CLIFT, Montgomery

(1920–1966)

   Clift was one of many Hollywood actors who showed incredible promise yet had a short career. His first major role was his only major Western role, that of Matt Garth in Howard Hawks’s Red River (1948). As Garth, Clift played the adopted son of Thomas Dunson (John Wayne), a greedy cattleman and Texas landowner. On a cattle drive, Garth splits with Dunson and takes over the drive. This takeover leads to the famous scene in which Garth and Dunson square off in a fisticuffs showdown. The fight turns into a homoerotic embrace as Garth proves he is a man and Dunson accepts him into the brotherhood of men. Clift’s handsome physique and strong masculine-romantic features inevitably led to roles opposite top female leads such as Joanne Dru in Red River and Marilyn Monroe in one of his last films, The Misfits (1961).