Monty was born just after his twin sister Roberta and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. Their father William made a lot of money in banking but was quite poor during the depression. Their mother Ethel "Sunny" 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 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. He gained excellent theatrical notices and soon piqued the interests of numerous lovelorn actresses; their advances met with awkward conflict. While working in New York in the early 1940s, he met wealthy former Broadway star Libby Holman. She developed an intense decade-plus obsession over the young actor, even financing an experimental play, "Mexican Mural" for him. It was ironic his relationship with the bisexual middle-aged Holman would be the principal (and likely the last) heterosexual relationship of his life and only cause him further anguish over his sexuality. She would wield considerable influence over the early part of his film career, advising him in decisions to decline lead roles in Sunset Blvd., (originally written specifically for him; the story perhaps hitting a little too close to home) and High Noon. His long apprenticeship on stage made him a thoroughly accomplished actor, notable for the intensity with which he researched and approached his roles. By the early 1950's he was exclusively homosexual, though he continued to maintain a number of close friendships with theater women (heavily promoted by studio publicists). His film debut was Red River with John Wayne quickly followed by his early personal success The Search (Oscar nominations for this, A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity and Judgment at Nuremberg). By 1950 he was troubled with allergies and colitis (the army had rejected him in WWII for chronic diarrhea) and, along with pill problems, he was alcoholic. He spent a great deal of time and money on psychiatry. In 1956, during filming of Raintree County he ran his Chevrolet into a tree after leaving a party at Elizabeth Taylor's; it was she who saved him from choking by pulling out two teeth lodged in his throat. His smashed face was rebuilt, he reconciled with his estranged father, but he continued bedeviled by dependency on drugs and his unrelenting guilt over his homosexuality. With his Hollywood career in an irreversible slide (despite giving an occasional riveting performance, such as in Stanley Kramer's "Judgement at Nuremburg"), Monty returned to New York and tried to slowly develop a somewhat more sensible lifestyle in his brownstone. He was set to play in Taylor's Reflections in a Golden Eye, when his companion Lorenzo James found him lying nude on top of his bed, dead from what the autopsy called "occlusive coronary artery disease." His death was called the longest suicide in history by famed acting teacher, Bobby Lewis.
Freud (1962): $130,000
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961): Waived salary
Raintree County (1957): $250,000
From Here to Eternity (1953): $150,000
Red River (1948): $60,000
The Search (1948): $100,000

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#29). [1995] Clift is referred to in the Jets to Brazil song, "Conrad" on their album, "Orange Rhyming Dictionary." Clift is the subject of the song "The Right Profile" on The Clash's album "London Calling". Clift is also the subject of REM's song "Monty Got a Raw Deal", from their LP "Automatic For the People" Was a close friend of Elizabeth Taylor, Kevin McCarthy, Marilyn Monroe and Roddy McDowall. The release of Red River made Clift an overnight sensation and instant star. He embodied a new type of man on screen, the beautiful, sensual and vulnerable man that seemed to appeal to women and men alike. After A Place in the Sun came out he was Hollywood's hottest male star and adored by millions. He looked incredible and he was a fine actor, a rare combination. His only rival in this regard during the next few years was Marlon Brando, whose career turned out to be more stable and successful in the end. Clift's mental problems prevented him from staying at the top as his drinking and drug problem began to affect his acting and bankability. The loss of his dashing looks in a well publicised road accident during the filming of the movie Raintree County didn't help either. What followed could be described as the longest suicide in showbusiness history. Interred at Quaker Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, USA. He had so many health problems on the set of Freud that Universal sued him for the cost of the film's production delays. During the trial, the film opened and was such a huge hit that Clift's lawyers brought up the point that the film was doing well because of Clift's involvement. Clift won a lucrative settlement. Always in high demand as an actor, he turned down the role played by William Holden in Sunset Blvd. and the part of James Dean's brother in East of Eden. In 1955 alone he passed on five Broadway plays, (among them Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms"), as well as the films "Desiree", "Friendly Persuasion", "Prince of Players", "Fahrenheit 451", "Moby Dick" and "The Trouble with Harry". Related to actor 'Haile Chesnut' Brother-in-law of political commentator Eleanor Clift, who met his brother while working in Washington DC. Brother of Brooks Clift. He was voted the 60th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Was Elizabeth Taylor's choice to play her husband, the closeted homosexual Major Weldon Penderton, in Reflections in a Golden Eye. He died before the film began shooting and was replaced by Marlon Brando, who at one time was considered his only rival as an attractive leading man who was also a great actor. In Robert Laguardia's "Monty" (1977), the first published biography, Laguardia tells of how he was discomfited when he initially met co-star Burt Lancaster on the set of From Here to Eternity. Lancaster looked Clift up and down, and at first, he thought Lancaster was making a pass. Then he realized that Lancaster was sizing up the acting competition. The two did not become friends. On the set of The Young Lions, Brando insisted on doing his own stunt fall after being "shot" by co-stars Clift and Dean Martin and wound up dislocating his shoulder. Clift, seeing that Brando was in pain, offered him a swig from the thermos jug he carried with him at all times. The combination of vodka and prescription drugs in the thermos helped Brando through the ordeal. Marlon Brando, who calls him a "friend" in his autobiography, says that Clift was a tormented soul addicted to alcohol and chloral hydrate, a depressant and sedative which he drank. On the set of The Young Lions, he warned Clift that he was destroying himself like Brando's own alcoholic mother had. For his part, Clift was always supportive of Brando as an actor, even when his career began faltering after Mutiny on the Bounty. Suffered from dysentery and colitis for most of his adult life. Spoke fluent French, Italian and German. His father was a violent, abusive bigot and did not get along with son. Montgomery, while playing several characters snapping as they went up against ignorance or brutality, was said to have acted with his father in mind as an antagonist. One of only six actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his first screen appearance. (The other five actors are: Orson Welles, James Dean, Alan Arkin, Paul Muni and Lawrence Tibbett) Hollywood folklore has it that his ghost haunts the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The actor had stayed there while filming From Here to Eternity. After his near fatal car accident in 1956, Rock Hudson, Michael Wilding and Kevin McCarthy used themselves as a protective shield to protect Clift's photo being taken by photographers as he was carried from the wreck to the ambulance. A sometime guest of Broadway legends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne at their rural retreat Ten Chimneys in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. Is portrayed by Jeffrey Combs in Norma Jean & Marilyn Marilyn Monroe described him as "the only person I know who is in worse shape than I am." Turned down Dean Martin's role in Rio Bravo, which would have reunited him with his Red River co-star John Wayne.