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. 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. During the peak period of his career, the actor and some Hollywood friends were returning from a party held at Taylor's home. The accident changed his appearance, and many biographers assumed Clift felt ruined by it and, so, drank more. 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. . Whatever the case may be, Montgomery Clifts life was unbelievably impressive and distressing. Clift cared nothing for appearances: the Los Angeles Times called him the Rumpled Movie Idol; he infamously owned only one suit. Nobody wanted to deal with him anymore, and for four years, he couldnt land a single role. He was, at least in the press, something approaching asexualthe title of a Motion Picture article, authored by Clift, declared simply, I Like It Lonely!. Of course, Clifts words had always been futile in the face of Hollywood. 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. I do not count myself as a member of the ripped-sweatshirt fraternity.. All rights reserved. . When he wasnt reading or preparing for his next role, he took pleasure in visiting the local night court. We collect and tell stories of people from all around the world. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. Copyright 2023 by Factinate.com. to add information, pictures and relationships, join in discussions and get credit for your contributions. Allegedly, Rock Hudson was there to pull Clift from the wreckage and it was Taylor who held the stricken actor in her arms. Tellingly, theyre always pitched under working titles like Beautiful Loser and' Tragic Beauty. Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando were in a . In the bathroom, James found Clift in his bathtub, undressed and obviously deceased. 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. . He could barely remember his lines and often didnt show up to set. Lancaster's . Contact sheets from LIFE photographer Peter Stackpoles shoot on a Paramount lot with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in 1950. During the filming of Raintree County, Clift and Taylor seemed to have rekindled their is-it-or-isnt-it relationship; according to one of Clifts biographers, Some days he would threaten to stop seeing Elizabeth Taylorthen, the thought would make him burst into tears. Other apocryphal legend has Taylor sending Clift piles of love letters, which he then read aloud to his male companion at the time. / Montys face is broken on a wheel. Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter. His interests lay elsewhere. Clift couldnt get through longer scenes, having to split them up into two or three chunks. Montgomery Clift (1920-1966) is one of the most tragic figures in Hollywood history. And even then, he didnt live a glamorous movie star existence. (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. Clift asserts that the actors use of alcohol and prescription drugs stemmed, primarily, from a near-fatal car accident in 1956. This showed in his consciousness of being seen as feminine in any way. Actor Montgomery Clift, 45, three times nominated for Academy Awards, died early Saturday of a heart attack in his plush East Side townhouse. To help build their case, the film-makers had rare access to the actors archives, as well as to the familys story, courtesy of a special connection: the doc was co-directed by the stars nephew, Robert Clift, and his wife, Hillary Demmon. Their. 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. Determined to keep his gayness under wraps, Clift made sure that his masculine facade shone onscreen. At the time of the premiere, Monroe had been admitted to a psychiatric ward and required a day pass just to attend. He was sick of being a symbol, a symptom, a testament to something. 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. It left him with chronic health issues for the rest of his life. It was reported that Taylor even tried to help him find a partner. is the hero of a long, oppressively powerful movie called A Place in the Sun. Directed by George Stevens for Paramount, it gives three young actors [Shelley Winters brilliantly played the poor girl] the chance to give the most natural performances of their careers. They seem to have their stories all written out beforehand.. He also didnt want to sign a contract with a studio, then the only viable way into the business. During her appearance at the GLAAD Media Awards, Taylor openly spoke about her late friends sexuality while she addressed the rights of gay people. It was also a dark, melancholy film: as a review in Variety pointed out, the complex mass of introspective conflicts, symbolic parallels, and motivational contradictions was so nuanced as to seriously confound general audiences, who were likely unable to cope with the philosophical undercurrents of the Arthur Miller script. But even the troubled blonde bombshell recognized that her co-star was in dire straits. In his eyes, he wasnt a rebel, he was simply an actor who wanted to portray a slice of life. Tired of being boxed in, he stated, I am notrepeat nota member of the Beat Generation. The subject matter, which involved him assisting in the cover-up of a dead mans apparent homosexuality, must have sparked mixed emotions. In fact, the attitudes he and his family held towards his relationships with men were strikingly modern. But the troubled star. At the end of the day, Clifts private nurse Lorenzo James checked in on him just after midnight. When it came to the lengthier scenes, the actor just couldnt deliver; they had to be divided into smaller cuts just so he could see them through. Born on October 17, 1920, Edward Montgomery Clift was born into a family with lofty ideals. She developed an intense decade-plus obsession over the young actor, even financing an experimental play, "Mexican Mural" for him. He wasnt solely an actor, she said. Taylor, at last free from her long-standing contract with MGM, next used her power as the biggest star in Hollywood to insist that Clift be cast in her new project, Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). In 1966, Clifts stalwart friend, Elizabeth Taylor, came to his aid once again and managed to get him a part in Reflections in a Golden Eye. Making distraction rewarding since 2017. 