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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.

Known For

9.0

Self (archive footage)

Rat Pack

2022

7.8

Self (archive footage)

Making Montgomery Clift

2018

7.5

Self (archive footage)

Listen to Me Marlon

2015

7.3

Self - Actor (archive footage)

Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire

2014

🎬

0.0

(archive footage)

Starring Sigmund Freud

2012

7.0

Self (archive footage)

Hitchcock's Confession: A Look at I Confess

2004

7.5

(archive footage)

Edith Head: The Paramount Years

2002

0.0

Self (archive footage)

Making 'The Misfits'

2002

6.7

Self (archive footage)

George Stevens and His Place In The Sun

2001

0.0

Self (archive footage)

Sir John Mills' Moving Memories

2000

Credits

Rat Pack

as Self (archive footage)

2022

9.0

Making Montgomery Clift

as Self (archive footage)

2018

7.8

Listen to Me Marlon

as Self (archive footage)

2015

7.5

Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire

as Self - Actor (archive footage)

2014

7.3

🎬

Starring Sigmund Freud

as (archive footage)

2012

0.0

Hitchcock's Confession: A Look at I Confess

as Self (archive footage)

2004

7.0

Edith Head: The Paramount Years

as (archive footage)

2002

7.5

Making 'The Misfits'

as Self (archive footage)

2002

0.0

George Stevens and His Place In The Sun

as Self (archive footage)

2001

6.7

Sir John Mills' Moving Memories

as Self (archive footage)

2000

0.0

The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender

as Self (archive footage)

1997

4.9

Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage

as Dr. Cukrowicz (archive footage)

1994

0.0

Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths

as (archive footage)

1990

5.7

Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies

1988

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Montgomery Clift: The Hidden Star

as Self (archive footage)

1987

0.0

Montgomery Clift

as Self (archive footage)

1983

3.8

The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks

as Self (archive footage)

1973

6.8

The Defector

as Professor James Bower

1966

5.5

Freud: The Secret Passion

as Sigmund Freud

1962

6.5

The Merv Griffin Show

as Self

1962

6.2

Judgment at Nuremberg

as Rudolph Petersen

1961

8.0

The Misfits

as Perce Howland

1961

6.9

Wild River

as Chuck Glover

1960

7.2

Suddenly, Last Summer

as Dr. Cukrowicz

1959

7.3

Lonelyhearts

as Adam White

1959

6.1

The David Susskind Show

as Self

1959

5.0

The Young Lions

as Noah Ackerman

1958

6.8

Raintree County

as John Wickliff Shawnessy

1957

6.4

Operation Raintree

as Self

1957

6.0

From Here to Eternity

as Pvt. Robert E. Lee 'Prew' Prewitt

1953

7.3

Indiscretion of an American Wife

as Giovanni Doria

1953

5.9

I Confess

as Fr. Michael William Logan

1953

7.1

A Place in the Sun

as George Eastman

1951

7.3

The Big Lift

as Sgt. 1st Class Danny MacCullough

1950

6.8

What's My Line?

as Self - Mystery Guest

1950

6.9

The Heiress

as Morris Townsend

1949

7.7

Red River

as Matthew Garth

1948

7.3

The Ed Sullivan Show

as Self

1948

6.8

The Search

as Ralph Stevenson

1948

7.0