Montgomery Clift: Beautiful Loser

Rating:
Summary: A modern tradgedy!
Review: I must confess that I had never even heard of Montgomery Clift before Amazon recommended that I should read something about him. It seems that he has been lost with time and is not as remembered as other actors of the same time period, i.e., Brando, Heston to name a few. It certianly did not help him that he was sexually deviant and this was at the time career suicide if Hollywood or the public had found out. The book, i.e., Montgomery Clift : Beautiful Loser by Barney Hoskyns , is clearly and well written with well done photographs. Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant record of a unique star
Review: Montgomery Clift was called, by Spencer Tracy, "the finest actor" of his generation. This is a truthful, candid, but respectful record of his life and times, from the constraints of his overprotected childhood, through his early theatrical and movie fame to his untimely death of heart failure at 45. It is illustrated with both movie stills and rare, previously unpublished candids, which show Monty's strengths and weaknesses as an actor and as a man. Barney Hoskyns has written an engaging, often amusing text. He does not try to provide any glib answers to Monty's decline and fall, but does share some wry insights. The book is beautifully presented. While it is obviously for the fans, it is no vacuous, "pop-star" style work, but a solid tribute to a great star.

Rating:
Summary: A modern tradgedy!
Review: Montgomery Clift was called, by Spencer Tracy, "the finest actor" of his generation. This is a truthful, candid, but respectful record of his life and times, from the constraints of his overprotected childhood, through his early theatrical and movie fame to his untimely death of heart failure at 45. It is illustrated with both movie stills and rare, previously unpublished candids, which show Monty's strengths and weaknesses as an actor and as a man. Barney Hoskyns has written an engaging, often amusing text. He does not try to provide any glib answers to Monty's decline and fall, but does share some wry insights. The book is beautifully presented. While it is obviously for the fans, it is no vacuous, "pop-star" style work, but a solid tribute to a great star.