Montgomery Clift: Beautiful Loser

by Barney Hoskyns

Rare archival photographs and a powerful text reveal the tragically confused life story of an actor whose work has influenced generations of thespians, from James Dean to Robert De Niro. 12,500 first printing.

Genres: Biography, Film, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[William Stafford]

Full of photos, this large-scale volume forms a frank biography of Clift and a fair assessment of his work. A tragic figure, victim of his addictions, Monty might have had a longer and happier life had he been born fifty years later.

[Mary Narkiewicz]

A harrowing tale of the life of Montgomery Clift .. adorned with many fascinating photographs..from his gorgeous youth to his tortured maturity.

[Glen]

I admit that my interest in the career of Monty Clift was first piqued by the song "The Right Profile" on The Clash's album, "London Calling." I have only seen a few of his films, including "Red River", "From Here to Eternity" and "Wild River", but I found his performances in each to be exceptional, and I like Barney Hoskyns journalistic style of writing. This volume has lots of interesting photos and does a good job of being fair to an actor of remarkable talent who was also remarkably self-destructive. Much is made of Clift's homosexuality, but alcoholism doesn't care about that or anything else, and in the end it was his addictions that killed him at age 45.

[Sara]

Gossipy and average at best, but I found the many instances that Tom Cruise is mentioned extremely distasteful.