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. And so he remains frozen in the popular imagination, circa From Here to Eternitythose high cheekbones, that set jaw, the firm stare: a magnificent, proud, tragically broken thing to behold. In 1951, Clift embarked upon one of his most famous roles as George Eastman inA Place in the Sun. Part of honoring someone is being open to that person not being just one, reductive thing., Making Montgomery Clift is showing at NewFest with a release date yet to be announced, Tab Hunter: how Hollywood's boy next door became a gay icon, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Indeed, it was his apparent lack of romantic attachments that confounded the gossip press the most. Adopted at the age of one, his mother was told by a well-intentioned doctor years later that she was the offspring of Southern aristocrats, so she chose to raise her own children accordingly. Still, unlike other notable gay actors, any affairs Montgomery Clift had were secured behind a lock and key. When he read the story that criticized his bare-bones wardrobe, the scandalized actor lashed out with a biting response. In this exclusive excerpt from her forthcoming book, Anne. Instead, Clift enjoyed reading, filling his spare moments with Chekov and Aristotlediving into history, or learning about economics. There were questions about the woman in his life and why he was single. Prior to leaving by train for Paris, a married American woman tries to break off her affair with a young Italian in Rome's Stazione Termini. A Place In The Sun (1951) & From Here To Eternity (1953). The film-makers interviewed Bosworth extensively for the movie, but they contrast her words with old taped conversations she had with the actors brother. 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. Ad Choices. He also helped bring a more natural acting style to film. He advanced a collaborative approach with his directors, working over scripts and making suggestions for edits. He summoned a doctor, but it was already too late. These are just among the many words which have been used to describe Montgomery Clift, the enigmatic heartthrob of the 1950s. 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. In Truman Capotes unpublished novel Answered Prayers, for example, the author imagines a dinner party between Clift, Dorothy Parker, and flamboyant stage actress Tallulah Bankhead: . Horrified, James immediately called for help, but of course, it was already too late. Next came "The Nutty Professor" as Lewis' student, Stella Purdy, who he is infatuated with. 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. And thus began what Robert Lewis, Clifts teacher at the Actors Studio, called the longest suicide in Hollywood history. Even before Raintree, the decline had been visible. Clift had a fraternal twin sister, Roberta, and a brother, William Brooks Clift Jr, who had an illegitimate son with actress Kim Stanley. Before long, photographers began to descend on the gory scene. Instead, he bided his time, and thankfully, luck was on his side. Quite fittingly, he once said, The closer we come to the negative, todeath, the more we blossom. Even after his passing, his forever friend, Elizabeth Taylor, never forgot him. 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. While he never excelled at school, his extraordinary abilities as an actor. Here was someone who was vulnerable and sensitive - and who actually listened to women.. However, he became more comfortable with her and eventually found it easy to open up about his sexuality. Their unique bond so evident in these pictures made on the Paramount lot during filming of A Place in the Sun, and never published in LIFE, was occasionally deepened even further by disasters visited upon them both through the years. (He never won an Academy Award, although most movie aficionados feel he deserved at least one, for his unforgettable turn as the tortured Robert E. Lee Prewitt in From Here to Eternity.). Director: William Wyler | Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins Votes: 16,212 4. He lived in a pampered bubbleuntil one day, it all came crashing down. . And the cherry on top? Along with Marlon Brando and James Dean, he helped delineate a new paradigm for American cinematic heroes. Montgomery Clift 39 30. Above all, Clift was perpetually curious. Their claims were deemed reliable because one of the biographers was certified by one of Clift's confidants. One time when he was delivering his line on the set of "The Search," he mistakenly called a boy 'dear' and insisted that the director did a reshoot. He got him going again. Oddly enough, when he died, the homocons on Gay Patriot praised him on . The Big Lift (1950) Approved | 120 min | Drama, War 6.4 Rate
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