developed what would come to be regarded as his signature acting style and biggest impact on the future of modern film acting, as told by biographer Robert LaGuardia: He managed to convince the audience that he was unmitigated male sexuality without making a vulgar display of himself, as most other actors of his age and type would have. His parents were Quakers and met as students at Cornell University, marrying in 1914. On January 13, 1963, a few weeks after the initial release of Freud, Clift appeared on the live television discussion program The Hy Gardner Show, where he spoke at length about the release of his current film, his film career, and treatment by the press. Clift's life was derailed, however, by a terrible car accident in 1956. The two starred in the 1961 film The Misfits; it would be Monroes last picture before her 1962 death. The 2018 documentary Making Montgomery Clift, directed by Robert Clift (his nephew) and Hillary Demmon, offers a nuanced portrait of an actor at ease with his sexuality. The famed movie star and her leading man first starred together in the 1951 drama, A Place in the Sun, resulting in a life-changing connection that lasted until Clift's death in 1966 at age 45. [43] He began to behave erratically in public, which embarrassed his friends. "Red River," which has become a classic western, featured Clift starring opposite John Wayne. July 24, 1966 12 AM PT Actor Montgomery Clift, 45, three times nominated for Academy Awards, died early Saturday of a heart attack in his plush East Side townhouse. With his next two films, The Misfits (1961) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Clift pivoted to somewhat smaller supporting or cameo roles that required less overall screen time while still delivering demanding performances. Clift had a brother named William Brooks Clift Jr., In this classic version of Theodore Dreiser's novel "An American Tragedy," George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), the nephew of a wealthy industrialist, is excluded from high society and given a blue . He advanced a collaborative approach with his directors, working over scripts and making suggestions for edits. His father, William Brooks "Bill" Clift (18861964), was the vice-president of Omaha National Trust Company. He and his private nurse, Lorenzo James, had not spoken much all day. . To help build their case, the film-makers had rare access to the actors archives. We raise awareness about these issues to help potential victims seek professional counseling and prevent anyone from getting hurt. He didnt want the studios to dictate the kinds of roles he would play, his nephew said. He was a mere seedling of 45. He started out in films in the late 1940's and immediately made a name for himself with his good looks and emotionally raw performances. [38] She pulled a hanging tooth that was cutting into his tongue, before accompanying him into the ambulance.[39]. A portrait of Montgomery Clift leaning on a fence with an intent expression before his accident on 01 January, 1950 | Photo: Getty Images. [21] At age 20, he appeared in the Broadway production of There Shall Be No Night, a work which won the 1941 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. [63], Many of Clift's biographers note his relationships with men and some few women based on friends' accounts and interviews. They starred together as romantic leads in a total of three films throughout the 1950s: A Place in the Sun, where, in their romantic scenes, they received considerable acclaim for their naturalness and their appearance, Raintree County and Suddenly, Last Summer, and remained close until his death. The condition (among other things) lowers blood pressure; it could have caused Clift to appear drunk or drugged when he was sober. Clift's naturalistic performance led to director Fred Zinnemann's being asked, "Where did you find a soldier who can act so well?" For us, it seemed there was this big difference between what people thought about Monty in the public sphere and what people that knew him would say, said Clift. Taylor also threatened to end any photographer's career who dared to take a picture of the seriously wounded Clift. Despite the studio's concerns over profits, Clift correctly predicted the film would do well, if only because moviegoers would flock to see the difference in his facial appearance before and after the crash.[42]. The N.Y.P.L.s Montgomery Clift papers also contain several undated images of his Suddenly, Last Summer co-star Katharine Hepburn looking characteristically redoubtable and Waspy. When he resumed filming on "Raintree County," he was a different man, one left in chronic pain because of the accident. Part of Clift's mother's effort was her determination that her children should be brought up in the style of true aristocrats. In his one 12-minute cameo scene in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Clift played a developmentally disabled German baker who had been a victim of the Nazi sterilisation programme testifying at the Nuremberg trials. Clift's body was taken to the city morgue about 2 miles (3.2km) away at 520 First Avenue, and autopsied. Thats why his work doesnt feel dated, Demmon said. [73][74][75] In 1948, when Clift left Robbins to pursue a movie career in Hollywood, the announcement devastated Robbins. He represented the new wave of post-World War II actors who were handsome, intelligent, soft-spoken, introspective, and acted with intensity. [33], Clift's first film for Paramount was The Heiress (1949). [20] Clift proved to be a successful young stage actor working with, among others, Dame May Whitty, Alla Nazimova, Mary Boland, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Fredric March, Tallulah Bankhead, Alfred Lunt, and Lynn Fontanne. 11:50 AM. During the filming of Raintree County (1957), Clift suffered a near-fatal automobile accident on his way home from a party at the home of his friend and costar Taylor. Also in 1951, Clift was for the first time cast as Tom in the radio world premiere of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, with Helen Hayes (Amanda) and Karl Malden (the Gentleman Caller), for The Theatre Guild on the Air.[25]. In a new documentary, myths and assumptions about the Oscar-nominated heartthrob who struggled with his sexuality are replaced with the little-known truth. A monthly influx of fashion close-ups, as interpreted by artists and photographers across the globe. Clift received four Academy Award nominations during his career, three for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor. He used inner silence, unusual pauses in his speeches, awkward body movements. American actor Montgomery Clift (1920 - 1966), circa 1950. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Posted on October 17, 2012 by sheila. news.AmoMama.com does not take responsibility for any action taken as a result of reading this article. Mini bio of the life of actor Montgomery Clift who is probably most famous for starring in "A place in the sun" and "From here to eternity".This video was ma. The crash caused severe damage to his face, and McCarthy noted in a 2018 interview that he thought Clift was dead when he saw the scene. [61] Montgomery Clift informed his psychiatrist that he was homosexual and struggling to cope with it. The accident changed. He and his co-star Olivia de Havilland made an appealing couple in this film adaptation of a Henry James novel. Continued pain from his injuries led him to rely on alcohol and pills for relief as he had done after an earlier bout with dysentery left him with chronic intestinal problems. Clift also struggled with his . He was involved with the Adventures of Superman actor Jack Larson and theater actor William LeMassena,[69][70] with whom he had a three-year relationship. [87] It is said that McDowall took the breakup with Clift hard. Monty Clift looking every bit his age. [76][77] He told Clift "I could make you love me," at the end of their two-year affair. John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in Red River. He wanted to be a free agent, and he did it successfully. A short while later, Taylor and some of the others rushed to the scene of the accident. Tellingly, theyre always pitched under working titles like Beautiful Loser and' Tragic Beauty. An adopted child, his mother Sunny maintained that Clifts true maternal great-grandfathers were the US postmaster-general Montgomery Blair as well as Union commander Robert Anderson, a part of her lineage that was clarified to her (when she came of age) by Dr. Edward Montgomery, the family doctor who delivered her. 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