He became so known for his tousled appearance that theLos Angeles Times dubbed him the Rumpled Movie Idol. With his ancient, ramshackle car, and a circle of friends outsidethe realm of Hollywood, he certainly didnt fit the mold. / Is he alive? I do not count myself as a member of the ripped-sweatshirt fraternity.. But the tragedies didnt end there. Montgomery Clift Born: 1920-10-17, Omaha, Nebraska, USA Education: NA Ethnicity: Caucasian Death Date:-0001-11-30 Addition Websites. Although Clift and Montgomery were only good friends, their coupling inA Place in the Sunhelped drive its popularity. Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn came to Clifts defense when the director tried to get rid of him. That was really frightening to see., Penn Badgley Loves His Wife Too Much to Do Sex Scenes in, I askedSera Gamble, the creator, Can I just do no more intimacy scenes? the former, Oscar-winning producer Dede Gardner looks back at her many groundbreaking awards darlings, from the triumph of. But when hedid get a hankering for a fun excursion, Clift knew exactly where he wanted to be. The 'Red River star was then tagged a gay icon. Will she ride the term to Oscar gold? However, this was no quick fix. She is completing her PhD in Toronto, Canada. He told everyone that hed marry when he met the right girl, but that in the meantime, he was simply playing the field. Once, when questioned about his pastimes, he quipped, Yes, women. But where were they? What happened next has since become the stuff of Hollywood legend. Between 1963 and 1966, he faded from public view, emerging only to film a final performance in the French spy thriller The Defector (1966). His mother wanted all of her children to be raised as distinguished aristocrats, and as such, little Clift and his siblings received an elite upbringing: private tutors, extensive travel, and language lessons. In fact, Hepburn was so offended by Mankiewicz that she did something outrageous. Login But when he climbed into the room, he discovered something absolutely gut-wrenching. Along with Marlon Brando and James Dean, he helped delineate a new paradigm for American cinematic heroes. Montgomery Clift had an encounter with Marlon Brando. But the troubled star. Directors Robert Anderson Clift Hillary Demmon Writers Robert Anderson Clift Hillary Demmon Stars He naturally gravitated to the theater. He had a close friendship with a woman named Myra Letts, whom the gossip columnists tried arduously to frame as a love interest. Curtis's relationship to the term nepo baby has evolved over the last few months. made. The pieces of the puzzle dont quite fit. Born on October 17, 1920, Edward Montgomery Clift was born into a family with lofty ideals. Unlike many other actors, he didnt jump straight into a contract. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-1964). That secret that Clift was gay during an impossible era (the 1930s through the 60s) led many interpreters to conclude that the actor must have led a life riddled with fear and shame. . And yet, the mystery persists. In fact, the attitudes he and his family held towards his relationships with men were strikingly modern. When the duo finally met in Stevens' office, it was pretty magical for Taylor. Courtesy Everett Collection Elizabeth was more visible than the publicity-shy Monty. 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. He also sunk into alcoholism, of which Taylor and some other friends tried to help him. Although hed only been away from Hollywood for four and a half years, the handsome Montgomery Clift looked incrediblyoldand the reason was downright heartbreaking. Thanks for your help! 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. This was entertainment at its finest. Instead, he bided his time, and thankfully, luck was on his side. Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? Taylor talked about the need for staunch support for gay people and their rights. 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. Their claims were deemed reliable because one of the biographers was certified by one of Clift's confidants. Born Edward Montgomery Clift on Oct. 17, 1920 in Omaha, NE, he was the son of Ethel Fogg and William Brooks Clift, a successful Wall Street stockbroker. For Clift, The Heiress was a mess from top to bottom, and he even walked out on the films premiere, disgusted with his own performance. Actor Montgomery Clift, 45, three times nominated for Academy Awards, died early Saturday of a heart attack in his plush East Side townhouse. Every actor was in the midst of fighting their own demons. But when his nephew dives into the family archives, a much more complicated picture emerges. cocksucker. Then, sweetly, wide-eyed with little girl navet, she He had a holistic view.. What finally brought him back to the screen? Clifts recuperation took months, and when he finally returned to set, there was more trouble afoot. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. He died. According to Clifts doctors, it was amazing that he was even alive. She continued to stand by his memory by supporting gay rights and speaking out against homophobia. Indeed, it was his apparent lack of romantic attachments that confounded the gossip press the most. or over 30 years, scripts have floated around Hollywood promising to tell the story of Montgomery Clift, one of the most innovative and handsome actors in history. . Sumner Redstone in Love: The Cringey Sexcapades of a Horny Billionaire, The elderly media titan flexed his MTV ownership, rang his grandson at 3 a.m. for hookups with new women, and rewarded companions with stock options and TV shows. He gained excellent theatrical notices and soon piqued the interests of numerous lovelorn actresses; their advances met with awkward conflict. He used them to numb his physical pain. The Big Lift (1950) Approved | 120 min | Drama, War 6.4 Rate He wanted to be a free agent, and he did it successfully. Montgomery Blair. Years before, Clift had battled dysentery, which introduced him to the sinister side effects of pain management. Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun. Can he still feel?). He advanced a collaborative approach with his directors, working over scripts and making suggestions for edits. Contact sheet from LIFE photographer Peter Stackpoles shoot on a Paramount lot with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in 1950. However, Clift soon realized that you cant always have your cake and eat it too. 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?. Sadly, his greatest friend Elizabeth Taylor could only send flowers from Rome. 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. . 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. As such, Taylors intervention only enhances the very real love story that existed between her and Clift. After all, his leading lady was none other than the beguiling Elizabeth Taylor, and together, these two stars were pure fire. Realizing that Clift was in mortal danger, McCarthy raced to the scene of the accident. (The Clash famously referenced that awful scene, which changed the course of Clifts career and set him on a winding path of booze-and-painkiller-fueled decay, in the song The Right Profile from London Calling: I see a car smashed at night. His smashed face was rebuilt, he reconciled with his estranged father, but he continued bedeviled by dependency on drugs and his unrelenting guilt over his homosexuality.With his Hollywood career in an irreversible slide despite giving an occasional riveting performance, such as in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Monty returned to New York and tried to slowly develop a somewhat more sensible lifestyle in his brownstone row house on East 61st Street in Manhattan. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. 5 talking about this. Some of the greatest celebrities of the day came out to mourn Clift at his funeral, including Lauren Bacall and Frank Sinatra. But just as Clift dove into this exciting new chapter, an unforeseen tragedy changedeverything. His father, William Brooks "Bill" Clift (1886-1964), was the vice-president of Omaha National Trust Company. Once on stage, Clift truly came into his own. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. ", However, it became more eminent that his single status bordered on his sexuality as time went on. He was the son of Francis Preston Blair, elder brother of Francis Preston Blair Jr. and cousin of B. Gratz Brown . 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. Montgomery Clift was in 8 on-screen matchups, including Anne Baxter in I Confess (1953), Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun (1951), Dolores Hart in Lonelyhearts (1958), Donna Reed in From Here to Eternity (1953) and Jennifer Jones in Indiscretion of an American Wife (1953). In the face of such criticism, Clift went ahead and confused the gossip columns even more. 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. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. In his words, I learned that most writers dont need interviews to write about me. Jennifer Jones (Actor), Montgomery Clift (Actor), Vittorio De Sica (Director) Format: DVD 127 ratings IMDb 6.2/10.0 $797 Prime Video $0.99 $2.99 Blu-ray $14.99 DVD $7.97 VHS Tape $4.73 See More Frequently bought together + + Total price: $27.95 Add all three to Cart Some of these items ship sooner than the others. According to this version of the story, when photographers arrived, Taylor announced that she knew each and every one of them personally-- and if they took pictures of Clift, who was still very much alive, shed make sure they never worked in Hollywood again. The unspoken truth was that Clift was gay. Nope. While he never excelled at school, his extraordinary abilities as an actor. His beat-up car was 10 years old, and his best friends were all outside of the movie business. She made it known that it all boiled down to love. 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.. But the drama didn't end there. He was sick of being a symbol, a symptom, a testament to something. Regardless of the veracity of this story, one thing remains true: theres not a single picture of Clifts broken face. He looked about ten years older than the Montgomery Clift audiences remembered and adored. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life. He is most remembered for A Place In The Sun (1951) & From Here To Eternity (1953).. His zodiac sign is Libra. . He was a great talent but the male counterpart to Monroe, lonely, sad, and pitiful. About a month afterThe Misfitswrapped, Gable suffered a heart attack and passed.