Happy Birthday, Montgomery Clift! | (October 17, 1920 — July 23, 1966)

“He lived longer than either Monroe or Dean, and he had many more shadings and subtleties than some of the greatest icons—Clift’s performances are extraordinarily delicate, and he was actually able to convey the sense of a thought or an emotion forming in his characters and passing through them. Clift was one of the rare actors who could make confusion, sadness, melancholy and even depression not just interesting, but dynamic … [he] was a brilliant actor and, I think, one of the most unusual presences in the history of movies.” — Martin Scorsese

“He worked – he really worked hard.” — Howard Hawks

“The only line I know of that’s wrong in Shakespeare is ‘Holding a mirror up to nature.’ You hold the magnifying glass up to nature. As an actor you just enlarge it enough so that your audience can identify with a situation. If it were a mirror we would have no art.” — Montgomery Clift