Montgomery Clift
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===First Films=== | ===First Films=== | ||
| − | His first film | + | His first film appearances were in 1948's ''Red River'' with John Wayne and also that same year he starred in ''The Search'', playing American G.I. Ralph Stevenson in just-post-WWII Germany, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award in the category "Best Actor in a Leading Role". "[Red River] is considered by many to be one of the best westerns ever made", opines his EB entry. He plays a sensitive cowboy who challenges his adoptive father the rough, hardened, rancher John Wayne. |
| − | + | Monty starred as Morris Townsend the possibly-scheming suitor, opposite the heiress Olivia de Havilland in 1949's ''The Heiress''. In 1950 he, as Danny MacCullough starred in the film ''The Big Lift'', about two Air Force sergeants who fall in love with two women in Berlin during the Berlin Air Life. | |
He appeared opposite [[Elizabeth Taylor]] and [[Shelley Winters]] in 1951's ''A Place in the Sun''. Based on a true story, in the film Shelley Winters is his pregnant working-class girlfriend, when he meets the glamourous socialite Elizabeth Taylor and falls for her. Shelley is disposed of by a "tragic accident" when the two of them are out together and she falls overboard and drowns. He is later convicted of her murder. (Read a bit about the true story [http://www.steamthing.com/2006/04/index.html here], and [http://www.courts.state.ny.us/history/gillette.htm even more here].) For his work in A Place in the Sun, Monty was again nominated for "Best Actor in a Leading Role". | He appeared opposite [[Elizabeth Taylor]] and [[Shelley Winters]] in 1951's ''A Place in the Sun''. Based on a true story, in the film Shelley Winters is his pregnant working-class girlfriend, when he meets the glamourous socialite Elizabeth Taylor and falls for her. Shelley is disposed of by a "tragic accident" when the two of them are out together and she falls overboard and drowns. He is later convicted of her murder. (Read a bit about the true story [http://www.steamthing.com/2006/04/index.html here], and [http://www.courts.state.ny.us/history/gillette.htm even more here].) For his work in A Place in the Sun, Monty was again nominated for "Best Actor in a Leading Role". | ||
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Monty later appeared opposite Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, in arguably his most memorable role in 1953's ''From Here to Eternity'' as Private Robert E Lee Prewitt, and for this work, he was again nominated for "Best Actor in a Leading Role". Prewitt is a complex and tormented soldier who endures ridicule and harassment to stay true to his moral principles. He refuses to join the boxing team, because he had once blinded a man with whom he was boxing. When his friend played by Dean Martin is beaten to death by an officer played by Ernest Borgnine, Prewitt hunts the officer down and kills him in an alley. Prewitt goes AWOL, but then is shot by a sentry when he attempts to return to camp. | Monty later appeared opposite Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, in arguably his most memorable role in 1953's ''From Here to Eternity'' as Private Robert E Lee Prewitt, and for this work, he was again nominated for "Best Actor in a Leading Role". Prewitt is a complex and tormented soldier who endures ridicule and harassment to stay true to his moral principles. He refuses to join the boxing team, because he had once blinded a man with whom he was boxing. When his friend played by Dean Martin is beaten to death by an officer played by Ernest Borgnine, Prewitt hunts the officer down and kills him in an alley. Prewitt goes AWOL, but then is shot by a sentry when he attempts to return to camp. | ||
| − | His work in these last two films, is considered by some to be the peak of his career, although he continued working until his | + | His work in these last two films, is considered by some to be the peak of his career, although he continued working until his 1966 death, which subsequently has been called the "longest suicide in Hollywood history." |
| − | Also in 1953, he starred in Alfred Hitchcock's ''I Confess'', about a Catholic priest who won't break the sanctity of the confessional even if it means risking his own life. And he also that year starred in the rather-bad film ''Terminal Station'' also called ''Indiscretion of an American Wife'', opposite Jennifer Jones the then-wife of | + | Also in 1953, he starred in Alfred Hitchcock's ''I Confess'', about a Catholic priest who won't break the sanctity of the confessional even if it means risking his own life. And he also that year starred in the rather-bad film ''Terminal Station'' also called ''Indiscretion of an American Wife'', opposite Jennifer Jones the then-wife of producer David O. Selznick. The film is about an Italian man who falls in love with an American woman. |
===Accident=== | ===Accident=== | ||
