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Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun. He hated the criticism and the labels, and eventually, he just couldnt take it anymore. Grasping at straws, the media decided to do what little they could to sensationalize the actors non-existent, One of Clifts closest friends was a woman named Myra Letts, and for the ruthless gossip columns, it wasnt a huge leap from friend to girlfriend. Clift didnt entertain this for a second and shot the sordid speculations down immediately, saying that there was zero intimacy between them: those romantic rumors are embarrassing to both of us.. While working in New York in the early 1940s, he met wealthy former Broadway star Libby Holman. Thats why his work doesnt feel dated, Demmon said. John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in Red River. Taylor, caught up in filming with Richard Burton in Paris, sent flowers to the funeral. Whatever relationships Clift may have had, he was circumspect. Over the next 10 years, he earned prominent roles in plays by Tennessee Williams and Thornton Wilder, opposite stars like Fredrick March and Tallulah Bankhead. In the bathroom, James found Clift in his bathtub, undressed and obviously deceased. 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. In order to get him the part, she had to offer up some kind of insurance, and this time, she put her own salary on the line. It is a feature-length film with a runtime of 1h 3min. . Above all, Clift was perpetually curious. He worked on a summer production where his talents blossomed and it opened an auspicious doorone that would seal his fate forever. at the best online prices at eBay! "Monty," as the performer was known to family and . When it came to the lengthier scenes, the actor just couldnt deliver; they had to be divided into smaller cuts just so he could see them through. Clift appeared in The Misfits, a revisionist western best known as the final film of Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. Connect any celebrity with Montgomery Clift to see how closely they are linked romantically! 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. Or, as Bosley Crowther, taking the populist slant in The New York Times, explained, the characters were amusing, but they were also shallow and inconsequential, and that is the dang-busted trouble with this film.. While they may not make old-timers forget the Greta Garbo-John Gilbert embraces of the 20s, Miss Taylor and Mr. Clift lose no chance to show why they are considered two of the hottest juveniles in Hollywood. Before long, photographers began to descend on the gory scene. Next came "The Nutty Professor" as Lewis' student, Stella Purdy, who he is infatuated with. You see, the entire healing process put Clift through the paces. 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. 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. For somewhat mysterious reasons, Robert Clifts father Brooks taped endless conversations with his famous brother, as well as with their mother and other figures relevant to the story. to add information, pictures and relationships, join in discussions and get credit for your contributions. He died. But the troubled star. Other testimonies to Clifts gayness abound: early in his film career, he had purportedly been warned that being gay would ruin him; he was so conscious of being seen as feminine or fey in any way that when he ad-libbed a line in The Search, calling a boy dear, he insisted that director Fred Zinnemann reshoot the take. That was really frightening to see., Penn Badgley Loves His Wife Too Much to Do Sex Scenes in, I askedSera Gamble, the creator, Can I just do no more intimacy scenes? the former, Oscar-winning producer Dede Gardner looks back at her many groundbreaking awards darlings, from the triumph of. Making distraction rewarding since 2017. I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the latest celebrity news, but don't worry we have you covered. The entire experience had a cursed tinge to it, and before long, it left disaster in its wake. While driving, he fell asleep at the wheel and the consequences were utterly gruesome. 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. Unlike many of his handsome contemporaries, he never had a blonde bombshell hanging off his arm. A documented conversation between two stars, Tallulah Bankhead and Dorothy Parker, during a dinner party also showed that there was knowledge among stars that Clift was gay. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. He died in 1966 at the age of 45. 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. 