Montgomery Clift

On 12 May 1956 during the filming of the 1957 ''Raintree County'', starring opposite [[Elizabeth Taylor]] and [[Eva Marie Saint]], Montgomery had a serious car accident which permanently damaged his looks.  He had been at a party thrown by Elizabeth Taylor and her second husband Michael Wilding.  Also at the party was [[Rock Hudson]] and his wife [[Phyllis Gates]] (who had been married the past November), and others.  Upon leaving, Monty in his car, followed Kevin McCarthy's car down the hill as Monty was unsure of his ability to negotiate the twisting curves with guidance.  For some reason, he lost control of his car, rolled it down a hill and smashed it into a pole.  Kevin McCarthy, noticing Monty's headlights no longer behind him, went back and found the car down the hill. His face was left "a pulpy mess", evidently from being crushed by the steering wheel.

McCarthy went back up to Elizabeth's and they called a doctor and an ambulance.  Elizabeth is reported to have run down the hill, climbed over the back seat (as the front doors wouldn't open) and cradled his head in her hands until he was taken to the hospital.  She rode in the back of the ambulance, and Phyllis Gates in the front.  The doctors did their best to reconstruct his features as they were.  It took several weeks for him to recover, but he insisted on finishing the movie.  Watching the film today, you can notice the odd changes in his appearance in certain scenes that were spliced together.  One side of his profile was virtually paralyzed by the accident, his face appears puffy, and his upper lip and nose have changed.  He continued to work, but his appeal had now changed. With no longer the same type of sex appeal he once had, his drinking and drug use became, if possible, more pronounced.