Montgomery Clift

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Birth Name: Edward Montgomery Clift

Born: 17 October 1920 Died: 23 July 1966

Country of origin: United States

Height: 5' 9"

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206 votes

Premature Deaths (Actors and Actresses) (133 items)
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Published 11 years, 5 months ago

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100 Graves of Famous Actors/Actresses (100 items)
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Published 16 years, 1 month ago

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His Classic Cigarette (24 items)
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Published 16 years, 8 months ago

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As Cool As It Gets (150 items)
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Published 13 years ago

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Beautiful pictures - b&w edition (97 items)
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Published 14 years, 8 months ago

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Montgomery Clift Videos

Marlon Brando Monty Clift Home Video

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What's My Line? - Montgomery Clift (1963, TV Show)

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Added 13 years ago

Movie Legends - Montgomery Clift

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Description: Edward Clift (nicknamed 'Monty' his entire life) was born Edward Montgomery Clift on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta (1920-2014) and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-1964). His father made a lot of money in banking but was quite poor during the depression. His mother was born out of wedlock and spent much of her life and the family fortune finding her illustrious southern lineage and raising her children as aristocrats. At age 13, Monty appeared on Broadway ("Fly Away Edward Clift (nicknamed 'Monty' his entire life) was born Edward Montgomery Clift on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta (1920-2014) and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-1964). His father made a lot of money in banking but was quite poor during the depression. His mother was born out of wedlock and spent much of her life and the family fortune finding her illustrious southern lineage and raising her children as aristocrats.

At age 13, Monty appeared on Broadway ("Fly Away Home"), and chose to remain in the New York theater for over ten years before finally succumbing to Hollywood. He gained excellent theatrical notices and soon piqued the interests of numerous lovelorn actresses; their advances met with awkward conflict. While working in New York in the early 1940s, he met wealthy former Broadway star Libby Holman. She developed an intense decade-plus obsession over the young actor, even financing an experimental play, "Mexican Mural" for him. 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. She would wield considerable influence over the early part of his film career, advising him in decisions to decline lead roles in Sunset Boulevard (1950), (originally written specifically for him; the story perhaps hitting a little too close to home) and High Noon (1952).

His long apprenticeship on stage made him a thoroughly accomplished actor, notable for the intensity with which he researched and approached his roles. By the early 1950's 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)). 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. He spent a great deal of time and money on psychiatry.

In 1956, during filming of Raintree County (1957), he ran his Chevrolet into a tree after leaving a party at Elizabeth Taylor's; it was she who saved him from choking by pulling out two teeth lodged in his throat. 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. He was set to play in Taylor's Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), when he died in the early morning hours of July 23, 1966, at his home at age 45. 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." 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. ... (more)

Tags: Actor (26), Born 1920 (6), American (6), Died 1966 (5), Hot (4), Handsome (4), Gay (3), Died Aged 45 (3), Male (3), Libra (2), Stage Actor (2), Talented (2), Deceased (2), Born October 17 (2), Heart Attack (2), Lgbt (2), 1950s (2), 19040s (1), Died Age 45 (1)

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1. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Rating:

7.8

303 Watched

2. The Search (1948)

Rating:

7.5

39 Watched

3. The Defector (1966)

Rating:

12 Watched

TV

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Made in the U.S. of A. (567 person items)

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Most Handsome/Attractive actors?,ever(POLL) (122 person items)

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Academy Awards nominated performances I've seen (446 person items)

" 1954 - NOMINEE Best Actor in a Leading Role MONTGOMERY CLIFT as Private Robert E. Lee "Prew" Prewitt in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY 1953 | dir: Fred Zinnemann "

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Actors (older) (819 person items)

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Nominated For An Acting Oscar Yet Never Won (150 person items)

"4 Nominations1962: Best actor nominee for 'Judgment at Nuremberg' 1954: Best actor nominee for 'From Here to Eternity' 1952: Best actor nominee for 'A Place in the Sun' 1949: Best actor nominee for 'The Search'"