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). Little did he know, he was always destined for something more. He didnt want the studios to dictate the kinds of roles he would play, his nephew said. Itd be his only film with Brando, even though the two barely shared the screen. With Clift on board, Suddenly, Last Summer morphed into a verifiable mess. The documentary was released at the Los Angeles Film Festival and . cocksucker. Then, sweetly, wide-eyed with little girl navet, she 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. That, combined with his spiraling alcohol addiction, wrung the youth right out of the handsome actor. If you have a story that tracks along that line, that will feel true to people. Show details . Some believe that Clifts romantic leanings were much less of a secret than originally thought. A car crash in the prime of his career left him in constant pain, and he drank himself to an early death, creating an aesthetic of suffering that has guided the way we think about him today. INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE 1953 DVD PUBLIC DOMAIN FILM MONTGOMERY CLIFT. From the start, Clift was framed as a rebel and an individual. [6] His mother was Ethel Fogg "Sunny" Clift ( ne Anderson; 1888-1988). His beat-up car was 10 years old, and his best friends were all outside of the movie business. Regardless of the veracity of this story, one thing remains true: theres not a single picture of Clifts broken face. While filming a 15-minute supporting role as a mentally handicapped victim of the Holocaust in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), he had to ad-lib all of his lines. ), William Brooks Clift, Jr. (19191986) (Aged 66 Or 67) (Who Had An Illegitimate Son With Actress Kim Stanley And Was Later Married To Political Reporter Eleanor Clift. 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. 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. 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. While he never excelled at school, his extraordinary abilities as an actor showed early. When James offered to join him, the belligerent shot him down immediately, crying, Absolutely not.Sadly, this was Montgomery Clifts final interaction. Clift's brother would later come out to say that the actor was bisexual. Clifts sexuality, like those other 50s idols Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter, was carefully concealed from the public. Sumner Redstone in Love: The Cringey Sexcapades of a Horny Billionaire, The elderly media titan flexed his MTV ownership, rang his grandson at 3 a.m. for hookups with new women, and rewarded companions with stock options and TV shows. Quite fittingly, he once said, The closer we come to the negative, todeath, the more we blossom. Even after his passing, his forever friend, Elizabeth Taylor, never forgot him. 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. While she sounds apologetic, the changes were never made. In remembering Clift, McCarthy said, his face was torn awaya bloody pulp. Eyebrows were raised when the actor shared in an article he authored that he liked it "lonely. In truth, his face wasnt truly disfigured. 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. Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Clift, of course, knew better. He looked about ten years older than the Montgomery Clift audiences remembered and adored. . That secret that Clift was gay during an impossible era (the 1930s through the 60s) led many interpreters to conclude that the actor must have led a life riddled with fear and shame. According to this version of the story, when photographers arrived, Taylor announced that she knew each and every one of them personally-- and if they took pictures of Clift, who was still very much alive, shed make sure they never worked in Hollywood again. I think he was 12 or 13., Its obviously a non-issue for her, co-director Demmon said. . While filming his next picture, Lonelyhearts (1958), Clift lashed out, proclaiming, I am notrepeat nota member of the Beat Generation. Montgomery Blair. Born in 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, Clift was raised like an aristocrat, with a private tutor and frequent trips to Europe. She would wield considerable influence over the early part of his film career, advising him in decisions to decline lead roles in Sunset Blvd. Clift was off the Hollywood scene for four years, within which his career declined. In fact, the attitudes he and his family held towards his relationships with men were strikingly modern. But that didnt mean that the gossip press didnt hint at something different, something queer, in the broadest sense of the word, about him. Whisked away to the morgue, Clifts body underwent an autopsy that shed some light on his sudden demise. 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. For Clift, The Heiress was a mess from top to bottom, and he even walked out on the films premiere, disgusted with his own performance. But that wasnt the wildest part of the story. Show more . Determined to keep his gayness under wraps, Clift made sure that his masculine facade shone onscreen. She is completing her PhD in Toronto, Canada. Months of surgeries, rebuilding, and physical therapy followed. He had a holistic view.. Clift had a fraternal twin sister, Roberta, and a brother, William Brooks Clift Jr, who had an illegitimate son with actress Kim Stanley. But, in general, his relationships with men had more to do with sex than with a deep emotional connection. Luckily, his isolated lifestyle gave him an advantage. But this was only the beginning. The unhinged character he played in the film hit too close to home and psychologically drained him. Clift was there, as were actors Kevin McCarthy and Rock Hudson, and Hudson's wife, Phyllis Gates, per Vanity Fair. Because of the accident, the studio worried about the success of Raintree County. Many Hollywood stars have committed versions of the long suicide. Clift couldnt get through longer scenes, having to split them up into two or three chunks. Then again, nothing about Clifts life was expected. or 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. Apparently, one of Clifts tooths had pierced his tongue, causing him to choke. Thanks for your time! Although Clift and Montgomery were only good friends, their coupling inA Place in the Sunhelped drive its popularity. Years before, Clift had battled dysentery, which introduced him to the sinister side effects of pain management. Will she ride the term to Oscar gold? Over the next decade, the burgeoning actor dug his heels in and made a name for himself on the stage. TAYLOR ON CLIFT'S SEXUALITY AFTER HIS DEATH. Although he may not have realized it, Clifts horrific accident sparked the beginning of the end, intensifying his preexisting ailments and sending him down a dark path from which he could never return. It wasnt until years after his tragic passing that Clifts darkest secret finally came out. James found his patient sitting up in bed and watching his film, The Misfits, but Clift clearly didnt want to be disturbed. He also sunk into alcoholism, of which Taylor and some other friends tried to help him. But the facial reconstruction, heavy painkiller use, and rampant alcohol abuse made it look like hed aged a decade. The most beautiful young man Ive ever seen. The next morning, James returned to Clifts room to rouse him but found the door locked. Realizing that Clift was in mortal danger, McCarthy raced to the scene of the accident. 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. AmoMama creates engaging, meaningful content for women. made. They took a risk on the troubled actorand it endedbadly. At the end of the day, Clifts private nurse Lorenzo James checked in on him just after midnight. In his eyes, he wasnt a rebel, he was simply an actor who wanted to portray a slice of life. Tired of being boxed in, he stated, I am notrepeat nota member of the Beat Generation. 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. Please fill in your e-mail so we can share with you our top stories! 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." Clifts lifestyle had the press slotting him in with non-conformists of the dayright alongside hotshots like Marlon Brandobut the actor didnt respond well to being labeled and defined. / Is he alive? A four-time Oscar nominee who died at 45, Montgomery Clift was a bright young talent, a tabloid fixture, and a posthumous gay icon. As he lay wounded in the arms of his dear friend, Clift began choking and pointing to his throat. Even if Clift himself was already spiraling out of control, playing a character that did the same only amplified the psychological toll. For example, in 1956 Taylor likely saved Clifts life when, after he crashed his car leaving a party at her home, she raced to the wreck and literally pulled from his mouth broken teeth on which he had begun to choke. Clift earned best-actor Oscar nominations for 1951s A Place in the Sun and 1953s From Here to Eternity; both times he lost to older actors (Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, respectively), and established his reputation, alongside Marlon Brando and James Dean, as a young outsider whose talent intimidated Hollywood. And yet, the mystery persists. According to two A-list biographers, the late star was gay. ufff q hombre tan guapo y atractivo, y grn actor ademas, como me hubiese gustado conocerlo con unos ojos maravillosos. He believed that the media often, and easily, twisted the truth until it disappeared entirely: I learned that most writers dont need interviews to write about me. Indiscretion Of An American Wife -- (Movie Clip) Open, Rome High-wattage credits in unusual combination, from David O. Selznick's short feature Indiscretion Of An American Wife, 1954, starring Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift, directed by Vittorio De Sica, dialogue by Truman Capote. A portrait of Elizabeth Taylor And Montgomery Clift from the film "A Place In The Sun", 1951 | Photo: Getty Images. This year the young man . In 1966, Clifts stalwart friend, Elizabeth Taylor, came to his aid once again and managed to get him a part in Reflections in a Golden Eye. (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.). These are just among the many words which have been used to describe Montgomery Clift, the enigmatic heartthrob of the 1950s. Taylor had married British actor Michael Wilding in 1952, but by 1956, their marriage was in decline. Finally, Clift had a chance to climb out of his slumpbut before he made it over the top, tragedy struck. Something was seriously wrong. Christine Tran is a history buff(ette) and media scholar. Whether platonic or not, these two actors shared an undeniable bond that was undeniably strengthened by this one unfortunate event. 