Editing Montgomery Clift (section)

===Later film career: 1957–1966===
[[File:Montgomery clift from young lions trailer.JPG|thumb|Clift in the trailer for ''[[The Young Lions (film)|The Young Lions]]'' (1958)]]

For the next nine years, Clift made nearly as many films after his traumatic car accident as he had previously. Still, the last half of his 20-year career has been referred to as the "longest [[suicide]] in Hollywood history" by acting teacher [[Robert Lewis (director)|Robert Lewis]] because of Clift's subsequent abuse of painkillers and alcohol.<ref>Clarke, Gerald. "Books: Sunny Boy". ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' February 20, 1978.</ref> He began to behave erratically in public, which embarrassed his friends. His next four films were ''[[The Young Lions (film)|The Young Lions]]'' (1958), which is the only film featuring both Clift and Marlon Brando, ''[[Lonelyhearts]]'' (1958), ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959), and [[Elia Kazan]]'s ''[[Wild River (film)|Wild River]]'', released in 1960.

With his next two films, ''[[The Misfits (1961 film)|The Misfits]]'' (1961) and ''[[Judgment at Nuremberg]]'' (1961), Clift pivoted to somewhat smaller supporting or cameo roles that required less overall screen time, while still delivering demanding performances. Playing the faded rodeo rider Perce Howland in ''The Misfits'', his first, introductory scene, performed inside a phone booth, only took two hours of the scheduled two shooting days, which impressed cast and crew.<ref>Casillo, p. 268</ref> [[Marilyn Monroe]] (in what was to be her last filmed role) was also having emotional and substance-abuse problems at the time; she described Clift in a 1961 interview as "the only person I know who is in even worse shape than I am".

In his 12-minute cameo scene in ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' (1961), Clift played a developmentally disabled German baker who had been a victim of the [[Nazi eugenics|Nazi sterilisation programme]] testifying at the [[Nuremberg trials]]. Clift was willing to waive his fee entirely, accepting the supporting part with minimum compensation.<ref>Casillo, p. 271</ref><ref>LaGuardia, p. 224</ref> His anguished performance (which earned him his fourth [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nomination) was often thought to be due to his own nervous breakdown.<ref>{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Brogan |date=October 17, 2020 |title=Montgomery Clift: 10 essential films |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/montgomery-clift-10-essential-films |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523092211/https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/montgomery-clift-10-essential-films |archive-date=May 23, 2024 |access-date=March 6, 2022 |work=[[British Film Institute]]}}</ref> Director [[Stanley Kramer]] later wrote in his memoirs that Clift "wasn't always close to the script, but whatever he said fitted in perfectly" and that he suggested Clift turn to [[Spencer Tracy]] to "ad lib something" when he struggled to remember his lines for his one scene.<ref>Kramer, et al., p. 193.</ref> In nephew Robert Anderson Clift's [[Making Montgomery Clift|2018 documentary]], superimposed pages of Clift's own heavily annotated original script show that the actor was actually deliberately and consciously performing with his own rewritten dialogue as opposed to confused improvisation.<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Clift, Robert and Demmon, Hillary (directors) | title=Making Montgomery Clift | type=film | time=01:15:34 |year=2018 | publisher=1091 Pictures}}</ref><ref>Casillo, p. 272</ref> On a taped phone call, Clift said that he played the character in a way that "holds onto himself, in spite of himself" with dignity.<ref>Clift, 01:14:41</ref>

[[File:Judgment at Nuremberg-Montgomery Clift.JPG|thumb|Clift in ''[[Judgment at Nuremberg]]'' (1961)]]

After completing John Huston's ''[[Freud: The Secret Passion]]'' (1962), [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] sued him for his frequent absences that caused the film to go over budget. Clift countersued with the assertion that he struggled to keep up with an overwhelming volume of last-minute script revisions and that an accidental blow to both eyes on set gave him cataracts.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Roman|first= Robert|date= |title= Montgomery Clift pp. 541–554|magazine= Films in Review Vol. XVII No. 9 November 1966 |location= New York, NY |editor= Henry Hart |publisher= [[National Board of Review|National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Inc.]]}}</ref><ref>LaGuardia, pp. 244–262</ref><ref>Casillo, pp. 283–5</ref> The case was later settled out of court with evidence in Clift's favor, but the damage to Clift's reputation as unreliable and troublesome endured. As a consequence, he was unable to find film work for four years. The film's success at the box office brought numerous awards for [[screenwriting]] and directing, but none for Clift himself.

On January 13, 1963, a few weeks after the initial release of ''Freud'', Clift appeared on the live television discussion program ''The [[Hy Gardner]] Show'', where he spoke at length about the release of his current film, his film career, and his treatment by the press. He also talked publicly for the first time about his 1956 car accident, the injuries he received, and its after-effects on his appearance. During the interview, Gardner jokingly mentioned that it is "the first and last appearance on a television interview program for Montgomery Clift".

Barred from feature films, Clift turned to voice work. In 1964, he recorded for Caedmon Records ''The Glass Menagerie'', with [[Jessica Tandy]], [[Julie Harris]], and [[David Wayne]]. In 1965, he gave voice to [[William Faulkner]]'s writings in the television documentary ''William Faulkner's Mississippi'', which aired in April 1965.<ref>Lawrence 2010, p. 261</ref>

During this time, [[Peter Bogdanovich]] was working at a cinema in New York City when Clift came to see a revival screening of one of his early films – [[I Confess (film)|''I Confess'' (1953)]] – and decided to show him the guestbook where a cinema patron had written down a film request for "Anything with Montgomery Clift!"<ref>Casillo, pp. 296–7</ref>

Elizabeth Taylor put her salary on the line as insurance  to have Clift cast as her co-star in ''[[Reflections in a Golden Eye (film)|Reflections in a Golden Eye]]'', to be directed by John Huston.<ref>LaGuardia, p. 276</ref> In preparation for the shooting of this film, Clift accepted the role of James Bower in the French [[Cold War]] thriller ''[[The Defector (film)|The Defector]]'', which was filmed in [[West Germany]] from February to April 1966. He insisted on performing his stunts himself, including swimming in the River [[Elbe]] in March. The schedule for ''Reflections in a Golden Eye'' was then set for August 1966, but Clift died in July 1966. Marlon Brando was cast as his replacement.