Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift
Publicity still of Clift, c. 1948.
Born	Edward Montgomery Clift (1920-10-17)October 17, 1920 Omaha, Nebraska, US
Died	July 23, 1966(1966-07-23) (aged 45) New York City, New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack brought on by occlusive coronary artery disease
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1935–66

Edward Montgomery "Monty" Clift (/mɒntˈɡʌməri/; October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary of Clift noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men". He is best remembered for roles in Red River (1948), The Heiress (1949), George Stevens's A Place in the Sun (1951), as a Catholic priest in Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess (1952), a soldier in Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity (1953) and Edward Dmytryk's The Young Lions (1958), and as a mentally challenged, sterilized concentration camp survivor in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). He received four Academy Award nominations during his career: three for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor.

Along with Marlon Brando and James Dean, Clift was one of the original method actors in Hollywood; he was one of the first actors to be invited to study in the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg, Michael Chekhov and Stella Adler. He also executed a rare move by not signing a contract after arriving in Hollywood, only doing so after his first two films were a success—"a power differential that would go on to structure the star-studio relationship for the next 40 years."