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. 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. Picture Information. Although hed only been away from Hollywood for four and a half years, the handsome Montgomery Clift looked incrediblyoldand the reason was downright heartbreaking. Hollywood began to see him as hostile and messy and frugal, and Clift wasnt having it. Beautiful man. About a month afterThe Misfitswrapped, Gable suffered a heart attack and passed. Curtis's relationship to the term nepo baby has evolved over the last few months. Montgomery Clift as Noah Ackerman Dean Martin as Michael Whiteacre Hope Lange as Hope Plowman Barbara Rush as Margaret Freemantle May Britt as Gretchen Hardenberg Maximilian Schell as Captain Hardenberg Dora Doll as Simone Lee Van Cleef as First Sergeant Rickett Liliane Montevecchi as Franoise Parley Baer as Sergeant Brandt An inside look at the actors secretive love life. Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando were in a . Peace. Like them, Clift was comfortable with the full contours, and consequences, of his beauty, playing the object in a way previously preserved for female stars. In Clifts eyes, de Havilland imparted nothing of herself into the role. ", A portrait of Montgomery Clift against a wooden backdrop on 01 January, 1948 | Photo: Getty mages. 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. What finally brought him back to the screen? The pieces of the puzzle dont quite fit. Allegedly, Rock Hudson was there to pull Clift from the wreckage and it was Taylor who held the stricken actor in her arms. Observers also point out that Clift had sexual relationships with women. Whether he liked it or not, they were out for a storyAnd the one they wanted above all? He was the son of Francis Preston Blair, elder brother of Francis Preston Blair Jr. and cousin of B. Gratz Brown . However, this was no quick fix. When he first arrived in Hollywood, he didnt sign a contract, waiting until after the success of his first two films to negotiate a three-picture deal with Paramount that allowed him total discretion over projects. Documentary Biography Classic film star and queer icon Montgomery Clift's legacy has long been a story of tragedy and self-destruction. Hailed as one of Hollywood's first true Method actors, Edward Montgomery Clift was born October 17, 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska. Along with Marlon Brando and James Dean, he helped delineate a new paradigm for American cinematic heroes. In this exclusive excerpt from her forthcoming book, Anne Helen Petersen recounts the actors lonely life, ferocious talent, and tragic decline. Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, Hollywood, 1950. 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. 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. Montgomery Clift's nephew, co-directing 'Making Montgomery Clift,' an eye-opening documentary about the great movie actor, excavates a treasure trove of family archives. This would not only show off his range but allow him to sidestep any dangers of typecasting. But the tragedies didnt end there. According to Clifts doctors, it was amazing that he was even alive. You see, the reason behind Montgomery Clifts barren dating life was rather simple: He was gay. Unlike Rock Hudson, whose affairs were very nearly exposed to the entire nation by Confidential, Clift never made the pages of the scandal rags. . Marlon Brando: Portraits of a Charismatic Young Star, 1952, Marilyn, Arthur Miller and More: A Star Producers Spectacular Orbit. Thats not what people would expect from a mother in that period.. Clift was so protective of Holman that when offered the plum role of the male lead in Sunset Boulevard, he turned it downreportedly to avoid any suggestion that Libby Holman was his own delusional Norma Desmond, using a handsome young man to pursue her lost stardom. 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. 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. Whether morally repulsive or philosophically compelling, The Misfits bombed, only to be recuperated, years later, as a masterpiece of the revisionist genre. He had a close friendship with a woman named Myra Letts, whom the gossip columnists tried arduously to frame as a love interest. Which gives that narrative a lot of traction. However, even with all the negative hubbub surrounding this shoot, it was nothing compared to the darkness of one of Clifts next projects. In 1951, Clift embarked upon one of his most famous roles as George Eastman inA Place in the Sun. He knew that people would flock to the cinema just to see his damaged face. July 24, 1966 12 AM PT. The actress had read many articles about Clift's acting prowess and thought she would not be the perfect match. Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor during the filming of A Place in the Sun. During her appearance at the GLAAD Media Awards, Taylor openly spoke about her late friends sexuality while she addressed the rights of gay people. But the drama didnt end there.