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The full Monty Clift
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 17, 2002
Hollywood tragedy is rarely as complete as in the abbreviated career of Montgomery Clift, born on this date in 1920. One of the best young actors of his generation, Clift never fulfilled his potential because of constant physical and emotional problems that ended only with his 1966 death at 45 from coronary artery disease.
Clift's heart had plenty to bear. Studios insisted on using cuddly publicity photos with female stars to hide the fact that he was gay. Clift felt guilty about such charades, leading to years of psychotherapy -- also hushed up by the studios. He was rejected by the Army -- a real stigma in those gung-ho days -- for colitis and allergies. Pills and alcohol led to a 1956 auto accident that required extensive reconstructive surgery on his once-handsome face.
Clift's sensitive passion in his performances made him a tarnished star. Check out these examples on home video:
Red River (1948) -- Clift's Oscar-nominated debut in The Search isn't available on home video. His second role playing John Wayne's rebellious, adopted son who steals his father's cattle herd is easily found.
A Place in the Sun (1951) -- The American Dream turns sour for a sullen man (Clift) ready to marry a sexy heiress (Elizabeth Taylor), if he can get his dumpy current fiance (Shelley Winters) out of the way. Soap opera and social commentary are combined with style by director George Stevens.
I Confess (1953) -- Alfred Hitchcock hired Clift to play a priest who hears a murderer's confession but can't tell police because of his vows. Then the police begin thinking the good father may have something to do with the crime.
From Here to Eternity (1953) -- Everybody remembers Lancaster and Kerr on the beach and Sinatra and Borgnine in the alley, but Clift as Pvt. Robert E. Lee Pruitt -- blowing taps in tears for lost lives and morality -- is the key moment in Fred Zinnemann's Oscar-winning classic.
Raintree County (1957) -- Clift was working on this film when that near-fatal auto crash occurred. Co-star Taylor probably saved his life by pulling his jaw from his windpipe. The film they made, a Civil War romance with Scarlett intentions, made a bundle at the box office off the scandal, not the reviews.
The Young Lions (1958) -- Clift and Dean Martin portray American soldiers while Marlon Brando essays a Nazi officer, each of them rising through the ranks with varying morals and courage. One of the best antiwar statements ever filmed.
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) -- Tennessee Williams' decadent stage play was adapted by Gore Vidal, starring Clift as a psychologist asked by a rich widow (Katharine Hepburn) to lobotomize her daughter (Taylor). The reason why was a shocker then and a laugher now.
The Misfits (1961) -- Three great, fading stars prove they can do it one more time. Clift, Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe strike sparks while taming wild horses in the desert. Written by Monroe's husband Arthur Miller, who put his wife through an emotional wringer. They divorced 10 days before the film's release.
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) -- Clift earned his fourth, final Academy Award nomination as a survivor of Nazi atrocities recounting them before a war-crimes tribunal.
Freud -- His own experiences with psychoanalysis led Clift to portray the father of the technique, Sigmund Freud. John Huston directed with a hallucinatory tone that didn't suit his style, but Clift's performance was interesting throughout.
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