Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift

Birthdate
October 17, 1920 (104 years old)
Place of Birth
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Date of Death
July 23, 1966
Known For
Acting

Details

Birthdate
October 17, 1920 (104 years old)
Place of Birth
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Date of Death
July 23, 1966
Known For
Acting

Biography

Edward Montgomery “Monty” Clift (October 17, 1920 - July 23, 1966) was an American actor of the Golden Age, known for often playing sensitive or conflicted outcast characters with realistic emotional depth and anxieties.

Clift, Marlon Brando and James Dean are the trio typically associated with the new wave of film acting, with Clift being the oldest and first to make his stage and screen debuts. Starting at age 14, he was a breakout talent on Broadway throughout 1935-1945. He finally accepted one of many Hollywood offers: starring in the Western “Red River” which was filmed in 1946 but delayed release for 2 years. Fred Zinnemann’s “The Search” preceded “Red River” as his first film in 1948 and first Academy Award nomination. Clift’s next major films were “The Heiress” (1949) and “A Place in the Sun” (1951), cementing his romantic lead status. At the time, audiences had rarely seen a type of masculinity softened with Clift’s vulnerability. Hollywood had also never seen a young actor control his career and instant stardom the way Clift did in the late 1940’s: notoriously selective, refusing the standard seven-year studio contracts and rewriting scripts to preserve his artistic freedom. In 1953, Zinnemann again directed Clift to an Academy Award nomination in war drama “From Here to Eternity.”

After suffering a near-fatal car accident during “Raintree County” (1957) he starred in acclaimed 1960’s films "Wild River,” "The Misfits” and “Judgment at Nuremberg” for which he earned a fourth and final Academy Award nomination for his 12-minute scene. Despite a 4-year hiatus and mounting health problems, Clift was eager to make a comeback in "Reflections in a Golden Eye,” secured by the insurance and insistence of co-star Elizabeth Taylor, but he tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 45 just weeks before shooting began.

Montgomery Clift's LGBTQ+ Titles

Making Montgomery Clift
Making Montgomery Clift
Self (archive footage)

Acting (40)

2022
Rat Pack as Self (archive footage)
2018
Making Montgomery Clift as Self (archive footage)
2015
Listen to Me Marlon as Self (archive footage)
2014
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire as Self - Actor (archive footage)
2012
Starring Sigmund Freud as (archive footage)
2004
Hitchcock's Confession: A Look at I Confess as Self (archive footage)
2002
Edith Head: The Paramount Years as (archive footage)
2002
Making 'The Misfits' as Self (archive footage)
2001
George Stevens and His Place In The Sun as Self (archive footage)
2000
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories as Self (archive footage)
1997
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender as Self (archive footage)
1994
Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage as Dr. Cukrowicz (archive footage)
1990
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths as (archive footage)
1987
Montgomery Clift: The Hidden Star as Self (archive footage)
1985
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey as Self (archive footage)
1983
Montgomery Clift as Self (archive footage)
1973
The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks as Self (archive footage)
1966
The Defector as Professor James Bower
1965
The Love Goddesses as (archive footage)
1962
Freud: The Secret Passion as Sigmund Freud
1961
Judgment at Nuremberg as Rudolph Petersen
1961
The Misfits as Perce Howland
1960
Wild River as Chuck Glover
1959
Suddenly, Last Summer as Dr. Cukrowicz
1959
Lonelyhearts as Adam White
1959
The David Susskind Show as Self (1 episode)
1958
The Young Lions as Noah Ackerman
1957
Raintree County as John Wickliff Shawnessy
1957
Operation Raintree as Self
1953
From Here to Eternity as Pvt. Robert E. Lee 'Prew' Prewitt
1953
Indiscretion of an American Wife as Giovanni Doria
1953
I Confess as Fr. Michael William Logan
1951
A Place in the Sun as George Eastman
1950
The Big Lift as Sgt. 1st Class Danny MacCullough
1950
What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest (1 episode)
1949
The Heiress as Morris Townsend
1948
Red River as Matthew Garth
1948
The Ed Sullivan Show as Self (1 episode)
1948
The Ed Sullivan Show as Self (archive footage) (1 episode)
1948
The Search as Ralph Stevenson

Writing (1)

1948
The Search • Writer
• Writer