Who Remembers Montgomery Clift?

Yes I heard that story but I think the makeup people must have been very good because I couldn't see any difference....:)

"Raintree County", Monty's second movie pairing with his close friend Elizabeth Taylor, was the most tragic of his films, because the car accident that entirely altered his facial appearance, and robbed him of the greater part of his good looks, took place during filming. Some scenes show the pre-crash Monty, while others, Monty with his face irrevocably altered.

Well, he was already in his mid-thirties by the time of his crash, so didn't like quite as good as he did when at the beginning of his career in films such as "A Place in the Sun". Furthermore, he'd had extensive surgery, and so still looked passably handsome following the crash. However, there are marked if minor differences between pre-crash Monty and post-crash Monty, not just in terms of his appearance; but his way of speaking was different too. Furthermore, he could only use one side of his face. His eyes reflected his pain; and his mouth was disfigured. But I imagine the producers of "Raintree" did all in their power to minimize the difference. His while style of acting altered. It was reduced in power and intensity; and yet he was still capable of great performances, such as in "The Misfits".

Thanks...:o) "The Search" was one of Monty's very first movies, but I don't think it was as succesful as "Red River" which turned him into a star. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann, who was also instrumental in getting Brando's career of the ground. He later directed Monty in "From Here to Eternity", which contained one of his greatest ever performances, although he had some serious competition in the acting stakes in the shape of Frank Sinatra and Burt Lancaster.

I've never seen Red River. I've seen From Here to Eternity a few times.

"Red River" contrasted the old style male hero (John Wayne), with the new, a gentler, sensitive, more questioning type of post-war male, less assured, less content with himself and his world, and Monty was perhaps its representation, even though he was placed in an Old West setting: but symbolically he represented a new spirit (together with Brando), later picked up by James Dean, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and so on to many of today's male screen icons. In that sense, he was a pioneer, and yet relatively unrecognised as such, which is sad, because for me he was the greatest screen actor of his generation.

Cool. What movies have you seen of his? I think it's such a shame that he has been so overlooked in our era. He was one of the incubators of the hyper-natural style of screen acting that we have been taking for granted for some half a century. I detect shades of Monty in so many of the actors we most treasure today, including Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt.