At the 2023 SAG Awards, stars opted to wear gowns in every shade of rose, from soft pastels to neon brights. 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. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Ah, Monty in just about anything (even after his face-scarring accident). 108, 135, Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About American Masters, Season 23, Episode 1, Somewhere the life of Jerome Robbins by Vaill, Amanda, p. 240, Jerome Robbins: his life, his theater, his dance by Jowitt, Deborah, pp. [91][92] He was also involved with Donald Windham and his partner Sandy Campbell. While his mother, Ethel Fogg 'Sunny' Clift was your typical American homemaker. Marlon Brando was cast as his replacement. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Clift's career might have continued to go strong if it wasn't for a 1956 car accident. No evidence was found that suggested foul play or suicide. The song "The Right Profile" by the English punk rock band The Clash, from their album London Calling, is about the later life of Clift. John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in Red River. Before undertaking any course of treatment please consult with your healthcare provider. For the latter, Clift committed to building strength and endurance, jogging laps around Hollywood High School as well as learning how to imitate playing the bugle and reading sheet music from trumpeter Mannie Klein for the role of middleweight boxer and bugle-playing soldier Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt. Ah, Monty. All content, including text, and images contained on news.AmoMama.com, or available through news.AmoMama.com is for general information purposes only. On the evening of May 12, 1956, while filming Raintree County, Clift was involved in a serious auto accident when he smashed his car into a telephone pole 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, Michael Wilding. The actor died there on July 23, 1966, of an apparent heart attack. At his best, Montgomery Clift was a better actor than Marlon Brando. The view then about queer people was that they would be inherently conflicted or tormented about their sexuality, said Demmon. 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"Georgia" meant bad, "Florida" very bad, and "Zanzibar" unworkable. Overall he ended up unhappy with his performance and left early during the film's premiere. (1) Mann, William J. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. [78], Robbins is said to have conceived the basic plot of West Side Story after Clift shared the idea with him, according to actor Russ Tamblyn. Despite the studio's concerns over profits, Clift correctly predicted the film would do well, if only because moviegoers would flock to see the difference in his facial appearance before and after the crash.[42]. Observers also point out that Clift had sexual relationships with women. While the press assumed that Balaban and Clift were an item, Clift secretly dated British actor Roddy McDowall. The schedule for Reflections in a Golden Eye was then set for August 1966, but Clift died in July 1966. Wayne portrayed a hard and brutal father and boss while Clift played a gentler and more vulnerable son. 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. Clift was born in Omaha, Nebraska, a son . Clift suffered from deep emotional problems, was sexually ambivalent, an alcohol and drug abuser. This tragedy changed the course of his career and may have hastened his death a decade later. Please fill in your e-mail so we can share with you our top stories! 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. [84] During the two and a half years that Clift stayed away from films, McDowall's career was nonexistent. Clift was unhappy with the quality of the script, and reworked it himself. He worked extensively on his character, and was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. [28] Although filmed in 1946, the film was delayed release until August 1948. James then used the bedroom telephone to call some of Clift's personal physicians and the medical examiner's office before an ambulance arrived.[99]. [12] At age 7, aboard a European ship, a boy forced Clifts head underwater in the swimming pool for so long that a gland in his neck burst from his struggle to breathe; he had a long scar from the resulting infection and operation. The N.Y.P.L.s Montgomery Clift papers also contain several undated images of his Suddenly, Last Summer co-star Katharine Hepburn looking characteristically redoubtable and Waspy. George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), the nephew of a wealthy industrialist, arrives in California in the hopes of making his way up in his uncle's company. This image is titled Cheval et Marnie, in Clifts handwriting. 'Happy Days's' Anson Williams Divorced the Same Woman Twice after Almost Losing His Life in the Early 2000s, Marlo Thomas Spouse Was a Virgin before Marriage to Mom of His 5 Kids & a Lousy Lover Afterward, Why Is Chris Pratt Receiving Backlash? A four-time Oscar nominee who died at 45, Montgomery Clift was a bright young talent, a tabloid fixture, and a posthumous gay icon. "I love Marilyn Monroe," said designer Tommy Hilfiger, explaining why he splurged on the jeans she wore in 1954's River of No Return and the cowboy boots she donned in '61's The Misfits. Clift shared the stage with some of the leading performers of the day, including Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in "There Shall be No Night" (via Playbill) and Tallulah Bankhead in "The Skin of Our Teeth" (also via Playbill), both in 1942. (The director himself never met his famous uncle, having been born eight years after his death). On the morning of July 23, 1966, Montgomery Clift's housemate couldn't wake the actor. 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. Clift's next major films were "The Heiress" (1949) and "A Place in the Sun" (1951), cementing his romantic lead status. Clift required intensive physical therapy as well. Isabella Rossellini, Zendaya, and more on Lancmes La Vie Est Belle, plus five new fragrances worthy of big-screen adaptations. Clift was nominated for. It was reported that Hutson was homophobic towards Clift after news of him being with a male reporter broke. Another adaptation of the novel had been filmed once before, as An American Tragedy, in 1931. American actor Montgomery Clift (1920 - 1966), circa 1950. There' s more to Clift than hiding homosexuality, there s pain and romance and passion and hopelessness . According to some reports, she reportedly held Clift and removed two teeth that had fallen out in the crash from his throat, as they were causing him to choke. [23] In 1949, as part of the promotional campaign for the film The Heiress, he played Heathcliff in the one-hour version of Wuthering Heights for Ford Theatre. Clift asserts that the actor's use of alcohol and prescription drugs stemmed, primarily, from a near-fatal car accident in 1956. [82][83], McDowall was introduced to Clift by his Lassie Come Home co-star Elizabeth Taylor, who was a lifelong friend of both actors. Monty's post-accident career has been called "the longest suicide in Hollywood history." In 1966, ten years after his car accident, Montgomery Clift died alone in his New York apartment while watching "The Misfits" on TV. 2023 Cond Nast. While he never excelled at school, his extraordinary abilities as an actor showed early. When I saw him entering his favorite restaurant Musso & Frank Grill, on Hollywood Boulevard, where he'd meet every Wednesday evening Karl Malden, Robert Wise, and a . The famed movie star and her leading man first starred together in the 1951 drama, A Place in the Sun, resulting in a life-changing connection that lasted until Clift's death in 1966 at age 45. But it was his next pairing with Elizabeth Taylor that proved to be his most dynamic on-screen. for The Theatre Guild on the Air. Clift also took to drinking, and his addiction was well known amongst his colleagues. Kramer, Stanley and Thomas M. Coffey (1997). After the car accident, Clift only took on a few more movie roles. ", The "Suddenly, Last Summer" star reportedly had the worse of experience with John Huston. In 1959, Clift was slammed by film director Joseph Mankiewicz after Taylor noted that the star was still "vulnerable. As a consequence, he was unable to find film work for four years. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his work, displaying some of his old acting chops. 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