Editing Montgomery Clift (section)

===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>