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." A four-time Academy Award nominee, The New York Times said he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men". Once on stage, Clift truly came into his own. Between 1963 and 1966, he faded from public view, emerging only to film a final performance in the French spy thriller The Defector (1966). 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. Beautiful man. In all honesty, his face wasnt horribly changed at all, but there was one shocking difference. A young naive woman falls for a handsome young man who her emotionally abusive father suspects is a fortune hunter. While his brother claimed that Clift was bisexual, writer Truman Capotes unpublished work alludes to Clifts gayness quite explicitly. 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. After the success of 1953sFrom Here to Eternity, Montgomery Clift suddenly stopped making films. Eyebrows were raised when the actor shared in an article he authored that he liked it "lonely. 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. INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE 1953 DVD PUBLIC DOMAIN FILM MONTGOMERY CLIFT. cocksucker, isnt he, Tallulah? Miss Bankhead said: Well, Although Clift and Montgomery were only good friends, their coupling inA Place in the Sunhelped drive its popularity. Its impossible for us to know what happenedor if the two even had a relationship that went beyond the platonicbut it was returning from a party at Taylors house, mid-filming for Raintree County, that he smashed his car into a telephone pole. 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! But when he climbed into the room, he discovered something absolutely gut-wrenching. 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. . Firstly, he didnt even like Hollywood, preferring to stay in New York as much as he could. He was one of Hollywoods most desirable leading men, but mystery shrouded his entire private life. 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. (38) and his wife, Meghan Markle (41), officially . He also helped bring a more natural acting style to film. Director: William Wyler | Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins Votes: 16,212 4. But the press will always be the press, and no amount of Montgomery Clifts ire could change that. . Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift goofed around during a break in filming A Place in the Sun. (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. Months of surgeries, rebuilding, and physical therapy followed. Unlike Rock Hudson, whose affairs were very nearly exposed to the entire nation by Confidential, Clift never made the pages of the scandal rags. 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: . He had a close friendship with a woman named Myra Letts, whom the gossip columnists tried arduously to frame as a love interest. Indiscrecin de una esposa: Dirigido por Vittorio De Sica. 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?. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Hitchcock's I CONFESS (DVD, 1953); M CLIFT, A BAXTER. The entire scene was extremely unsettling as Clift still wore his eyeglasses, and had his hands rigidly clenched. His injuries included a broken nose and jaw, a fractured sinus, and deep cuts across his face that called for extensive plastic surgery. 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. Clift once said, The closer we come to the negative, to death, the more we blossom. He took himself to that precipice, but he fell straight in. / Is he alive? He died. By the early 1950s he was exclusively homosexual, though he continued to hide his homosexuality and maintained a number of close friendships with theater women (heavily promoted by studio publicists).His film debut was Red River (1948) with John Wayne quickly followed by his early personal success The Search (1948) (Oscar nominations for this, A Place in the Sun (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)). Sealed, new. Clift's last 10 years prior to his death from his 1956 car accident were called the "longest suicide in history" by famed acting teacher Robert Lewis. Whatever relationships Clift may have had, he was circumspect. 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). The accident changed his appearance, and many biographers assumed Clift felt ruined by it and, so, drank more. A four-time Oscar nominee who died at 45, Montgomery Clift was a bright young talent, a tabloid fixture, and a posthumous gay icon. 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. But he was handsome and beguiling on-screen, creating an appetite for confirmation of that same Clift off the screen. With alarm bells screaming in his head, James raced outside to fetch a ladder, climbing up toward Clifts bedroom window. and his wife, the former Ethel Fogg. 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. Hes never sucked my cock.. . Still, his second venture was perhaps even more of an impressive feat. Heres A Mystery: Why Did Arthur Conan Doyles Son Dress Up Like a Knight? More, it analyzes the new view of masculine beauty he helped introduce to the screen. When The Heiress came out, Clift's loyal fanatics came with their claws out and wrote vicious letters to Olivia de Havilland for rejecting Clift's character in the film. 