He wanted to be a free agent, and he did it successfully. More, it analyzes the new view of masculine beauty he helped introduce to the screen. AmoMama creates engaging, meaningful content for women. A bout five years ago, filmmaking duo Robert Clift and Hillary Demmon Clift decided to make a documentary about Robert's long-dead uncle. ), Elizabeth Taylor, Roddy McDowell, Dean Martin, Kevin McCarthy, Marilyn Monroe, Jennifer Jones, Libby Holman, Thornton Wilder, Salka Viertel, Stewart Granger, Jack Larson, Oscar Levant, Pilar Levi, Giuseppe Perrone, Fred Zinnemann, Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Abigail Tommye Adams. It was ironic his relationship with the bisexual middle-aged Holman would be the principal (and likely the last) heterosexual relationship of his life and only cause him further anguish over his sexuality. Heres A Mystery: Why Did Arthur Conan Doyles Son Dress Up Like a Knight? In The Young Lions (1958), released just two years after the accident, the pain and resentment seem almost visible. But the facial reconstruction, heavy painkiller use, and rampant alcohol abuse made it look like hed aged a decade. Who is Montgomery Clift dating? Montgomery Clift girlfriend, wife They seem to have their stories all written out beforehand., Clifts private life was boringhe didnt date, he didnt flirt, he didnt hang out in public. You`ve being alwasy an inspiration for me. Lessons from the Lives of Celebrities: Actor, Montgomery (Monty) Clift Help us build our profile of Montgomery Clift! Montgomery Clift - Biography - IMDb Tellingly, theyre always pitched under working titles like Beautiful Loser and' Tragic Beauty. Montgomery Clift was certainly one of a kind, and when he landed in Hollywood, it became extremely clear that he was going to do things his own way. Jack Larson, famous for playing Jimmy Olsen in the hit 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman, recalled how Clift gave him a full mouth kiss the first time they casually met. Until it sinks into a sentimental quagmire the end, the second movie excels first in being remarkably faithful to Dreisers tale of three pitiful youngsters and in telling the story with the same earnestness and breadth that have made the novel survive as a classic. 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. About a month afterThe Misfitswrapped, Gable suffered a heart attack and passed. The documentary was released at the Los Angeles Film Festival and . He is most remembered for A Place In The Sun (1951) & From Here To Eternity (1953).. His zodiac sign is Libra. He pointed out that she just let the director determine her every move. 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. An interviewer once asked him what his hobbies were, Clift replied, "women. Taylor had married British actor Michael Wilding in 1952, but by 1956, their marriage was in decline. Will she ride the term to Oscar gold? The Young Lions (film) - Wikipedia When The Heiresscame out, Clifts loyal fanatics came with their claws out and wrote vicious letters to Olivia de Havilland for rejecting Clifts character in the film. Edward Montgomery Clift (nicknamed 'Monty' his entire life) was born on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta (1920-2014) and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. 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. Montgomery Clift, in full Edward Montgomery Clift, (born October 17, 1920, Omaha, Neb., U.S.died July 23, 1966, New York, N.Y.), American motion-picture actor noted for the emotional depth and sense of vulnerability he brought to his roles. What a pity hes a It hardly helped lend nuance to that reading that Clift was a well-known and long-time abuser of pain killers and alcohol, actions which likely sped his death from a heart attack at 45 in 1966. (The director himself never met his famous uncle, having been born eight years after his death). His body was found by his live-in personal secretary/companion Lorenzo James, who found Clift lying nude on top of his bed, dead from what the autopsy called "occlusive coronary artery disease." Randy Chrisley Is Todd Chrisley's Brother Who Was Diagnosed with Cancer in 2014, Johnny Depp's Weight Gain & Changes in Appearance over the Years, 'Whos the Boss? 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). . He still drank, but not as heavily. The truth didnt come out until the 70s. Throughout filming, members of the crew came up with code words to alert everyone about the lead actors level of intoxication. Montgomery Clift girlfriend, wife list. Clift appeared in The Misfits, a revisionist western best known as the final film of Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. Montgomery Clift - Hollywood Walk of Fame 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. I do not count myself as a member of the ripped-sweatshirt fraternity. He wasnt a young rebel, an old rebel, a tired rebel, or a rebellious rebelall he cared about was re-creating a slice of life on the screen. Next came "The Nutty Professor" as Lewis' student, Stella Purdy, who he is infatuated with. But this was only the beginning. All his life, it was misery," said McCarthy. The pieces of the puzzle dont quite fit. Page 20230228-006 | e-Edition | rdrnews.com 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. There were questions about the woman in his life and why he was single. I thought he was dead. He immediately returned to Taylors house to notify the party of the bloody disaster. They were