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Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift

Actor · 1920 – 1966 · Omaha, Nebraska, USA

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.

Movies22

  • Movie7.3

    A Place in the Sun

    1951 · 428 votes

  • Movie7.1

    I Confess

    1953 · 498 votes

  • Movie8.0

    Judgment at Nuremberg

    1961 · 988 votes

  • Movie7.0

    The Misfits

    1961 · 449 votes

  • Movie7.3

    From Here to Eternity

    1953 · 733 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Red River

    1948 · 617 votes

  • Movie6.7

    The Young Lions

    1958 · 150 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Suddenly, Last Summer

    1959 · 325 votes

  • Movie5.8

    L'espion

    The Defector

    1966 · 9 votes

  • Movie7.8

    The Heiress

    1949 · 287 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Raintree County

    1957 · 59 votes

  • Movie7.0
  • Movie7.2

    Wild River

    1960 · 107 votes

  • Movie6.5
  • Movie7.2

    Marlon Brando, un acteur nommé désir

    Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire

    2014 · 18 votes

  • Movie5.0
  • Movie7.5

    Listen to Me Marlon

    2015 · 171 votes

  • Movie7.7
  • Movie5.9

    Stazione Termini

    Indiscretion of an American Wife

    1953 · 59 votes

  • Movie9.0
  • Movie7.1

    The Search

    1948 · 89 votes

  • Movie5.3

Series4

  • TV7.0

    What's My Line?

    1950 · 29 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes

  • TV7.0