Editing Montgomery Clift (section)

==Career==
===Rise to film stardom: 1946–1956===
[[File:A Place in the sun premiere.JPG|thumb|200px|Clift at the premiere of ''[[A Place in the Sun (1951 film)|A Place in the Sun]]'' (1951)]]
At age 25, Clift's first [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] film role was opposite [[John Wayne]] in the [[Western (genre)|Western]] film ''[[Red River (1948 film)|Red River]];'' director [[Howard Hawks]] was impressed by his recent stage performance and was willing to sign him with no strings attached, which greatly appealed to Clift's sense of independence.<ref>LaGuardia, p. 58</ref> Although filmed in 1946, the film was delayed release until August 1948. A critical and commercial success, the film was nominated for two [[Academy Awards]].<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040724/awards?ref_=tt_awd Red River (1948) - Awards]</ref>

Clift's second film role (though it premiered first that same year) was ''[[The Search]],'' which earned him his first nomination for an [[Academy Award for Best Actor]]. Clift's naturalistic performance led to director [[Fred Zinnemann]]'s being asked, "Where did you find a soldier who can act so well?" Clift was unhappy with the quality of the script, and reworked it himself.<ref>Clift, 00:24:52</ref> The film was awarded a screenwriting Academy Award for the credited writers.<ref>[http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1425955884390 Awards Database – Montgomery Clift] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402164342/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1425955884390 |date=April 2, 2015 }} January 2, 2016</ref> [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] distributed the film nationwide as magazines generated massive attention for Clift.

[[Paramount Pictures]] ended up offering him the best of any incoming studio offer (which he accepted): a three-film deal (down from the typical seven-year contract) that came with the freedom to turn down any script and any director, as well as the right for either himself or the studio to terminate the agreement at any time.

Every major Hollywood studio wanted to make a deal with Clift and was collectively shocked that a young actor could command such leverage after the release of a single film: "the [[death knell]] of the producers and the moguls, and the birth of Actor Power."<ref>LaGuardia, p. 74</ref> Clift was on the cover of ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine by December 1948. ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'' magazine gave him its Achievement Award and called him "the most promising star on the Hollywood horizon.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Roman|first= Robert|date= |title= Montgomery Clift|magazine= Films in Review Vol. XVII No. 9 November 1966 |location= New York, NY |editor= Henry Hart |publisher= [[National Board of Review|National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Inc.]]}}</ref>

Clift's first film for Paramount was ''[[The Heiress]]'' (1949). While director [[William Wyler]] notably had difficulty with his poor posture, co-star [[Olivia de Havilland]] expressed difficulty with his seriousness, saying that "Monty was painstaking and I liked that about him, but I had a sense that Monty was thinking almost entirely of himself and leaving me out of the scene."<ref>LaGuardia, p. 77</ref>

He tended to funnel most of his energy into intense rehearsals with acting coach [[Mira Rostova]] who accompanied him on set. Overall he ended up unhappy with his performance and left early during the film's premiere. The following summer in 1949, Clift shot ''[[The Big Lift]]'' in Berlin. It was intended to be more of a semi-documentary, pro-America wartime film and less an acting vehicle,<ref>LaGuardia, p. 84</ref> but was still a welcome opportunity for Clift to portray a U.S. soldier.

Clift's next role as the drifter George Eastman in ''[[A Place in the Sun (1951 film)|A Place in the Sun]]'' (1951) is regarded as one of his signature [[method acting]] performances. He worked extensively on his character, and was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. For his character's scenes in jail, Clift spent a night in a real state prison.

His main acting rival (and fellow Omaha native), [[Marlon Brando]], was so moved by Clift's performance that he voted for Clift to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, sure that he would win, while Clift voted for Brando in ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)|A Streetcar Named Desire]].''<ref>{{Cite book |last=McCann |first=Graham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnRZAAAAMAAJ&q=editions:ISBN0813519535 |title=Rebel Males: Clift, Brando and Dean |date=1991 |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |isbn=978-0-241-12884-8 |pages=102 |language=en |quote=Clift said, 'One year, Marlon and I were both nominated for Oscars - he for Streetcar and I for A Place in the Sun. I voted for him, I thought him that good.'}}</ref><ref>Bosworth, p. 312</ref>

''A Place in the Sun'' was critically acclaimed; [[Charlie Chaplin]] called it "the greatest movie made about America". The film received added media attention due to the rumors that Clift and co-star [[Elizabeth Taylor]] were dating in real life.

After a break, Clift committed himself to three more films, all of which premiered during 1953: ''[[I Confess (film)|I Confess]]'' to be directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]], Vittorio De Sica's ''[[Terminal Station (film)|Terminal Station]],'' and Fred Zinnemann's ''[[From Here to Eternity]]'', which earned Clift his third Academy Award nomination (the second of two nominations for films directed by Zinnemann). For the latter, Clift committed to building strength and endurance by jogging laps around [[Hollywood High School]], learning boxing from [[Mushy Callahan]] and author [[James Jones (author)|James Jones]], and 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.<ref>LaGuardia, pp. 106–7</ref> During the casting of ''From Here to Eternity'', [[Harry Cohn]] opposed Clift for the part of Prewitt,<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 3, 2013 |title=Montgomery Clift: better than Brando, more tragic than Dean |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9841724/Montgomery-Clift-better-than-Brando-more-tragic-than-Dean.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240703203513/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/9841724/Montgomery-Clift-better-than-Brando-more-tragic-than-Dean.html |archive-date=July 3, 2024 |access-date=May 13, 2023 |website=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref> opting for [[John Derek]] or [[Aldo Ray]] instead.<ref>LaGuardia, p. 105</ref> However, Jones and Zinnemann preferred Clift and personally campaigned for him for the role.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Garrett |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bg8oAQAAMAAJ |title=James Jones |date=1984 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |isbn=978-0-15-645955-6 |pages=106 |language=en |quote=Even though Harry Cohn of Columbia wanted John Derek for the part of Prewitt, and Jones had originally wanted [[Zachary Scott]], Jones decided that Clift was a better choice than either and promised to do what he could.}}</ref><ref>Bosworth, p. 248</ref> Clift visited Jones several times at his homes in [[Arizona]] and [[Illinois]] and modeled the character after Jones himself.<ref>LaGuardia, p. 106</ref> After seeing the film, Jones commended Clift for his portrayal of Prewitt.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HdAeAAAAMAAJ |title=To Reach Eternity: The Letters of James Jones |date=1989 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-394-57538-4 |pages=193 |language=en}}</ref> Clift supported and mentored [[Frank Sinatra]] in his role as Private Angelo Maggio.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7F8qPwAACAAJ |title=Five for Hollywood |date=1991 |publisher=Carol Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8184-0539-6 |pages=65 |language=en |quote=[[William LeMassena]] explained, 'Monty loved Sinatra. We used to play his records over and over again. He was Sinatra’s number one fan, and now Sinatra was out of favour and on rock bottom. Monty told me that he spoke to Cohn when all this blew up and got him the part.' There were suggestions in some quarters, however, that Sinatra got it only because of his own and Harry Cohn’s mutual friendships within the Mafia. When the BBC ran the story in London, Sinatra sued and got an apology.}}</ref><ref>LaGuardia, p. 112</ref><ref>Bosworth, p. 253</ref> Sinatra later said, "I learned more about acting from him than I ever knew before".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kelley |first=Kitty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8YJtVCybe6QC |title=His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra |date=1987 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=978-0-553-26515-6 |pages=217 |language=en}}</ref>

