American actor whose impact made him a star from the time of his first film, “Red River,” 1948. A brilliant “first” of the method actors, he was nominated for an Oscar for his roles in “The Search,” “A Place in the Sun” and “From Here to Eternity.”
Clift suffered from deep emotional problems, was sexually ambivalent, an alcohol and drug abuser.
On 12 May 1956, he was leaving the home of his friend, Elizabeth Taylor, high in Coldwater Canyon, Los Angeles, when his car crashed into a telephone pole. Taylor found him crushed under the steering wheel, his face a bloody pulp. When he began to choke she put her fingers down his throat and brought out two teeth that had lodged there. Taken to the hospital, he was operated on immediately for face lacerations, a broken nose and fractured jaw. After then, Clift’s drinking increased heavily. He had a special “medicine cabinet” made in his New York duplex to hold the thousands of pills he stockpiled, some legitimate but mostly recreational.
Though he himself was bisexual, his home became a hangout for homosexual pals. When he hired Lorenzo James, a black actor, to take care of him, James cleared out the hangers-on and drifters, and attempted to get the household running smoothly.
In 1965, Clift made another jump in his alcohol consumption. He was taking larger amounts of Demerol, enough to cause hallucinations. On 22 July, he spent the day alone in his room. At about 1:00 AM, James asked if he wanted to watch a movie. “Absolutely not,” he shouted, his last words. At 6:00 AM, James went to check on him, but finding the door locked, had to climb through a bedroom window. He found Montgomery naked and dead on top of his king-sized bed. The cause of death was occlusive coronary artery disease, 23 July 1966, New York, NY. The coroner added that he showed a calcium deficiency for the past four years. His religion was listed as Quaker.
Link to Wikipedia biography