A young naive woman falls for a handsome young man who her emotionally abusive father suspects is a fortune hunter. Because of the accident, the studio worried about the success of Raintree County. I am not one of Americas Angry Young Men. Other testimonies to Clifts gayness abound: early in his film career, he had purportedly been warned that being gay would ruin him; he was so conscious of being seen as feminine or fey in any way that when he ad-libbed a line in The Search, calling a boy dear, he insisted that director Fred Zinnemann reshoot the take. John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in Red River. Clift once said, The closer we come to the negative, to death, the more we blossom. He took himself to that precipice, but he fell straight in. When The Heiress came out, Clift's loyal fanatics came with their claws out and wrote vicious letters to Olivia de Havilland for rejecting Clift's character in the film. Nope. Indiscrecin de una esposa: Dirigido por Vittorio De Sica. Guided by the key biographies of Clift, they reliably parrot a narrative which paints the actor as a startlingly attractive and prodigiously gifted man who, according to one notably overheated tabloid TV show became a drug-addicted alcoholic living in a self-imposed hell because he had a secret he couldnt live with. When he first arrived in Hollywood, he didnt sign a contract, waiting until after the success of his first two films to negotiate a three-picture deal with Paramount that allowed him total discretion over projects. Author Christopher Isherwood tracked Clifts decline in his journals, and by August 1955, he was drinking himself out of a career; on the set of Raintree, the crew had designated words to communicate how drunk Clift was: bad was Georgia, very bad was Florida, and worst of all was Zanzibar. Clift and Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor first became acquainted when they played counterparts on George Stevens's "A Place in the Sun." In one tape made by his father in the 1960s, we hear the stars mother tell him, with untroubled candor, that Monty was a homosexual early. His interests lay elsewhere. Determined to make it better, he made some key changesand they made allthe difference. Clift gained actual scars from some filming mishaps. Next came "The Nutty Professor" as Lewis' student, Stella Purdy, who he is infatuated with. The revelation of his sexuality did not emerge until the 70s, when two high-profile biographers, one endorsed by his close confidants, revealed as much, rendering him a gay icon within the span of two years. Part of honoring someone is being open to that person not being just one, reductive thing., Making Montgomery Clift is showing at NewFest with a release date yet to be announced, Tab Hunter: how Hollywood's boy next door became a gay icon, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. According to this version of the story, when photographers arrived, Taylor announced that she knew each and every one of them personally-- and if they took pictures of Clift, who was still very much alive, shed make sure they never worked in Hollywood again. Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun. Upon closer inspection, Clifts career reveals notable clues as to who he genuinely was and the private struggles he faced. Clifts early foray into acting led him to a Broadway debut in 1935. Not only are you not allowed to be smart, but you were not allowed to be funny in the 90s, the actor said of her career. Montgomery Clift had an encounter with Marlon Brando. Now were at a historical point in mainstream queer discourse where that story seems less viable., Though the film aims to update, and to fairly contextualize, the actors story, the directors stress that they dont want to simply swap one image of Montgomery Clift for another. Clift's childhood was unconventional. Taylor, caught up in filming with Richard Burton in Paris, sent flowers to the funeral. He pleaded with her to make changes to her book to correct the mischaracterizations. He has a ghastly, shattered expression. And it wasnt just in private record: in October 1956, Louella Parsons reported on Clifts very bad health and Holmans attempts to clean him up. His injuries included a broken nose and jaw, a fractured sinus, and deep cuts across his face that called for extensive plastic surgery. . Clift had a fraternal twin sister, Roberta, and a brother, William Brooks Clift Jr, who had an illegitimate son with actress Kim Stanley. Taped interviews with his brother reveal that the actor felt those roles werent quite right for him and he didnt want to make the wrong first impression. Show more . James found his patient sitting up in bed and watching his film, The Misfits, but Clift clearly didnt want to be disturbed. And thus began what Robert Lewis, Clifts teacher at the Actors Studio, called the longest suicide in Hollywood history. Even before Raintree, the decline had been visible. Allegedly, hed been forewarned that the truth would destroy his career, and as a result, the actor became increasingly wary of appearing feminine in any way. Fed up with the script, Clift desperately wanted to change her lines, saying, She isnt giving me enough to respond [to]. Of course, poor de Havilland soon had more than just her prickly love interest to contend with. Hes so beautiful, murmured Miss Parker. The Big Lift (1950) Approved | 120 min | Drama, War 6.4 Rate (1936), Ghostwriting Gloria Swanson: The Strange, Sexually Charged Genesis of a Legendary Autobiography, A New Power Generation: Radhika Jones Introduces the 2023 Hollywood Issue, Salma Hayek Pinault Explains How She Got Hollywood to Stop Typecasting Her as Sexy. Even his diet was rather spartan: orange juice, steak, and eggs. Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock. What happened next has since become the stuff of Hollywood legend. But the tragedies didnt end there. He also helped bring a more natural acting style to film. . He played the desperate, the drunken, and the deceived, and the trajectory of his life was as tragic as that in any of his films. Nobody wanted to deal with him anymore, and for four years, he couldnt land a single role. There was a nonchalance to Clifts attitude in regards to women. When interviewed, the "From Here to Eternity" actor would wave it off, noting that he would be with a woman when he finds the right person. Apparently, one of Clifts tooths had pierced his tongue, causing him to choke. I think he was 12 or 13., Its obviously a non-issue for her, co-director Demmon said. His mother was born out of wedlock and spent much of her life and the family fortune finding her illustrious southern lineage and raising her children as aristocrats.At age 13, Monty appeared on Broadway ("Fly Away Home"), and chose to remain in the New York theater for over ten years before finally succumbing to Hollywood. His apartment, which he rented for 10 dollars a month, was described by friends as beat up and by him as terrific. He survived on two meals a day, mostly combinations of steak, eggs, and orange juice, and he eschewed nightclubs, instead spending his spare time reading Chekov, classic works of history and economics, and Aristotle, whom he praised for his belief in happiness, or the gentle art of the soul. When he wasnt reading or exhausting himself in preparation for a part, he liked to go to the local night court and attend high-profile court cases just to watch the humanity on display. The Clift picture didn't pan out either, at least with her promised co-star. Lorenzo came into the picture when Monty was at his lowest. So the fan magazines got creative: the August 1949 cover of Movieland, for example, featured a grinning, suited, respectable-looking Clift paired with the tantalizing headline Making Love the Clift Way. But when readers looked inside the magazine, all they found was a two-page spread of stills from The Heiress, featuring Clift in various stages of flirtation with Olivia de Havilland, extrapolating that Clifts kissing style was soft yet possessively brutal; pleading, but demanding all. Moreover? His own mother, in a voice recording played in Making Montgomery Clift, said, "Monty was a . . Jack Larson, famous for playing Jimmy Olsen in the hit 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman, recalled how Clift gave him a full mouth kiss the first time they casually met. Please let us know if a fact weve published is inaccurate (or even if you just suspect its inaccurate) by reaching out to us at contribute@factinate.com. Yet Clift would come to hate the image that constrained him, just as he hated the suggestion that he was a slob, unfriendly, or loathed in Hollywood: after the story of his bare closet came out in the Saturday Evening Post, he worked arduously to set the record straight, underlining the ways in which publicity takes a kernel of the truth and expands it into legend. The film went on to win six Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Screenplay, and is now hailed as a (flawed) classic. The unspoken truth was that Clift was gay. Sealed, new. Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. She noted that they needed to live a life of equality while being able to get married and adopt kids. Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIIIs rejected queenbut few people know her even darker history. Today, its impossible to know the specifics of Clifts sexuality: his brother, Brooks, would later claim that his brother was bisexual, while various writings from within Hollywood indicate that Clifts sexuality wasnt entirely a secret. Connect any celebrity with Montgomery Clift to see how closely they are linked romantically! Of course, Clift took one of his greatest secrets to his grave. Years before, Clift had battled dysentery, which introduced him to the sinister side effects of pain management. That said, he kept his sexuality a secret: The prejudices of the time left him no choice. The view then about queer people was that they would be inherently conflicted or tormented about their sexuality, said Demmon. He told everyone that hed marry when he met the right girl, but that in the meantime, he was simply playing the field. Once, when questioned about his pastimes, he quipped, Yes, women. But where were they? Thanks for your time! If you have a story that tracks along that line, that will feel true to people. He had a close friendship with a woman named Myra Letts, whom the gossip columnists tried arduously to frame as a love interest. However, Clift soon realized that you cant always have your cake and eat it too. Making Montgomery Clift is a 2018 American documentary film by directors Robert Anderson Clift and Hillary Demmon chronicling the life of the actor Montgomery Clift till his death in 1966. He also detested the man. A portrait of Montgomery Clift acting as Matt Garth in the western film "Red River" on 01 January, 1948 | Photo: Getty Images. But that wasnt all. Apparently, Burt Lancaster's From Here to Eternity co-star Montgomery Clift intimidated himso much so that in their first scene together you can see Lancaster shaking. And so he remains frozen in the popular imagination, circa From Here to Eternitythose high cheekbones, that set jaw, the firm stare: a magnificent, proud, tragically broken thing to behold. Clift cared nothing for appearances: the Los Angeles Times called him the Rumpled Movie Idol; he infamously owned only one suit. Still, his second venture was perhaps even more of an impressive feat. Following The Misfits, Clifts disintegration continued. Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? However, the filming of The Misfits had a shadow lurking over it. Were not trying to give a definitive version of who Monty was, added Clift. The accident changed his appearance, and many biographers assumed Clift felt ruined by it and, so, drank more. Edward Montgomery Clift (; October 17, 1920 July 23, 1966) was an American actor.
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