===Car crash===

On the evening of May 12, 1956, while filming ''[[Raintree County (film)|Raintree County]]'', Clift was involved in a serious car crash after leaving a dinner party in Beverly Hills, California, hosted by Elizabeth Taylor and her husband, [[Michael Wilding (actor)|Michael Wilding]].<ref>LaGuardia, p. 150</ref> Clift had veered off one of the twisting hairpin turns and smashed into a telephone pole and the surrounding cliffside. Alerted by friend Kevin McCarthy, who witnessed the collision, Taylor found Clift under the shattered dashboard, conscious but with his face bleeding and swelling rapidly.<ref>LaGuardia, p. 152</ref> She pulled out a hanging tooth that was cutting into his tongue before accompanying him into the ambulance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Elizabeth |date=1967 |title=Elizabeth Taylor: An Informal Memoir |location=New York, N.Y. |publisher=Avon Books |page=72 }}</ref>

He suffered a concussion, broken jaw, broken nose, fractured sinuses, fractured cheekbones, and several facial lacerations that required [[plastic surgery]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cmgww.com/stars/clift/about/biography2.htm |title=Montgomery Clift Official Site |publisher=Cmgww.com |date=July 23, 1966 |access-date=May 2, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528012814/http://www.cmgww.com/stars/clift/about/biography2.htm |archive-date=May 28, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>LaGuardia, pp. 153–6</ref> In a filmed interview years later in 1963, Clift described his injuries in detail, including how his broken nose could be snapped back into place.

After a two-month recovery period, Clift returned to the set to finish the film. 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.<ref>LaGuardia, p. 165</ref>

Although the results of Clift's plastic surgeries were remarkable for the time in leaving no visible scars, the differences in his facial appearance were noticeable, particularly the left side of his face, which was nearly immobile.

Continued pain from his injuries led him to rely on alcohol and pills for relief, as he had done after an earlier bout with dysentery left him with chronic intestinal problems. As a result, Clift's health and physical appearance deteriorated.

===Later film career: 1957–1966===
[[File:Montgomery clift from young lions trailer.JPG|thumb|Clift in the trailer for ''[[The Young Lions (film)|The Young Lions]]'' (1958)]]

For the next nine years, Clift made nearly as many films after his traumatic car accident as he had previously. Still, the last half of his 20-year career has been referred to as the "longest [[suicide]] in Hollywood history" by acting teacher [[Robert Lewis (director)|Robert Lewis]] because of Clift's subsequent abuse of painkillers and alcohol.<ref>Clarke, Gerald. "Books: Sunny Boy". ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' February 20, 1978.</ref> He began to behave erratically in public, which embarrassed his friends. His next four films were ''[[The Young Lions (film)|The Young Lions]]'' (1958), which is the only film featuring both Clift and Marlon Brando, ''[[Lonelyhearts]]'' (1958), ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959), and [[Elia Kazan]]'s ''[[Wild River (film)|Wild River]]'', released in 1960.

With his next two films, ''[[The Misfits (1961 film)|The Misfits]]'' (1961) and ''[[Judgment at Nuremberg]]'' (1961), Clift pivoted to somewhat smaller supporting or cameo roles that required less overall screen time, while still delivering demanding performances. Playing the faded rodeo rider Perce Howland in ''The Misfits'', his first, introductory scene, performed inside a phone booth, only took two hours of the scheduled two shooting days, which impressed cast and crew.<ref>Casillo, p. 268</ref> [[Marilyn Monroe]] (in what was to be her last filmed role) was also having emotional and substance-abuse problems at the time; she described Clift in a 1961 interview as "the only person I know who is in even worse shape than I am".

