"Look, I'm not odd. I'm just trying to be an actor; not a movie star, an actor."
Montgomery Clift
Although many actors and actresses go to Hollywood seeking stardom, the roles were reversed in the beginning for Montgomery Clift. Hollywood went after him in search of a new star. Monty had already proven his talents on Broadway, and Hollywood producers and directors were constantly pursuing him to star in almost any film. In 1946, he conceded to their efforts. After 12 years of turning down every film script directors proposed, Monty finally found one script too intriguing to reject. It was a western co-starring John Wayne, titled Red River. The move from Broadway to Hollywood did not alter his dedication and desire for stage acting, but Monty’s life was soon filled with new and exotic experiences.
Montgomery Clift was born on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, William Brooks Clift, was a successful Wall Street stockbroker. His mother, Ethel Anderson, filled both parental roles while her husband was away. She would often take Monty, his twin sister Roberta and older brother Brooks on long trips to Europe or spend time at their second home in Bermuda while their father was busy with work in New York. Private tutors traveled with the family to educate the children while abroad. When the stock market crashed in 1929, the Clift’s had to conform to a different lifestyle. They moved to a modest home in Sarasota, Florida when Monty was 13. He joined a local youth theatrical club there and tried acting for the first time. Montgomery was very committed to his work and his mother saw how natural he looked on stage. She started pushing Monty towards an acting career. His family moved to Sharon, Massachusetts where he auditioned for a part in the Broadway play, “Fly Away Home.” Monty was cast and the play ran for two seasons. His family moved to Manhattan when Monty secured another lead in the play “Dame Nature.” His lead in “Dame Nature” earned him Broadway star status at only 17.
Over the next three years, Monty took the lead in several Broadway plays including “There Shall Be No Night,” “The Skin of Our Teeth,” “Our Town” and “Foxhole in the Parlor.” During this time, members of the film industry continually tried to coax Monty to Hollywood. He rejected every offer. He loved to act, but he preferred the stage, not on camera. His passion was for Broadway. As with any growing young star, new horizons were inviting, and he finally decided to visit Hollywood for talks, but he was adamant about going there on his own terms. When MGM would not give him the agreements he requested, he walked out of the studio. Almost immediately United Artists agreed to what Monty’s terms and he was cast alongside John Wayne and Walter Brennan in what became one of the most famous westerns of all time, “Red River.” Monty was excited to try a new type of role with both film acting and a western movie. Soon after “Red River” was completed, he was asked to play American G.I. Ralph Stevenson in “The Search.” This heartfelt war story gave Monty his Hollywood fame.
Becoming a Hollywood star, Monty formed many new friendships. One of his close friends was Mira Rostova, who coached Monty in almost every acting role he had. Perhaps the most famous friendship in Monty’s life was his relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. The bond between them strengthened when the two starred together in” A Place in the Sun.” He would act with Taylor in two other films, “Raintree County” (1956) and “Suddenly Last Summer” (1959). He accepted both roles without even looking at a script. He just wanted to act with Taylor. After “A Place in the Sun,” Clift did not make a movie for two years.
His return to the movie screen was in “From Here to Eternity,” which won eight Oscars and earned Monty a Best Actor nomination. He went on to star in the Hitchcock film "I Confess” and the movie “Indiscretion of an American Housewife” before taking another leave from acting. Monty was not seen on a stage or screen for more than three years.
One night in May of 1957 Monty accepted an invitation from Elizabeth Taylor for a dinner party. Afraid he would not be able to see his way home on the winding road Monty was the first to leave that evening. He veered off the road and his car collided into a telephone pole. The accident left Monty with a broken jaw and nose, a crushed sinus cavity, two missing teeth and severe facial lacerations which required plastic surgery. His remarkable recovery let him return home after only eight weeks in the hospital.
After the accident, Monty starred in seven movies and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in “Judgment at Nuremberg.” He also co-starred in “The Misfits,” which was Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable's last movie. Monty was set to co-star with Elizabeth Taylor in “Reflections in a Golden Eye,” but filming would not start until after the current project she was working on. So in the meantime, he was cast for “The Defector.” No one suspected this would be his last role. While waiting to begin work on “Reflections,” Clift suffered a heart attack and died in his home on July 23, 1966. At the age of 45, he was buried in Quaker Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.
Monty, one of the great movie stars of the post-war era following a distinguished career on Broadway. His unique style of acting influenced contemporaries and generations to come.
Source: http://www.cmgww.com/stars/clift/about/biography.htm
Bluetramontana Style
"It really is amazing. Can you imagine being wonderfully overpaid for dressing up and playing games? It's like being Peter Pan." David Niven
David Niven was born March 1, 1910 in Belgrave Mansions, London, England, UK (some say he was born in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland). He was the son of a well-to-do British Army lieutenant who died at Gallipoli in 1915. Because of his father's reputation he entered the Royal Military College where he earned the rank of second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Niven insisted that he fell into acting without any prior interest but he had done some amateur theatricals in college. In 1935 he became a Hollywood extra and ultimately came to the attention of producer Samuel Goldwyn. After several secondary roles for Goldwyn he was loaned out for a lead role in the 20th Century Fox second feature Thank you, Jeeves, 1936. Mostly in the 1930's he was found in support of bigger stars although he came into his own in such films as Dinner at the Ritz, 1937 and Raffles, 1939. During the 1930's he had an affair with Merle Oberon and became fast friends with many of Hollywood's biggest stars. He entered the war in 1940 and got married to his first wife, Primula. They had two children and were very happy until her death in 1946 when she fell down some stairs and fractured her skull. He married again in 1946 to his second wife, Hjordis Tersmeden with whom he had two daughters.
In 1949, Niven aligned with Dick Powell, Charles Boyer and Ida Lupino to form Four-Star, a television production firm. Because of this, he became one of TV's first and most prolific stars. However, he remained a film actor and he gained real star quality in the mammoth Around the World in 80 days, 1956. In the 1958 film Separate Tables, Niven played an elderly disgraced British military man for which he won an Oscar. He was also in the enormously successful Pink Panther, 1964, which started a series of hysterically funny films. Niven died of Lou Gehrig's Disease on July 29, 1983 in his Switzerland home. 
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