Montgomery Clift: a life in portaits

Star of such film classics as Red River (1947) and A Place in the Sun (1951), Montgomery Clift’s emotional power and hypnotic good looks made him an ideal actor suited to the screen close-up and studio portraits. In 1957 however, he suffered from a terrible car accident and was pulled from the wreck by his friend Elizabeth Taylor. His jawbone and front teeth were smashed, which later affected his confidence and led to his decline and sudden death in 1966. Today he is best known as a tragic icon of the 1950s, whose handsome exterior masked inner suffering and turmoil. His screen persona as a vulnerable outsider won many friends and admirers including Marilyn Monroe, film directors John Huston and Fred Zinnemann, and Magnum photographer Eve Arnold.