Edward Montgomery “Monty” Clift (October 17, 1920 - July 23, 1966) was an American actor of the Golden Age, known for often playing sensitive or conflicted outcast characters with realistic emotional depth and anxieties. Clift, Marlon Brando and James Dean are the trio typically associated with the new wave of film acting, with Clift being the oldest and first to make his stage and screen debuts. Starting at age 14, he was a breakout talent on Broadway throughout 1935-1945. He finally accepted one of many Hollywood offers: starring in the Western “Red River” which was filmed in 1946 but delayed release for 2 years. Fred Zinnemann’s “The Search” preceded “Red River” as his first film in 1948 and first Academy Award nomination. Clift’s next major films were “The Heiress” (1949) and “A Place in the Sun” (1951), cementing his romantic lead status. At the time, audiences had rarely seen a type of masculinity softened with Clift’s vulnerability. Hollywood had also never seen a young actor control his career and instant stardom the way Clift did in the late 1940’s: notoriously selective, refusing the standard seven-year studio contracts and rewriting scripts to preserve his artistic freedom. In 1953, Zinnemann again directed Clift to an Academy Award nomination in war drama “From Here to Eternity.” After suffering a near-fatal car accident during “Raintree County” (1957) he starred in acclaimed 1960’s films "Wild River,” "The Misfits” and “Judgment at Nuremberg” for which he earned a fourth and final Academy Award nomination for his 12-minute scene. Despite a 4-year hiatus and mounting health problems, Clift was eager to make a comeback in "Reflections in a Golden Eye,” secured by the insurance and insistence of co-star Elizabeth Taylor, but he tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 45 just weeks before shooting began.
Read moreShow less
Biography from TMDB.
- October 17, 1920
- July 23, 1966 (aged 45)
- Omaha, Nebraska, USA
- Actor, also writer
- 19 on MovieCove · 26 credits in all
What are Montgomery Clift's films like?
Across their 19 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Bonds.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 19
Light 2 · Serious 4 · Dark 13
A split, not a type: Grounded 10 · Stylized 8 · Heightened 1
Gentle 4 · Charged 10 · Intense 5
Steady 10 · Shifting 8 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 19 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 14 · Even-paced 5 · Relentless 0
Casual 1 · Engaged 15 · Full focus 3
A split, not a type: Easy watch 2 · Affecting 7 · Heavy 10
A split, not a type: Resolved 11 · Open-ended 6 · Ambiguous 2
Roles they play
Usually the Hero: 10 of 15 analyzed roles.
Show the 15 rolesHide the roles
- Heroas Matt Garth in Red River (1948)
- Allyas Ralph Stevenson in The Search (1948)
- Shapeshifteras Morris Townsend in The Heiress (1949)
- Heroas George Eastman in A Place in the Sun (1951)
- Heroas Robert E. Lee Prewitt in From Here to Eternity (1953)
- Heroas Father Michael Logan in I Confess (1953)
- Shapeshifteras Giovanni Doria in Stazione Termini (1953)
- Heroas John Wickliff Shawnessy in Raintree County (1957)
- Heroas Noah Ackerman in The Young Lions (1958)
- Heroas Dr. Cukrowicz in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
- Heroas Chuck Glover in Wild River (1960)
- Allyas Perce Howland in The Misfits (1961)
- Heroas Sigmund Freud in Freud (1962)
- Threshold guardianas Dr. Theodore Meynert in Freud (1962)
- Heroas Prof. James Bower in The Defector (1966)
Moods and endings
- Happy2
- Bittersweet11
- Tragic2
- Ambiguous2
- Cyclical1
- Other1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Montgomery Clift's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 8 of their 19 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (5).
Subscription and free streaming for Montgomery Clift's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
26 credits, 19 with a MovieCove page; 22 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Starring Sigmund Freud (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)
Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all films
Edith Head: The Paramount Years (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)
The Celluloid Closet(1995)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all films
Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)
Gay! Gay! Hollywood (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1990)
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1988)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
The Defector(1966)
Midcredits score: 29th percentile of all films
Freud(1962)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all films
Judgment at Nuremberg(1961)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all films
The Misfits(1961)
Midcredits score: 86th percentile of all films
Wild River(1960)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
Suddenly, Last Summer(1959)
Midcredits score: 90th percentile of all films
Lonelyhearts (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1959)
The Young Lions(1958)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films
Raintree County(1957)
Midcredits score: 54th percentile of all films
From Here to Eternity(1953)
Midcredits score: 94th percentile of all films
Stazione Termini(1953)
Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all films
I Confess(1953)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
A Place in the Sun(1951)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all films
The Big Lift(1950)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films
The Heiress(1949)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Red River(1948)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films
The Search(1948)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films
Career shape
Star power in the 99th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 24 titles from 1948 to 2012.
Biggest box office
The Celluloid Closet (1995)
Highest rated
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Most popular right now
I Confess (1953)
Film career
Top draw in 12 MovieCove titles.
- 1948Screen debut· The Search
- 1948First top-billed film· The Search
- 1951Breakout· A Place in the Sun
Billing
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30; the columns are the share of top-billed roles in each era, 5-year spans from the year on the label, merged until each holds at least 5 roles.
How do Montgomery Clift's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 89th percentile, the median of all 19; across their 19 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 86th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up15
- 50th to 74th2
- 25th to 49th2
Shape of the crowd
9 of their 19 titles are Universally Loved.
- Universally Loved9
- Crowd Pleaser8
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed1
Reviewers score the acting 77/100 in their films, across 17 reviewed titles; fans 83, detractors 52. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Montgomery Clift's work okay for kids?
Across up to 8 MovieCove titles with content scores, sex & nudity and profanity run lighter than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Montgomery Clift work with?
People who share at least 2 of Montgomery Clift's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Humphrey Bogart shares the most, 3.
Directors
- John HustonShared titles: Freud (1962), The Misfits (1961)See all 2 shared titles with John Huston
- Edward DmytrykShared titles: The Young Lions (1958), Raintree County (1957)See all 2 shared titles with Edward Dmytryk
- Fred ZinnemannShared titles: From Here to Eternity (1953), The Search (1948)See all 2 shared titles with Fred Zinnemann
Actors
- Humphrey BogartShared titles: Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004), The Celluloid Closet (1995), The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks (1973)See all 3 shared titles with Humphrey Bogart
- Elizabeth TaylorShared titles: Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), Raintree County (1957), A Place in the Sun (1951)See all 3 shared titles with Elizabeth Taylor
- Charles ChaplinShared titles: Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004), The Celluloid Closet (1995)See all 2 shared titles with Charles Chaplin
- John IrelandShared titles: The Celluloid Closet (1995), Red River (1948)See all 2 shared titles with John Ireland
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- William HornbeckShared titles: Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), A Place in the Sun (1951), The Heiress (1949)See all 3 shared titles with William Hornbeck
- Nancy SchreiberShared titles: Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004), The Celluloid Closet (1995)See all 2 shared titles with Nancy Schreiber
- William ReynoldsShared titles: Wild River (1960), The Big Lift (1950)See all 2 shared titles with William Reynolds
- Dimitri TiomkinShared titles: I Confess (1953), Red River (1948)See all 2 shared titles with Dimitri Tiomkin
Producers
- Wolfgang ReinhardtShared titles: Freud (1962), Stazione Termini (1953)See all 2 shared titles with Wolfgang Reinhardt