24 Aug 01
Montgomery Clift was a sensitive young heartthrob in the James Dean mould, and by the age of 30 he was one of the most sought-after talents in Hollywood. He counted Elizabeth Taylor among his best friends. It was when returning from a dinner party at Taylor's house, driving down a steep, twisty decent towards Sunset Boulevard, that he lost control of his Chevrolet on a dangerous curve and hit a telegraph pole. Clift was found slumped under the steering wheel, his face hideously lacerated, his jaw broken. And he was choking on his two front teeth, which had been knocked down his throat: Elizabeth Taylor saved his life by pulling them out. The doctors did what they could with his battered features but the left side of his face was frozen. Already an unstable and moody man, his career, and his health, went into decline in an avalanche of pills and booze. He would make only a handful more films before his death in 1966.
