Montgomery Clift

Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 - July 23, 1966) was an American actor, known by the stage name of Montgomery Clift.

Early life

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Ethel Fogg and William Brooks Clift, a banker with roots in the South.

Montgomery Clift had a twin sister, Roberta, and an older brother, Brooks, husband of Eleanor Clift, the columnist and political commentator, and father of their three children; Brooks also had a child by the late actress Kim Stanley.

Film career

Appearing on Broadway at the age of thirteen, Clift achieved success on the stage and starred there for 10 years before moving to Hollywood, debuting in 1948's Red River opposite John Wayne. Clift was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor that same year for The Search. Clift was billed as a new kind of leading man: sensitive, intense and broodingly handsome, the kind of man women would want to take care of. He had a highly successful film career, performing in many Oscar-nominated roles and becoming a matinee idol because of his good looks and sex appeal. His love scenes with Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun (1951) set a new standard for romance in cinema. His roles in A Place in the Sun, the 1953 classic From Here to Eternity and The Young Lions (1958) are considered signatures of his career.

Clift and his screen rival, Marlon Brando, were popularly known in Hollywood as the "Golddust Twins" because of their rapid rise to stardom. Clift reportedly turned down the starring roles in Sunset Boulevard and ''East of Eden.

Car accident

On May 12, 1956, while filming Raintree County, he smashed his car into a tree after leaving a party at the home of his Raintree County co-star Elizabeth Taylor and her then-husband Michael Wilding. Hearing the sounds of the crash, Elizabeth Taylor raced to Clift's side and kept him from choking to death by removing two of his teeth, which had become lodged in his throat. Clift needed extensive reconstructive surgery on his face (although his broken nose was never repaired) and he returned after several weeks to finish the film, his handsome appearance permanently disfigured. The "before and after" face of Clift is apparent in the movie. By this time, Clift had become hooked on alcohol and pain pills, and his health deteriorated. Taylor and Clift remained close friends until his death.

Post-accident career

Subsequently, Clift, with Lee Remick, appeared in Elia Kazan's Wild River (1960), a film listed in the United States National Film Registry. He then costarred in John Huston's The Misfits (1961), which turned out to be the last film for both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable.

Clift's last Oscar nomination was for best supporting actor for his riveting role in Judgment at Nuremberg (1962), a seven-minute part. The film also starred Spencer Tracy, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Burt Lancaster, and Judy Garland.

Death

Montgomery Clift died in 1966 at the age of 45 of complications brought on by his severe drug and alcohol addictions. He is interred in the Quaker Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.

Trivia

Clift was brother-in-law to Newsweek reporter Eleanor Clift.
Marilyn Monroe, who was also having emotional problems while filming the The Misfits, described Clift as: "The only person I know who is in worse shape than I am."
His post-accident career has been referred to as the "longest suicide in Hollywood" because of his continued substance abuse.
The songs "Monty got a Raw Deal" by R.E.M. and "The Right Profile" by The Clash are about him, and even The Clash's live album was named for one of his films (From Here to Eternity).

Academy Award nominations

Clift has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography

The Search (1948)
Red River (1948)
The Heiress (1949)
The Big Lift (1950)
A Place in the Sun (1951)
I Confess (1953)
Terminal Station (aka Indiscretion of an American Wife) (1953)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Operation Raintree (1957) (short subject)
Raintree County (1957)
Lonelyhearts (1958)
The Young Lions (1958)
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
Wild River (1960)
The Misfits (1961)
Freud (1962)
''Judgment at Nuremberg {1962}
The Defector (1966)

Stage Appearances

Fly Away Home (1935)
Jubilee (1935)
Yr. Obedient Husband (1938)
Eye On the Sparrow (1938)
Dame Nature (1938)
The Mother (1939)
There Shall Be No Night (1940)
The Skin of Our Teeth (1942)
The Searching Wind (1944)
Foxhole in the Parlor (1945)
You Touched Me (1945)

External links

Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Montgomery Clift
http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/c/Montgomery%20Clift/montgomery_clift.htm
http://www.montyclift.com
Montgomery Clift at Twoop

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