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. On the morning of July 23, 1966, Montgomery Clift's housemate couldn't wake the actor. His interests lay elsewhere. The long suicide was complete. He was only 15 years old, but this wasnt just a fun pastimeit was serious business. In his words, I learned that most writers dont need interviews to write about me. Clift and Taylor would star again in another 1950s film, the Civil War-era drama, Raintree Countythe movie they were making when Clift almost died in the car wreck outside Taylors homeand would remain deeply attached to one another until Clifts death, at the too-young age of 45, in New York City in 1966. But the producer, Sam Spiegel, decided to go forward, no matter the risk. 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. "Indiscretion of an American Wife" romance and drama movie produced in Italy and USA and released in 1953. Edward Montgomery Clift (; October 17, 1920 July 23, 1966) was an American actor. Documentary Biography Classic film star and queer icon Montgomery Clift's legacy has long been a story of tragedy and self-destruction. A successful man in the business world, Bill nevertheless deferred to this strong-willed, opinionated woman at home. Clift was able to appear in more Hollywood movies after he recuperated from the accident, but he was deeply affected by the decline in his career. Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, Hollywood, 1950. Well, in 1955, he had a chance to reunite with his old friend and co-star, Elizabeth Taylor, in Raintree County. Montgomery Clift Hid His Sexuality for Years but Elizabeth Taylor Knew His Secret & Revealed It after His Death By Olowokandi Fiyin Aug 14, 2021 04:00 P.M. Montgomery Clift made a name for himself in Hollywood with several awards and nominations. Clifts recuperation took months, and when he finally returned to set, there was more trouble afoot. The duo eventually got to know each other better, and according to Taylor, they liked each other. 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. He worked on a summer production where his talents blossomed and it opened an auspicious doorone that would seal his fate forever. Of course, as unusual as his lifestyle seemed, healso had a number of interesting routines. We collect and tell stories of people from all around the world. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? 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. 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. 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. What does he inspire anyone to do drink, die young? William Brooks Clift (Was A Vice-President Of Omaha National Trust Company. yo tambien hubiera tenido algo con el claro que si, Monty, I love you. Show details 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. 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. 2023 Cond Nast. He also won a nomination for Best Actor. And even more shocking? 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. Above all, Clift was perpetually curious. Observers also point out that Clift had sexual relationships with women. The true story of Montgomery Clift, as told by his youngest nephew Making Montgomery Clift explodes the myths surrounding the Hollywood star and queer icon. 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. 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). What a pity hes a The surgeries led to the use of strong painkillers. Of course, by this time, Clifts drinking problems werent much of a secret, making him a liability to the studio. He wasnt the only one who challenged such norms at the time. While filmingThe Search,he asked the director to reshoot a scene for one baffling reason: He called a boy dear. But that wasnt all. Making Montgomery Clift is a 2018 American documentary film by directors Robert Anderson Clift and Hillary Demmon chronicling the life of the actor Montgomery Clift till his death in 1966. 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. A portrait of Elizabeth Taylor And Montgomery Clift from the film "A Place In The Sun", 1951 | Photo: Getty Images. True or not, the resilience of the story is a testimony to what people wanted to believe about the bond between the two stars. 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. But Clifts rebuttal was firm, emphasizing that they were neither in love nor engagedtheyd known each other for 10 years, she helped him with his work, and those romantic rumors are embarrassing to both of us. He was also close with stage actress Libby Holman, 16 years his senior, who had become a notorious feature in the gossip columns following the suspicious death of her wealthy husband, rumors of lesbianism, and her general practice of dating younger men. Taylor, on the other hand, felt intimidated when she was yet to meet him. 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. When he wasnt reading or preparing for his next role, he took pleasure in visiting the local night court. (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. While she sounds apologetic, the changes were never made. She made it known that it all boiled down to love. The pieces of the puzzle dont quite fit. A year and a half away from her own tragic end, Marilyn Monroe described Clift as the only person I know who is in even worse shape than I am. Together, this cast truly reflected a band of withering misfits. 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. 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. It is a feature-length film with a runtime of 1h 3min.