Unlike many other actors, he didnt jump straight into a contract. (1936), Ghostwriting Gloria Swanson: The Strange, Sexually Charged Genesis of a Legendary Autobiography, A New Power Generation: Radhika Jones Introduces the 2023 Hollywood Issue, Salma Hayek Pinault Explains How She Got Hollywood to Stop Typecasting Her as Sexy. The Life and Sad Ending of Montgomery Clift The Life and Sad Ending 182K subscribers Subscribe 2.2K Share 106K views 2 years ago Mini bio of the life of actor Montgomery Clift who is. While they may not make old-timers forget the Greta Garbo-John Gilbert embraces of the 20s, Miss Taylor and Mr. Clift lose no chance to show why they are considered two of the hottest juveniles in Hollywood. In his first film, Red River, Clift had the chance to play opposite the western superstar John Wayne. . His perpetual question to himself, as he once scribbled in his journal, was, How to remain thin-skinned, vulnerable, and still alive? For Clift, the task proved impossible. Edward Montgomery Clift was born on October 17, 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska. Years before, Clift had battled dysentery, which introduced him to the sinister side effects of pain management. Elizabeth Taylor at Paramount Studios, 1950. What a pity hes a Making distraction rewarding since 2017. Login to add information, pictures and relationships, join in discussions and get credit for your contributions. Clift was so protective of Holman that when offered the plum role of the male lead in Sunset Boulevard, he turned it downreportedly to avoid any suggestion that Libby Holman was his own delusional Norma Desmond, using a handsome young man to pursue her lost stardom. Nearly all his good looks are gone, Isherwood wrote. By 15, Clift made his Broadway debut in Cole Porters Jubilee. A bulls horn scarred his nose and his attempt to tame a horse gave him intense rope burnnot to mention all the other scrapes he earned along the way. He got him going again. When the press talked about Clift, they talked about the skill and the beauty, but they also talked about what an offbeat, weird guy he was. Grasping at straws, the media decided to do what little they could to sensationalize the actors non-existent, One of Clifts closest friends was a woman named Myra Letts, and for the ruthless gossip columns, it wasnt a huge leap from friend to girlfriend. Clift didnt entertain this for a second and shot the sordid speculations down immediately, saying that there was zero intimacy between them: those romantic rumors are embarrassing to both of us.. These are just among the many words which have been used to describe Montgomery Clift, the enigmatic heartthrob of the 1950s. Clift and Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor first became acquainted when they played counterparts on George Stevens's "A Place in the Sun." But right as filming began, he realized that hed made a terrible mistake. Looking back, the film had a legacy of darkness surrounding it: Gable died of a heart attack less than a month after filming; Monroe was only able to attend the films premiere with a pass from her stay at a psychiatric ward. Were not trying to give a definitive version of who Monty was, added Clift. If you have a story that tracks along that line, that will feel true to people. Montgomery Clift spent a miserly 10 dollars a month on what his friends referred to as a beat up apartment. 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. Apparently, Burt Lancaster's From Here to Eternity co-star Montgomery Clift intimidated himso much so that in their first scene together you can see Lancaster shaking. Whether he liked it or not, they were out for a storyAnd the one they wanted above all? A portrait of Elizabeth Taylor And Montgomery Clift from the film "A Place In The Sun", 1951 | Photo: Getty Images. Taylor had married British actor Michael Wilding in 1952, but by 1956, their marriage was in decline. Elizabeth Taylor (all of 17 years old) and Montgomery Clift posed together at Paramount Studios during a break in filming A Place in the Sun. Indiscretion of an American Wife 1953, 1h 3min - Romance , Drama Jennifer Jones is the American housewife on vacation in Italy who must choose between returning home to her husband and family in Philadelphia or her romance with an Italian academic played by Montgomery Clift. He pointed out that she just let the director determine her every move. But while Clift certainly seemed like a budding Hollywood heartthrob on the outside, in reality, he wasfar from it. The story of Clift's devastating car crash varies somewhat from one account to the next. Suddenly, the Clift family was completely broke and had no choice to move to New York. He died. That secret, depending on your source, was that Clift was gay or bisexual. . Their claims were deemed reliable because one of the biographers was certified by one of Clift's confidants. When he first arrived in Hollywood, he didnt sign a contract, waiting until after the success of his first two films to negotiate a three-picture deal with Paramount that allowed him total discretion over projects. It also stresses Clifts crucial role in changing the power balance between actors and studio chiefs in Hollywood, as well as the advancements he brought to film acting. A four-time Oscar nominee who died at 45, Montgomery Clift was a bright young talent, a tabloid fixture, and a posthumous gay icon. . Christine Tran is a history buff(ette) and media scholar. She would wield considerable influence over the early part of his film career, advising him in decisions to decline lead roles in Sunset Blvd. But this wasnt the actors first time at the rodeo. A bout five years ago, filmmaking duo Robert Clift and Hillary Demmon Clift decided to make a documentary about Robert's long-dead uncle. . He was lonely, yet with the help of his refusal to live in Los Angeles or participate in caf society, he was able to keep his private life private. Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter. Merv was a sexual predator who once tried to sexually assault Danny Terrio, then threatened to ruin his career if he talked. However, even with all the negative hubbub surrounding this shoot, it was nothing compared to the darkness of one of Clifts next projects. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. He summoned a doctor, but it was already too late. Sadly, his greatest friend Elizabeth Taylor could only send flowers from Rome. His father made a lot of money in banking but was quite poor during the depression. But her heroism didnt end there. ", However, it became more eminent that his single status bordered on his sexuality as time went on. TAYLOR ON CLIFT'S SEXUALITY AFTER HIS DEATH. He wanted to be a free agent, and he did it successfully. Where were these so-called women? Well, at the very heart of it all, Montgomery Clift hid a dangerous secretone that wouldnt emerge untilyears later. But for 12 years, he set Hollywood aflame. But even the troubled blonde bombshell recognized that her co-star was in dire straits. Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Hitchcock's I CONFESS (DVD, 1953); M CLIFT, A BAXTER. It was a huge wager: since everyone knew how much booze and pills Clift was on, he was virtually uninsurable on set. Clift cared nothing for appearances: the Los Angeles Times called him the Rumpled Movie Idol; he infamously owned only one suit. He has a ghastly, shattered expression. And it wasnt just in private record: in October 1956, Louella Parsons reported on Clifts very bad health and Holmans attempts to clean him up. But the producer, Sam Spiegel, decided to go forward, no matter the risk. In 1925 Theodore Dreiser [told such a tale in his] long, oppressively powerful novel, An American Tragedy, which in turn made only a fair movie in 1931. They went to London to see Laurence Olivier together, ate together, sat in front of the fire together, Clift said. Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Guided by the key biographies of Clift, they reliably parrot a narrative which paints the actor as a startlingly attractive and prodigiously gifted man who, according to one notably overheated tabloid TV show became a drug-addicted alcoholic living in a self-imposed hell because he had a secret he couldnt live with. You see, the entire healing process put Clift through the paces. yo tambien hubiera tenido algo con el claro que si, Monty, I love you. The results were not pretty. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from Life to Compact Cars and Trucks to A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius. Well get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics youre interested in. Woodbury Blair was the son of Montgomery Blair, after whom his great-grandson received his middle name, and wife Mary Elizabeth Woodbury, daughter of Levi Woodbury (1789-1851), United States Supreme Court, and wife Elizabeth Wendell Clapp. She had always been there for him, and once said, Monty couldve been the biggest star in the world if he did more movies. But Taylors dedication to her friend went above and beyond. Show details Absolutely stunning. Whether morally repulsive or philosophically compelling, The Misfits bombed, only to be recuperated, years later, as a masterpiece of the revisionist genre. Although hed only been away from Hollywood for four and a half years, the handsome Montgomery Clift looked incrediblyoldand the reason was downright heartbreaking. While working in New York in the early 1940s, he met wealthy former Broadway star Libby Holman. He could barely remember his lines and often didnt show up to set. When interviewed, the "From Here to Eternity" actor would wave it off, noting that he would be with a woman when he finds the right person. The film went on to win six Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Screenplay, and is now hailed as a (flawed) classic. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-1964). I Confess - Hitchcock - His Life in Pictures Magazine Pictorial [United Kingdom] (June 2022), Montgomery Clift - Retro Magazine Pictorial [Poland] (May 2022), Montgomery Clift - Pani domu Magazine Pictorial [Poland] (August 2011). Who is Montgomery Clift dating? Con Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift, Gino Cervi, Richard Beymer. The Searchturned out to be a huge hit for Clift. "Monty," as the performer was known to family and . But he was handsome and beguiling on-screen, creating an appetite for confirmation of that same Clift off the screen. As for Clift, the shoot was incredibly taxing, both mentally and physically: in addition to acquiring a scar across his nose from a stray bulls horn, severe rope burns while attempting to tame a wild horse, and various other rough-and-tumble injuries, he also performed what has widely come to be regarded as one of his best scenes, a stilted, heartbreaking conversation with his mother from a phone booth. I thought he was dead. McCarthy ran to fetch Taylor, Wilding, and Rock Hudson and Hudsons wife, Phyllis Gates, who all raced to the site of the accident. There were questions about the woman in his life and why he was single. The old Hollywood system was breaking apart and he was a major part of that., The first role Clift took, opposite John Wayne in Red River in 1948, offered a stark contrast in masculine presentations. Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor during the filming of A Place in the Sun. / Cut the applause and dim the light. From here on out, however, he plunged even further into his addiction. So the fan magazines got creative: the August 1949 cover of Movieland, for example, featured a grinning, suited, respectable-looking Clift paired with the tantalizing headline Making Love the Clift Way. But when readers looked inside the magazine, all they found was a two-page spread of stills from The Heiress, featuring Clift in various stages of flirtation with Olivia de Havilland, extrapolating that Clifts kissing style was soft yet possessively brutal; pleading, but demanding all. 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You couldn't help but come. The Clift picture didn't pan out either, at least with her promised co-star. It is a feature-length film with a runtime of 1h 3min. Some sources have the crash occurring when Clift was leaving the event, while others state he was on his way there. Montgomery Clift (1920-1966) is one of the most tragic figures in Hollywood history. In Montgomery Clift: A Biography, author Patricia Bosworth describes Monty's father Bill as passive, good-natured, and very dependent on his charismatic wife, Sunny. 2023 Cond Nast. I mean, he is a Directors Robert Anderson Clift Hillary Demmon Writers Robert Anderson Clift Hillary Demmon Stars Sensitive. For somewhat mysterious reasons, Robert Clifts father Brooks taped endless conversations with his famous brother, as well as with their mother and other figures relevant to the story. [6] His mother was Ethel Fogg "Sunny" Clift ( ne Anderson; 1888-1988). Hollywood repeatedly came courting, but he put off offers for nearly a decade, even turning down roles in classic films like East of Eden and the co-lead in Sunset Boulevard. Or, as Bosley Crowther, taking the populist slant in The New York Times, explained, the characters were amusing, but they were also shallow and inconsequential, and that is the dang-busted trouble with this film.. ), William Brooks Clift, Jr. (19191986) (Aged 66 Or 67) (Who Had An Illegitimate Son With Actress Kim Stanley And Was Later Married To Political Reporter Eleanor Clift. When he came to visit storied fan-magazine author Elsa Maxwell at her home, she had her maid darn the elbow in his jacket. I am not one of Americas Angry Young Men. Author Christopher Isherwood aptly illustrated Montgomery Clifts shocking transformation: Nearly all his good looks are goneHe has a ghastly, shattered expression. But remember, Clift was never one to dwell on his looks, and it must have been frustrating that everyone else cared so much. Born in 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, Clift was raised like an aristocrat, with a private tutor and frequent trips to Europe. His interests lay elsewhere. There were no wild outings for this reserved homebody. While filming a 15-minute supporting role as a mentally handicapped victim of the Holocaust in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), he had to ad-lib all of his lines. But when he climbed into the room, he discovered something absolutely gut-wrenching. Fed up with the script, Clift desperately wanted to change her lines, saying, She isnt giving me enough to respond [to]. Of course, poor de Havilland soon had more than just her prickly love interest to contend with. Montgomery's ancestry was English, as well as more distant Scottish, Dutch, German and French. 3.80. Clift earned best-actor Oscar nominations for 1951s A Place in the Sun and 1953s From Here to Eternity; both times he lost to older actors (Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, respectively), and established his reputation, alongside Marlon Brando and James Dean, as a young outsider whose talent intimidated Hollywood. Please reach out to us to let us know what youre interested in reading. Clift appeared in The Misfits, a revisionist western best known as the final film of Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. The Big Lift (1950) Approved | 120 min | Drama, War 6.4 Rate But if you look at his own words, his testimonies about what acting did to him, youll see the culprit. ", A portrait of Montgomery Clift against a wooden backdrop on 01 January, 1948 | Photo: Getty mages. Sal Mineo and Montgomery Clift had a relationship Montgomery Clift is rumored to have hooked up with Paul Newman Henry Willson and Montgomery Clift had a relationship Jack Larson and Montgomery Clift had a relationship William LeMassena and Montgomery Clift had a relationship Montgomery Clift and Libby Holman had a relationship Maurice Leonard and Montgomery Clift had a relationship Arnold Saint Subber and Montgomery Clift had a relationship Montgomery Clift had an encounter with Marlon Brando shared a link: https://www.allmovie.com/artist/montgomery-clift-p13682, I never used to like him until I saw 'The Heiress' he really was gorgeous, it's such a shame his life was unhappy. Hepburn was reportedly so incensed by Mankiewiczs treatment of Clift that when the film officially wrapped, she found the director and spat in his face. Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, Hollywood, 1950. John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in Red River. But even as Clift consistently took the road less traveled, he still had some biting things to say about the media, especially its desire to pin down his image. Montgomery Clift may have been one of the most self-aware actors of his day, and he certainly knew the name of the game. July 22, 1966, was a sweltering day in New York City, and Montgomery Clift had been languishing in his townhouse on 61st Street. "Monty," as his family called him, was the son of William Clift, a. Eyebrows were raised when the actor shared in an article he authored that he liked it "lonely. Marlon Brando girlfriend, wife list. Contact sheets from LIFE photographer Peter Stackpole's shoot on a Paramount lot with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in 1950. After the success of 1953sFrom Here to Eternity, Montgomery Clift suddenly stopped making films. Beautiful man. He was, in his words, nothing more than an ordinary, second-class wolf., These anecdotes, and dozens like them, would establish Clift, along with Brando, as the embodiment of 50s youth culture, rebelling against conformity and all that postwar Americans were supposed to embrace. (The director himself never met his famous uncle, having been born eight years after his death). Instead, Clift enjoyed reading, filling his spare moments with Chekov and Aristotlediving into history, or learning about economics. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska on 1920-10-17. Although he may not have realized it, Clifts horrific accident sparked the beginning of the end, intensifying his preexisting ailments and sending him down a dark path from which he could never return. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Montgomery Clift's nephew, co-directing 'Making Montgomery Clift,' an eye-opening documentary about the great movie actor, excavates a treasure trove of family archives. In fact, after the lovers have been separated for good and the young man is in the death house [Clifts character murders Winters after getting her pregnant], the face of the girl comes floating in via double exposure to give him a last unsubstantial peck before he goes out to be executed. This made him an A-list actor and a multi-award-winning star. The surgeries led to the use of strong painkillers. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? Teach, I loved the way how he played in A Place in the Sun. But the troubled star. After Eternity he dropped out of Hollywood for several years, and signed a three-year contract with MGM in 1955 to make Raintree County, which re-united him with his Place in the Sun co-star Elizabeth Taylor. 5 talking about this. Montgomery Clift girlfriend, wife list. But after an initial flurry of coverage, he retreated from public view entirely. Allegedly, hed been forewarned that the truth would destroy his career, and as a result, the actor became increasingly wary of appearing feminine in any way. That Clift was gay made little difference in the intensity and duration of the two stars adoration of one another: here, after all, were two talented, passionate artists who met at a young age (she was in her teens; he was in his late twenties) and immediately discovered that they were, for lack of a better phrase, soul mates. But something of the old talent remainedor at least enough to earn Clift a nomination for best-supporting actor, playing, in the words of film critic David Thomson, a victim irretrievably damaged by suffering. Plans for Clift to play the lead in the film adaptation of Carson McCullerss The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter fell through, in large part due to his uninsurability on set, and promises of a fourth collaboration with Taylor, this time with producer Ray Stark, never came to pass. All his life, it was misery," said McCarthy. Yet Clift would come to hate the image that constrained him, just as he hated the suggestion that he was a slob, unfriendly, or loathed in Hollywood: after the story of his bare closet came out in the Saturday Evening Post, he worked arduously to set the record straight, underlining the ways in which publicity takes a kernel of the truth and expands it into legend. He insisted on maintaining his residence in New York, spending as little time in Hollywood as possible. Clifts early foray into acting led him to a Broadway debut in 1935. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. The next year, Taylor used her status to wrangle an acting part for Clift; she demanded that he be a part ofSuddenly, Last Summer. If Paramount wanted him, theyd have to give him what he wanteda power differential that would go on to structure the star-studio relationship for the next 40 years. Clifts lifestyle had the press slotting him in with non-conformists of the dayright alongside hotshots like Marlon Brandobut the actor didnt respond well to being labeled and defined. The director, John Huston, supposedly brought in Clift because he thought hed have a soothing effect on Monroe, who was deeply embroiled in her own addictions, with her own personal demons. I do not count myself as a member of the ripped-sweatshirt fraternity.. From the start, Clift was framed as a rebel and an individual. After his accident, Clift had an arduous road to recovery. A fellow actor asserts that Clift was equally confident in his sexuality. Even the press seemed to unintentionally hit upon the one thing he wanted to keep hidden, with titles like Two Loves Has Monty and Monty Clift: Woman Hater or Free Soul?. It has a good rating on IMDb: 6.2 stars out of 10. MONTY YOU WERE THE BEST!!! Clift detested Waynes antiquated male constraints. As his eyes drifted closed, Clift suddenly veered off the road and drove straight into a telephone pole. Still, unlike other notable gay actors, any affairs Montgomery Clift had were secured behind a lock and key. Next came "The Nutty Professor" as Lewis' student, Stella Purdy, who he is infatuated with. Biographies of Clift posit that he drank because he couldnt be his true self, because homosexuality was the shame he had to shelter within. In fact, the attitudes he and his family held towards his relationships with men were strikingly modern. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the latest celebrity news, but don't worry we have you covered. In 1929, the Wall Street Crash hit Clifts father like a ton of bricks, and his mothers dreams disappeared in an instant. Clift's reputation in the 1960s was coloured by the brutal comment of Robert Lewis, Clift's teacher at the Actors Studio, who called his late .
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