The Sad Last Days of Montgomery Clift

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Back in the 1950’s, Montgomery Clift was at the top of his game, among the highest of the echelon of actors for that time.  Marlon Brando stated that he thought Clift was his only serious competitor.

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On May 12, 1956, while driving home from a party held by his close personal friend Elizabeth Taylor, his car crumpled into a phone pole, nearly killing him.  Surviving, his shattered face was corrected with plastic surgery; however, the left side remained paralyzed.

The 1960’s became a rough time for “Monty” except for 1961, when he received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for “Judgement at Nuremberg” and excellent reviews for “The Misfits”.

Unfortunately, after “Freud” (1962), a film beset with many setbacks and problems, Clift was no longer bankable.  (He would receive much of the blame, undeservedly.)  It was true, he had trouble remembering his lines.  He became addicted to drugs and alcohol, used to dull the pain of the accident.  An eccentric to begin with, later day behavior became increasingly bizarre.  Plus, his sight was failing due to cataracts.  He became un-insurable.

Still, Clift wanted to act.  He pleaded with Warner Brothers for the role of John Singer in “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”.  Warners turned him down.  (Alan Arkin took the role, receiving an Oscar nomination.)

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Clift and Liz Taylor discussed roles for them together.  They had already starred in “A Place in the Sun”, “Raintree County” and “Suddenly Last Summer”.  There was talk of them doing “The Owl and the Pussycat”.  (Later to be filmed with Barbra Streisand and George Segal.)

Ultiimately, they settled for “Reflections in a Golden Eye”.  Warner Bros. wanted proof he could still perform for the cameras.  So they cast him in the low-budget, grade-B cold war spy drama “The Defector”.  Clift knew it was schlock, yet did it anyway, just to prove he could still act.  It became his last.

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Weeks before filming “Reflections”, Montgomery Clift died on July 23, 1966 of a heart attack.  He was only 45.  Ironically, he was replaced by his greatest competitor Marlon Brando.  Text © 2019 – EricReports.

Marilyn Monroe’s Last Movie

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Most consider “The Misfits” as Marilyn Monroe’s last film; however, there were a number of failed attempts to cast her in other pictures.  Most famous of all is “Something’s Got to Give”, abandoned by 20th Century Fox after MM’s numerous absences.  A last attempt to finish it, after Monroe was fired, then rehired, ended when she died on August 5, 1962.

Marilyn Monroe’s costume tests for “Something’s Got to Give”

The plot:  A woman returns after being lost on a desert island, finding out her husband has just remarried.  The first video is of a 1990’s TV special commenting on what transpired.

Recently restored by 20th Century Fox, the video below attempts to piece together what was filmed.  (37 minutes in length.)

   Funniest scene:  Wally Cox in the shoe store.

   Also contains MM’s nude swim, a major event in ’62.

 “The Misfits” (1961.)  Arthur Miller’s saga of how a woman changes the lives of three down and out losers.  Also starring Clark Gable, Eli Wallach and Montgomery Clift.  “Misfits” didn’t connect with audiences then, but is more appreciated today.

   Best performance:  Montgomery Clift as Perce Howland.

   Clark Gable died of a heart attack shortly after filming.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) 

   Based on the novella by Truman Capote.  The author urged the studio to cast Marilyn as Holly Golightly.  Turned down by the director Blake Edwards because of MM’s notorious reputation for being late, high, sick and/or forgetting her lines.

Monroe lost role of Holly Golightly to Audrey Hepburn who received an Oscar nomination for “Best Actress”

“They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”  Rights to this were then owned by Charlie Chaplin, who offered MM the lead role.  She turned it down, believing it was about horses.  (Plot concerns marathon dance contests in the 1930’s.)

    Released in 1969, starring Jane Fonda, who received an Oscar nomination for “Best Actress”.

   “Freud” (1962)

Actor friend Montgomery Clift tried to get Marilyn cast as Freud’s wife.  Susan Kohner was cast instead.

undefined  “What a Way to Go!”  (1964)

Dark comedy about a wife whose five husbands all die for one reason or another.  Shirley MacLaine inherited the role.

Last major public appearance.  M.M. sings “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy.  Host Peter Lawford refers to her as “the late Marilyn Monroe.”

Text © 2018 – ERN