More about Her Life, Maddie Brown Shares Her Postpartum Journey Weeks after Giving Birth to Third Child, Jamie Lee Curtis Admits 'Saying Goodbye' to James Corden Was Harder than She Thought as His Show Ends, Tom Brady & Pregnant Bridget Moynahan Split - She Wed Husband at Secret Ceremony 9 Years Later, Ron Howard Was Most Concerned about His Kids' Values Inside His Decision to Protect Them, Susan Saint James Put Her Career on Hold to Be a Mom - She Was Struck with Death of Younger Son, The information in this article is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. According to the actor's lawyer, Jack Clareman, Clift was found by his secretary Lorenzo James, who claimed the actor went to bed "in good spirits.". Clift's career might have continued to go strong if it wasn't for a 1956 car accident. Elizabeth Taylor put her salary on the line as insurance in order to have Clift cast as her co-star in Reflections in a Golden Eye, to be directed by John Huston. After leaving a party at Elizabeth Taylor's house, he wrapped his car around a telephone pole . For 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. Nevertheless, he showed no bitterness and remained one of Clift's loyal friends. Portrait of American actor Montgomery Clift as he looks over the back of a chair, his chin on his hands, late 1940s or early 1950s. [37] Clift had veered off one of the twisting hairpin turns and smashed into a telephone pole and the surrounding cliffside. Edward Montgomery Clift was born on October 17, 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska. Clift asserts that the actor's use of alcohol and prescription drugs stemmed, primarily, from a near-fatal car accident in 1956. He wanted to be a free agent, and he did it successfully. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 - July 23, 1966) was an American film and stage actor. His parents were Quakers and met as students at Cornell University, marrying in 1914. The re-opening of the German market since WW2 put potential profits ahead of everything else and the picture suffered for it. We raise awareness about these issues to help potential victims seek professional counseling and prevent anyone from getting hurt. The red carpet played host to a number of looks; some classic, some curious, some daring, and some just begging to be turned into memes. At the 2023 SAG Awards, stars opted to wear gowns in every shade of rose, from soft pastels to neon brights. [26] By this time, Clift had developed what would come to be regarded as his signature acting style and biggest impact on the future of modern film acting, as told by biographer Robert LaGuardia: He managed to convince the audience that he was unmitigated male sexuality without making a vulgar display of himself, as most other actors of his age and type would have. [20] Clift proved to be a successful young stage actor working with, among others, Dame May Whitty, Alla Nazimova, Mary Boland, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Fredric March, Tallulah Bankhead, Alfred Lunt, and Lynn Fontanne. The autopsy report cited the cause of death as a heart attack brought on by "occlusive coronary artery disease". Wayne portrayed a hard and brutal father and boss while Clift played a gentler and more vulnerable son. Barred from feature films, Clift turned to voice work. It all took a toll on him physically and mentally, and movie studios became wary of hiring him. After the car accident, Clift only took on a few more movie roles. The cause of death was listed as a heart attack, but a major contributing factor was the cumulative effect of pain killers and liquor. Concerned and unable to break the door down, James ran down to the back garden and climbed up a ladder to enter through the second-floor bedroom window. James Franco's brother, Dave Franco, portrays Montgomery Clift in a short scene in the movie. Clift was there, as were actors Kevin McCarthy and Rock Hudson, and Hudson's wife, Phyllis Gates, per Vanity Fair. In this film, Clift plays an ambitious fortune hunter who lands a job in his uncle's factory, dates (and impregnates) a fellow worker (played by a youthful Shelley Winters), but soon falls for Taylor's character - a rich, beautiful young woman well above his social station in life and ostensibly out of his reach. Yet, according to a new documentary, titled Making Montgomery Clift, the stars substance abuse had nothing at all to do with his sexuality. Lorenzo came into the picture when Monty was at his lowest. The crash caused severe damage to his face, and McCarthy noted in a 2018 interview that he thought Clift was dead when he saw the scene. [9] Clift had English and Scottish ancestry on his father's side, wealthy relatives who hailed from Chattanooga, Tennessee. The accident, which occurred after he was leaving his bff Elizabeth Taylor's home one night, left his face in tatters. On the morning of July 23, 1966, Montgomery Clift's housemate couldn't wake the actor. His post-accident career has been referred to as the "longest suicide in Hollywood history" by acting teacher Robert Lewis because of Clift's subsequent abuse of painkillers and alcohol. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, Titled Refueling at Albuquerque, New Mexico, in Clifts handwriting. [7][8] Clift had a twin sister, Roberta (who later went by "Ethel"), who survived him by 48 years, and an older brother, William Brooks Clift, Jr. (19191986), known as "Brooks," who had a son with actress Kim Stanley and was later married to political reporter Eleanor Clift. 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. BIPS // Getty Images Monty was also impressed with Elizabeth, at least physically. In a 1957 issue of McCalls magazine, Clift quipped, "My childhood was hobgoblin, my parents traveled a lotThats all I can remember."[15]. Clift died in 1966. 