Their claims were deemed reliable because one of the biographers was certified by one of Clift's confidants. 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!. Montgomery Clift (1920-1966) is one of the most tragic figures in Hollywood history. It left him with chronic health issues for the rest of his life. Along with Marlon Brando and James Dean, he helped delineate a new paradigm for American cinematic heroes. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. 'Making Montgomery Clift' Review - The Hollywood Reporter The movie, which plays at the LGBTQ movie festival NewFest in New York, refutes scores of oft-repeated assumptions about Clifts life, from his motivations as an actor, to his relationship with his mother to the characterization of his later years. Assistir 'Indiscretion of an American Wife' online - ver filme completo 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. An interviewer once asked him what his hobbies were, Clift replied, "women. Finally, Someone Gets Montgomery Clift's Biography Right Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Montgomery Clift: The Untold Story of Hollywood's Misunderstood Star 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. Before long, photographers began to descend on the gory scene. Clift couldnt get through longer scenes, having to split them up into two or three chunks. Above all, Clift was perpetually curious. The film-makers interviewed Bosworth extensively for the movie, but they contrast her words with old taped conversations she had with the actors brother. But he was handsome and beguiling on-screen, creating an appetite for confirmation of that same Clift off the screen. Today, its impossible to know the specifics of Clifts sexuality: his brother, Brooks, would later claim that his brother was bisexual, while various writings from within Hollywood indicate that Clifts sexuality wasnt entirely a secret. However, his worry began to mount when the actor didnt respond to his insistent knocking. He was such a mess on the set of Freud (1962) that Universal sued him. He was one of Hollywoods most desirable leading men, but mystery shrouded his entire private life. He is most remembered for A Place In The Sun (1951) & From Here To Eternity (1953).. His zodiac sign is Libra. Okay, if were being totally honest, Montgomery Clifts reserved lifestyle didnt exactly excite the press; it actually kind of stumped them. Clift's brother would later come out to say that the actor was bisexual. Clift, of course, knew better. He wanted to be a free agent, and he did it successfully. Eyebrows were raised when the actor shared in an article he authored that he liked it "lonely. Help us build our profile of Marlon Brando! Montgomery Clift was an undeniably attractive man, and before long, he'd cultivated a rather passionate female fan base. Contemporaries like James Dean and Marlon Brando also did. Of course, when it came to his appearance, this gorgeous star really didnt give a hoot. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. The story of Clift's devastating car crash varies somewhat from one account to the next. What does he inspire anyone to do drink, die young? She made it known that it all boiled down to love. Whisked away to the morgue, Clifts body underwent an autopsy that shed some light on his sudden demise. I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. Elizabeth Taylor Tried to Seduce Montgomery Clift Then Stood By Him After He Came Out to Her Despite his deep attraction to Taylor, at first Clift couldn't bring himself to tell her he was. He was sick of being a symbol, a symptom, a testament to something. A bulls horn scarred his nose and his attempt to tame a horse gave him intense rope burnnot to mention all the other scrapes he earned along the way. He used them to numb his physical pain. Looking back, the film had a legacy of darkness surrounding it: Gable died of a heart attack less than a month after filming; Monroe was only able to attend the films premiere with a pass from her stay at a psychiatric ward. Clift gained actual scars from some filming mishaps. Itd be his only film with Brando, even though the two barely shared the screen. In 1925 Theodore Dreiser [told such a tale in his] long, oppressively powerful novel, An American Tragedy, which in turn made only a fair movie in 1931. In all honesty, his face wasnt horribly changed at all, but there was one shocking difference. Taylor and Clift: Photos From the Set of A Place in the Sun. More, it analyzes the new view of masculine beauty he helped introduce to the screen. 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)). As for Clift, the shoot was incredibly taxing, both mentally and physically: in addition to acquiring a scar across his nose from a stray bulls horn, severe rope burns while attempting to tame a wild horse, and various other rough-and-tumble injuries, he also performed what has widely come to be regarded as one of his best scenes, a stilted, heartbreaking conversation with his mother from a phone booth. 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. Clifts teacher, Robert Lewis, called his gradual decline the longest suicide in Hollywood history. Although he had problems before filmingRaintree County, Clifts drinking was more pronounced than ever. He looked about ten years older than the Montgomery Clift audiences remembered and adored. Can he still feel?). Clift, however, lived a two-faceted life concerning his sexuality. Montgomery Clift - IMDb Montgomery Clift | American actor | Britannica The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Documentary Biography Classic film star and queer icon Montgomery Clift's legacy has long been a story of tragedy and self-destruction. Elizabeth Taylor at Paramount Studios, 1950. 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. That, combined with his spiraling alcohol addiction, wrung the youth right out of the handsome actor. ufff q hombre tan guapo y atractivo, y grn actor ademas, como me hubiese gustado conocerlo con unos ojos maravillosos. I mean, he is a Heres A Mystery: Why Did Arthur Conan Doyles Son Dress Up Like a Knight? Courtesy Everett Collection Elizabeth was more visible than the publicity-shy Monty. Montgomery Clift - Turner Classic Movies Taylor, caught up in filming with Richard Burton in Paris, sent flowers to the funeral. Indiscrecin de una esposa (1953) - IMDb But, in general, his relationships with men had more to do with sex than with a deep emotional connection. That Clift was gay made little difference in the intensity and duration of the two stars adoration of one another: here, after all, were two talented, passionate artists who met at a young age (she was in her teens; he was in his late twenties) and immediately discovered that they were, for lack of a better phrase, soul mates. When the press talked about Clift, they talked about the skill and the beauty, but they also talked about what an offbeat, weird guy he was. Cesar Romero | 20 Gay Hollywood Legends | Purple Clover He pleaded with her to make changes to her book to correct the mischaracterizations. In 1961, Montgomery Clift went on to star alongside some of Hollywoods greatest legendsMarilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. In one tape made by his father in the 1960s, we hear the stars mother tell him, with untroubled candor, that Monty was a homosexual early. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-1964). The next morning, James returned to Clifts room to rouse him but found the door locked. [6] His mother was Ethel Fogg "Sunny" Clift ( ne Anderson; 1888-1988). He insisted on maintaining his residence in New York, spending as little time in Hollywood as possible. Contact sheets from LIFE photographer Peter Stackpoles shoot on a Paramount lot with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in 1950. Still, unlike other notable gay actors, any affairs Montgomery Clift had were secured behind a lock and key. He hated the criticism and the labels, and eventually, he just couldnt take it anymore. 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. Taylor opened his mouth, put her hand down his throat, and pulled out the teeth. Production resumed on Raintree County, which the studio feared would fail following Clifts accident. Please fill in your e-mail so we can share with you our top stories! Not only did he rarely go out in public, but he also didnt date. Well, in 1955, he had a chance to reunite with his old friend and co-star, Elizabeth Taylor, in Raintree County. However, even with all the negative hubbub surrounding this shoot, it was nothing compared to the darkness of one of Clifts next projects. 3.80. Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift goofed around during a break in filming A Place in the Sun. Some sources have the crash occurring when Clift was leaving the event, while others state he was on his way there. Edward Montgomery Clift (; October 17, 1920 July 23, 1966) was an American actor. The revelation of his sexuality did not emerge until the 70s, when two high-profile biographers, one endorsed by his close confidants, revealed as much, rendering him a gay icon within the span of two years. I do not count myself as a member of the ripped-sweatshirt fraternity.. He may have been lonely but the distance he put between his public life and his work life helped keep his mysterious bachelorhood in check. The unspoken truth was that Clift was gay. Yet, according to a new documentary, titled Making Montgomery Clift, the stars substance abuse had nothing at all to do with his sexuality. But the drama didn't end there. 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. But the drama didnt end there. Whether platonic or not, these two actors shared an undeniable bond that was undeniably strengthened by this one unfortunate event. He pointed out that she just let the director determine her every move. And then there was the physical toll. He has a ghastly, shattered expression. And it wasnt just in private record: in October 1956, Louella Parsons reported on Clifts very bad health and Holmans attempts to clean him up. Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn came to Clifts defense when the director tried to get rid of him. He was lonely, yet with the help of his refusal to live in Los Angeles or participate in caf society, he was able to keep his private life private. 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. As his eyes drifted closed, Clift suddenly veered off the road and drove straight into a telephone pole. He surely wasnt a suave Prince Charming, and yet, on-screen, he was a downright masterpiece. But even Monroe reported that Clift was the only person I know who is in even worse shape than I am. The pictures from the set are as poignant as they are heartbreaking: its as if all three were meditating on their respective declines, and theres a sad, peaceful resignation at the difference between what their bodies could do and how people wanted to remember them. From the start, Clift was framed as a rebel and an individual. Apparently, one of Clifts tooths had pierced his tongue, causing him to choke. They took a risk on the troubled actorand it endedbadly. His other side was mostly hidden and only became widely known after he passed on, thanks to his friend and colleague Elizabeth Taylor. But while Clift certainly seemed like a budding Hollywood heartthrob on the outside, in reality, he wasfar from it. 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. Throughout filming, members of the crew came up with code words to alert everyone about the lead actors level of intoxication. True or not, the resilience of the story is a testimony to what people wanted to believe about the bond between the two stars. [view couple] # 8 Carlo Fiore 12 28. He also detested the man. (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.). 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. July 24, 1966 12 AM PT. Which gives that narrative a lot of traction. AmoMama creates engaging, meaningful content for women. Determined to keep his gayness under wraps, Clift made sure that his masculine facade shone onscreen. My mom never told me how her best friend died. But that didnt mean that the gossip press didnt hint at something different, something queer, in the broadest sense of the word, about him. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. They went to London to see Laurence Olivier together, ate together, sat in front of the fire together, Clift said. In his words, I learned that most writers dont need interviews to write about me. Soon, Montgomery Clift became almost impossible to work with. Montgomery Clift Net Worth, Height, Age, and More I think he was 12 or 13., Its obviously a non-issue for her, co-director Demmon said. He had a close friendship with a woman named Myra Letts, whom the gossip columnists tried arduously to frame as a love interest. If you have a story that tracks along that line, that will feel true to people. He worked on a summer production where his talents blossomed and it opened an auspicious doorone that would seal his fate forever. ), 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. She noted that they needed to live a life of equality while being able to get married and adopt kids.