even called the most beautiful couple in Hollywood. As hard as the press tried, they couldnt seem to breathe life into this nonexistent romance. Just look at the fan magazine titles: Making Love the Clift Way, Two Loves Has Monty, Montgomery Clifts Tragic Love Story, Is It True What They Say About Monty? Who Is Monty Kidding? Hes Travelin Light, The Lurid Love Life of Montgomery Clift, and, perhaps most flagrantly, Monty Clift: Woman Hater or Free Soul?. The Big Lift (1950) Approved | 120 min | Drama, War 6.4 Rate Before long, photographers began to descend on the gory scene. Fellow actor Kevin McCarthy was driving ahead of Clift when the horror show went down. Oddly enough, when he died, the homocons on Gay Patriot praised him on . The entire experience had a cursed tinge to it, and before long, it left disaster in its wake. Allegedly, the director brought Clift on board, thinking hed be a soothing effect for Monroe. Montgomery Clift was in relationships with Sal Mineo, Paul Newman, Henry Willson, Jack Larson, William LeMassena, Libby Holman, Maurice Leonard and Arnold Saint Subber. Determined to keep his gayness under wraps, Clift made sure that his masculine facade shone onscreen. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Search _ 1948 DVD Montgomery Clift Aline MacMahon Wendell Corey V Rare at the best online prices at eBay! Still, his second venture was perhaps even more of an impressive feat. 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. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? We want our readers to trust us. On the morning of July 23, 1966, Montgomery Clift's housemate couldn't wake the actor. Can he still feel?). Making Montgomery Clift - Wikipedia Montgomery Clift didnt need much to keep himself happy and entertained. Making Montgomery Clift, which was co-directed by Clift's nephew Robert Clift (and Robert's wife Hillary. I wanted to figure out why there was such a difference., A deep trove of never-before-revealed evidence makes that disparity bracingly clear. 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. He naturally gravitated to the theater. 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. 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. His apartment, which he rented for 10 dollars a month, was described by friends as beat up and by him as terrific. He survived on two meals a day, mostly combinations of steak, eggs, and orange juice, and he eschewed nightclubs, instead spending his spare time reading Chekov, classic works of history and economics, and Aristotle, whom he praised for his belief in happiness, or the gentle art of the soul. When he wasnt reading or exhausting himself in preparation for a part, he liked to go to the local night court and attend high-profile court cases just to watch the humanity on display. Lancaster's first wife, June Ernst, was, like her mother before her, a renowned acrobat. Thanks for your help! My mom never told me how her best friend died. The Searchturned out to be a huge hit for Clift. 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. And even more shocking? What happened next has since become the stuff of Hollywood legend. It wasnt until years after his tragic passing that Clifts darkest secret finally came out. 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. But the press will always be the press, and no amount of Montgomery Clifts ire could change that. Cesar Romero | 20 Gay Hollywood Legends | Purple Clover Montgomery Clift had passed due to a heart attack, but many assumed that his addictions and various health problems contributed to his early death. 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. 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 . . Elizabeth Taylor stuck by her friends, and Montgomery Clift undoubtedly claimed a special spot in her heart. At the age of 25, Clift made the leap to Hollywoodbut he was a rebel right from the get-go. The film went on to win six Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Screenplay, and is now hailed as a (flawed) classic. What happened next is somewhat fuzzy: one version has Hudson pulling Clift from the car and Taylor cradling him in her arms, at which point Clift started choking and motioning to his throat, where, it soon became clear, two of his teeth had lodged themselves after coming loose during the accident. July 24, 1966 12 AM PT. But right as filming began, he realized that hed made a terrible mistake. 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. His other side was mostly hidden and only became widely known after he passed on, thanks to his friend and colleague Elizabeth Taylor. Clift, of course, knew better. 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. Montgomery Clift had the most earnest of faces: big, pleading eyes, a set jaw, and the sort of immaculate side part we havent seen since. I think he was 12 or 13., Its obviously a non-issue for her, co-director Demmon said. Montgomery Clift's Disastrous Car Wreck Changed His Career Forever It left him with chronic health issues for the rest of his life. . Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark historyor the chilling secret shared by her and Louis. Above all, Clift was perpetually curious. Born in 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, Clift was raised like an aristocrat, with a private tutor and frequent trips to Europe. The Search _ 1948 DVD Montgomery Clift Aline MacMahon Wendell Corey V But the producer, Sam Spiegel, decided to go forward, no matter the risk. 