MONTGOMERY CLIFT

Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American film and stage actor.  The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men".

He often played outsiders, often "victim-heroes".  Examples include the social climber in George Stevens's A Place in the Sun, the anguished Catholic priest in Hitchcock's I Confess, the doomed regular soldier Robert E. Lee Prewitt in Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity, and the Jewish GI bullied by antisemites in Edward Dmytryk's The Young Lions.

 

The Young Lions (1958)

 Later, after a disfiguring car crash in 1956, and alcohol and prescription drug abuse, he became erratic. Nevertheless important roles were still his, including "the reckless, alcoholic, mother-fixated rodeo performer" in John Huston's The Misfits, the title role in Huston's Freud, and the concentration camp victim in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg."

Clift received four Academy Award nominations during his career, three for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor.