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 19351945 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 Zinnemanns The Search preceded Red River as his first film in 1948 and first Academy Award nomination Clifts 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 Clifts vulnerability Hollywood had also never seen a young actor control his career and instant stardom the way Clift did in the late 1940s notoriously selective refusing the standard sevenyear 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 nearfatal car accident during Raintree County 1957 he starred in acclaimed 1960s films Wild River The Misfits and Judgment at Nuremberg for which he earned a fourth and final Academy Award nomination for his 12minute scene Despite a 4year 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 costar Elizabeth Taylor but he tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 45 just weeks before shooting began
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