Montgomery Clift
“A sensitive, brooding actor who helped usher a new naturalism into American film.”
In 1951, Clift's tormented performance as a poor man torn between two women in A Place in the Sun confirmed him as one of Hollywood's first method actors. Alongside Brando and Dean, he pioneered a raw, internalized style that transformed screen acting.
From Broadway to Film
Born in Omaha in 1920, Clift spent over a decade as a celebrated Broadway actor before going to Hollywood. He resisted standard star contracts, choosing roles carefully when he debuted in Red River and The Search.
Method Pioneer
With his sensitive, brooding intensity, Clift helped introduce method acting to the screen alongside Marlon Brando and James Dean. Films like A Place in the Sun and From Here to Eternity made him a defining actor of the 1950s.
Tragic Decline
A devastating 1956 car accident left him in chronic pain and dependent on alcohol and painkillers. Though he continued working, his health and looks declined, and he died of a heart attack in 1966 at just 45.
Career Timeline
- 1920Born Edward Montgomery Clift in Omaha, Nebraska
- 1935Begins a decade as a Broadway stage actor
- 1948Film breakthrough in Red River and The Search
- 1951Stars in A Place in the Sun
- 1953Plays Prewitt in From Here to Eternity
- 1956Suffers a disfiguring car crash near Taylor's home
- 1958Returns to screen in The Young Lions
- 1961Oscar-nominated for Judgment at Nuremberg
- 1961Co-stars in The Misfits with Monroe and Gable
- 1966Films his final movie, The Defector
- 1966Dies of a heart attack in New York, aged 45
Biggest Hits
- His 1956 car crash while filming Raintree County shattered his jaw and altered his face, beginning what friends called 'the longest suicide in Hollywood history.'
- He shared a deep lifelong friendship with Elizabeth Taylor, who reportedly saved his life at the scene of the crash.
The Moment You Remember
He is remembered in the close, charged scenes opposite Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun, the camera lingering on two faces in a romance shadowed by tragedy.
Portrait: Studio publicity (unknown photographer) · Public domain (studio publicity still) · via Wikimedia Commons