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. Edward Montgomery Clift was born on October 17, 1920, in Omaha Nebraska. Often, suicides are never fully understood. It tells the story of a working-class young man who is entangled with two women: one who works in his wealthy uncle's factory, and the other a beautiful socialite. [52][53][54] The case was later settled out of court, with evidence in Clift's favor, but the damage to Clift's reputation as unreliable and troublesome endured. After completing John Huston's Freud: The Secret Passion (1962), Universal Studios sued him for his frequent absences that caused the film to go over budget. He earned his first Academy Award nomination for best actor for "The Search," and yet "Red River" seems to be better remembered these days. He had terrific roles in "The Misfits," "Confess," and he was last seen on screen in "Freud," which earned him his highest fee ever. [24] In January 1951, he participated in the episode "The Metal in the Moon" for the series Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the chemical company DuPont Company. No evidence was found that suggested foul play or suicide. It took Clift months to recover from his injuries. An adopted child, his mother Sunny maintained that Clifts true maternal great-grandfathers were the US postmaster-general Montgomery Blair as well as Union commander Robert Anderson, a part of her lineage that was clarified to her (when she came of age) by Dr. Edward Montgomery, the family doctor who delivered her. A portrait of Montgomery Clift leaning on a fence with an intent expression before his accident on 01 January, 1950 | Photo: Getty Images. In a new documentary, myths and assumptions about the Oscar-nominated heartthrob who struggled with his sexuality are replaced with the little-known truth. He played the adopted son of Wayne's character, and the two brought two different images of maleness to the big screen, as The Guardian newspaper pointed out. In his one 12-minute cameo scene in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Clift played a developmentally disabled German baker who had been a victim of the Nazi sterilisation programme testifying at the Nuremberg trials. Rock Hudson Visited Doris Day Before His Death While Hiding His Illness . does not take responsibility for any action taken as a result of reading this article. Onscreen and off, he was what the kids these days Clift never fully physically or emotionally recovered from his car accident. 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. Tellingly, theyre always pitched under working titles like Beautiful Loser and' Tragic Beauty. The younger Clift serves the added role of narrator, voicing his journey to discover who the late actor really was, in contrast to what so many others have made him out to be. He used them to numb his physical pain. speaks out against the above mentioned and. He said that he was with Monty at a party on Fire Island [and Clift said] 'I've got an idea for a musical. 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. When they left, they got into their . The film-makers interviewed Bosworth extensively for the movie, but they contrast her words with old taped conversations she had with the actors brother. On the evening of May 12, 1956, while filming Raintree County, Clift was involved in a serious auto accident when he apparently fell asleep while driving and smashed his car into a telephone pole minutes after leaving a dinner party at the Beverly Hills home of his Raintree County co-star and close friend Elizabeth Taylor and her second husband, He had a holistic view.. 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. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) Directed by George Stevens. Working with her was like going up and down on an escalator.. Sadly the star got involved in a car crash that ruined his face and impacted his life and career. Early Years Hailed as one of Hollywood's first true Method actors,. With the revelatory documentary Making Montgomery Clift, filmmakers Robert Clift (born eight years after his famous uncle's hyper-mythologized 1966 death) and Hillary Demmon compellingly. Gardner recalled the 'rumours' of Clift's disfigurement following the car accident that occurred in May 1956 in the midst of filming for Raintree County (1957) as Clift drove away from a dinner party hosted by co-star Elizabeth Taylor. The story of Clift's devastating car crash varies somewhat from one account to the next. He tended to funnel most of his energy into intense rehearsals with acting coach Mira Rostova who accompanied him on set. All content, including text, and images contained on. "[17] Clift spent a short time at the Dalton School in Manhattan but struggled with traditional schooling. [87] It is said that McDowall took the breakup with Clift hard. for The Theatre Guild on the Air. Montgomery Clift died in the bathtub of his Manhattan townhouse of a heart attack brought on by occlusive coronary artery disease on 23 July 1966. Ex-lover Larson said in the film that Clift actually preferred his work after the accident to his performances before. [38] She pulled a hanging tooth that was cutting into his tongue, before accompanying him into the ambulance.[39]. We also encourage everyone to report any crime incident they witness as soon as possible. On January 13, 1963, a few weeks after the initial release of Freud, Clift appeared on the live television discussion program The Hy Gardner Show, where he spoke at length about the release of his current film, his film career, and treatment by the press. How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood. Ad Choices, The elegant Montgomery Clift once reigned as one of Hollywoods most sought-after leading men, best remembered as the star of iconic films *From Here to Eternity *(1953) and, Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Fragile Snowflake Donald Trump for Allegedly Trying to Censor Him, SAG Awards 2023 Red Carpet Fashion: See All the Looks. Clift was unhappy with the quality of the script, and reworked it himself. 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. After all, his book was based on his own wartime experiences in the US Army. He even appeared in the original production of Tennessee Williams' play "You Touched Me" (1945) (per Playbill). advocates for a healthy discussion about the instances of violence, abuse, sexual misconduct, animal cruelty, abuse etc. 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. 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