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. . It has a good rating on IMDb: 6.2 stars out of 10. This showed in his consciousness of being seen as feminine in any way. It was a huge wager: since everyone knew how much booze and pills Clift was on, he was virtually uninsurable on set. 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. In fact, the attitudes he and his family held towards his relationships with men were strikingly modern. Between 1963 and 1966, he faded from public view, emerging only to film a final performance in the French spy thriller The Defector (1966). Montgomery Blair - Wikipedia . In truth, his face wasnt truly disfigured. But the troubled star. Biographies of Clift posit that he drank because he couldnt be his true self, because homosexuality was the shame he had to shelter within. Because of the accident, the studio worried about the success of Raintree County. Then again, nothing about Clifts life was expected. However, even with all the negative hubbub surrounding this shoot, it was nothing compared to the darkness of one of Clifts next projects. 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. Clift was unperturbed by his apparent lack of a love life: he told the press that he would get married when he met a girl he wanted to marry; in the meantime, he was playing the field. When another columnist asked him if he had any hobbies, he replied, Yes, women. But as the years passed, it became more and more clear that Clift wasnt just picky. He also won a nomination for Best Actor. 5 talking about this. A Place In The Sun (1951) & From Here To Eternity (1953). To Clift, however, he considered his humble home terrific.. . A four-time Academy Award nominee, The New York Times said he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men". Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn came to Clifts defense when the director tried to get rid of him. However, he became more comfortable with her and eventually found it easy to open up about his sexuality. Montgomery Clift was an undeniably attractive man, and before long, hed cultivated a rather passionate female fan base. He was one of Hollywoods most desirable leading men, but mystery shrouded his entire private life. 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. The two met under the big tent where they performed together. Horrified, James immediately called for help, but of course, it was already too late. Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. In this exclusive excerpt from her forthcoming book, Anne. [view couple] # 8 Carlo Fiore 12 28. Montgomery Clift may have been one of the most self-aware actors of his day, and he certainly knew the name of the game. 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. It is a feature-length film with a runtime of 1h 3min. Edward Montgomery Clift was born on October 17, 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska. Connect any celebrity with Montgomery Clift to see how closely they are linked romantically! Like them, Clift was comfortable with the full contours, and consequences, of his beauty, playing the object in a way previously preserved for female stars. . 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. 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. Clift's brother would later come out to say that the actor was bisexual. He died. However, the filming of The Misfits had a shadow lurking over it. 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. Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Long Suicide of Montgomery Clift Following The Misfits, Clifts disintegration continued. When he wasnt reading or preparing for his next role, he took pleasure in visiting the local night court. Regardless of the veracity of this story, one thing remains true: theres not a single picture of Clifts broken face. Contact sheet from LIFE photographer Peter Stackpoles shoot on a Paramount lot with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in 1950. His parents were Quakers and met as students at Cornell University, marrying in 1914. Sensitive. They seem to have their stories all written out beforehand.. By 1950, he was troubled with allergies and colitis (the U.S. Army had rejected him for military service in World War II for chronic diarrhea) and, along with pill problems, he was alcoholic. 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Directors Robert Anderson Clift Hillary Demmon Writers Robert Anderson Clift Hillary Demmon Stars After his accident, Clift had an arduous road to recovery. He got him going again. She made it known that it all boiled down to love. Documentary Biography Classic film star and queer icon Montgomery Clift's legacy has long been a story of tragedy and self-destruction. Taylor talked about the need for staunch support for gay people and their rights. Clift had a fraternal twin sister, Roberta, and a brother, William Brooks Clift Jr, who had an illegitimate son with actress Kim Stanley. Elizabeth Taylor & Montgomery Clift Relationship, Friendship, Films In its May 28, 1951, issue, meanwhile, LIFE magazine wrote of A Place in the Sun: It is easy for an ambitious young man to get himself involved simultaneously with a simple-hearted girl who lives in a cheap boarding house and an extravagant rich girl who gives gay parties. However, this was no quick fix. While filmingThe Search,he asked the director to reshoot a scene for one baffling reason: He called a boy dear. But that wasnt all.