In his 12-minute cameo scene in ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' (1961), Clift played a developmentally disabled German baker who had been a victim of the [[Nazi eugenics|Nazi sterilisation programme]] testifying at the [[Nuremberg trials]]. Clift was willing to waive his fee entirely, accepting the supporting part with minimum compensation.<ref>Casillo, p. 271</ref><ref>LaGuardia, p. 224</ref> His anguished performance (which earned him his fourth [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nomination) was often thought to be due to his own nervous breakdown.<ref>{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Brogan |date=October 17, 2020 |title=Montgomery Clift: 10 essential films |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/montgomery-clift-10-essential-films |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523092211/https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/montgomery-clift-10-essential-films |archive-date=May 23, 2024 |access-date=March 6, 2022 |work=[[British Film Institute]]}}</ref> Director [[Stanley Kramer]] later wrote in his memoirs that Clift "wasn't always close to the script, but whatever he said fitted in perfectly" and that he suggested Clift turn to [[Spencer Tracy]] to "ad lib something" when he struggled to remember his lines for his one scene.<ref>Kramer, et al., p. 193.</ref> In nephew Robert Anderson Clift's [[Making Montgomery Clift|2018 documentary]], superimposed pages of Clift's own heavily annotated original script show that the actor was actually deliberately and consciously performing with his own rewritten dialogue as opposed to confused improvisation.<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Clift, Robert and Demmon, Hillary (directors) | title=Making Montgomery Clift | type=film | time=01:15:34 |year=2018 | publisher=1091 Pictures}}</ref><ref>Casillo, p. 272</ref> On a taped phone call, Clift said that he played the character in a way that "holds onto himself, in spite of himself" with dignity.<ref>Clift, 01:14:41</ref>

[[File:Judgment at Nuremberg-Montgomery Clift.JPG|thumb|Clift in ''[[Judgment at Nuremberg]]'' (1961)]]

After completing John Huston's ''[[Freud: The Secret Passion]]'' (1962), [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] sued him for his frequent absences that caused the film to go over budget. Clift countersued with the assertion that he struggled to keep up with an overwhelming volume of last-minute script revisions and that an accidental blow to both eyes on set gave him cataracts.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Roman|first= Robert|date= |title= Montgomery Clift pp. 541–554|magazine= Films in Review Vol. XVII No. 9 November 1966 |location= New York, NY |editor= Henry Hart |publisher= [[National Board of Review|National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Inc.]]}}</ref><ref>LaGuardia, pp. 244–262</ref><ref>Casillo, pp. 283–5</ref> The case was later settled out of court with evidence in Clift's favor, but the damage to Clift's reputation as unreliable and troublesome endured. As a consequence, he was unable to find film work for four years. The film's success at the box office brought numerous awards for [[screenwriting]] and directing, but none for Clift himself.

On January 13, 1963, a few weeks after the initial release of ''Freud'', Clift appeared on the live television discussion program ''The [[Hy Gardner]] Show'', where he spoke at length about the release of his current film, his film career, and his treatment by the press. He also talked publicly for the first time about his 1956 car accident, the injuries he received, and its after-effects on his appearance. During the interview, Gardner jokingly mentioned that it is "the first and last appearance on a television interview program for Montgomery Clift".

Barred from feature films, Clift turned to voice work. In 1964, he recorded for Caedmon Records ''The Glass Menagerie'', with [[Jessica Tandy]], [[Julie Harris]], and [[David Wayne]]. In 1965, he gave voice to [[William Faulkner]]'s writings in the television documentary ''William Faulkner's Mississippi'', which aired in April 1965.<ref>Lawrence 2010, p. 261</ref>

During this time, [[Peter Bogdanovich]] was working at a cinema in New York City when Clift came to see a revival screening of one of his early films – [[I Confess (film)|''I Confess'' (1953)]] – and decided to show him the guestbook where a cinema patron had written down a film request for "Anything with Montgomery Clift!"<ref>Casillo, pp. 296–7</ref>

Elizabeth Taylor put her salary on the line as insurance  to have Clift cast as her co-star in ''[[Reflections in a Golden Eye (film)|Reflections in a Golden Eye]]'', to be directed by John Huston.<ref>LaGuardia, p. 276</ref> In preparation for the shooting of this film, Clift accepted the role of James Bower in the French [[Cold War]] thriller ''[[The Defector (film)|The Defector]]'', which was filmed in [[West Germany]] from February to April 1966. He insisted on performing his stunts himself, including swimming in the River [[Elbe]] in March. The schedule for ''Reflections in a Golden Eye'' was then set for August 1966, but Clift died in July 1966. Marlon Brando was cast as his replacement.