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Montgomery Clift

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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, who was a husband of Eleanor Clift, the columnist and political commentator, and father of their 3 children; Brooks also had a child by the late actress Kim Stanley.

Film career

Appearing on Broadway at the age of thirteen, he achieved success on the stage and starred there for ten years before moving to Hollywood, debuting in 1948's Red River opposite John Wayne. Clift was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor that same year for The Search. Billed as the new kind of leading man, sensitive, intense and 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 for his good looks. 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.

He turned down the starring roles in Sunset Boulevard and East of Eden.

He hid his bisexuality and turned to alcoholism and drug use.

Car accident

In 1956, while filming Raintree County, he smashed his car into a tree after leaving a party. Elizabeth Taylor kept him from choking to death by removing two teeth lodged in his throat. She had been co-starring in the movie and happened to be at the party. He needed reconstructive surgery on his face and returned after several weeks to finish the film. Taylor has noted that she was in love with Clift, and would have married him had he only asked. However, his conflict with his sexual identity is believed to have prevented him from proposing.

Post-accident career

Clift later appeared in Wild River, a 1960 film listed in the United States National Film Registry.

Clift was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for Judgment at Nuremberg in a role that only took up seven minutes of screen time.

Death

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

Trivia

  • Clift was also brother-in-law to Newsweek reporter Eleanor Clift.
  • Marilyn Monroe, who was also having emotional problems while filming the The Misfits, playfully 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).
  • Clift's height was 5'10".

Academy Award Nominations

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

Filmography

Stage Appearances


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