1966, Deaths: Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift died on 23 July, 1966, of a heart ailment in his house at 217 East 61st Street. He was found dead in bed in his New York apartment, he was 45. The cause of death was listed as a heart attack, but a major contributing factor was the cumulative effect of pain killers and liquor.

He was born in Omaha on February 17, 1921, and appeared in public for the first time at the age of 13 in an amateur stage production of "As Husbands Go". During the 1950's Montgomery Clift was one of Hollywood's finest actors, but his life went downhill after he was seriously injured in a car accident in 1956. He made 18 movies and was nominated for an Oscar four times, but never took a statue home. The movies were: "The Search" (1948), "A Place in the Sun" (1951), "From Here to Eternity" (1953), and  "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961).

Elizabeth Taylor & Montgomery Clift in "A Place in the Sun" (1951)

He often played outsiders like the social climber in "A Place in the Sun", the anguished Catholic priest in "I Confess", the doomed soldier Prewitt in "From Here to Eternity", and the Jewish GI in "The Young Lions".

Montgomery Clift & Donna Reed in "From Here to Eternity" (1953)

Montgomery Clift, Marilyn Monroe & Clark Gable in "The Misfits' (1961)