Monty Clift and James Dean were the young turks of the 1950s Hollywood Scene. but only Monty made it out of the decade, though only just. James was the more petulant and angry of the two; Monty was the sensitive “artistic” type that women wanted to mother. Only when Monty got out of the 1950s was he able to play something against type, in Trial in Nuremberg,

Clift has several bios to his credit. One by Patricia Bosworth, and another by Robert LaGuardia , both who seem to to specialize in Hollywood bios. I read part of the LaGuardia the earlier of the two, by about 3 years and if one likes Monty and enjoys these type of books, his is rather good, though it has no pictures.

While nether Clift nor Dean won Oscars but neither did Marlon Brando, a third of this set, for Streetcar named Desire, but then again neither did Henry Fond for Grapes of Wrath, Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind, but if Monty had, it would have been for his performance in From Here to Eternity as Prew the bugler. His romantic lead, Donna Reed, is a rather Phyllis Thaxter look a like that his family expected him to marry ¹ Robert LaGuardia’s Monty: a biography of Montgomery Clift; Avon Books, a division of The Heart Corporation, NY, 1977 and perhaps why the two work together so well on screen — they do have a certain romantic dynamic that is striking.

Elbert Benjamine has October 17, 1920, C.S.T., 41N15 95W57 for Monty Clift’s birth in Omaha. but the coordinates for Omaha are wrong. Jones does not list the 4 time Oscar nominee.

Bill and Sunny

Monty was born to William Brooks and Ethel Clift as the second of twins and named Edward Montgomery but always called in the Southern tradition, Montgomery.

Bill hailed from Chattanooga from a family of Scotch-English descent that had been Southern Old Money, complete with the fine antebellum house where the men became doctors and lawyers, and women, ladies of society. That changed after the great Silver debacle in the 1880s and so Bill attended Cornell in Ithaca, New York to obtain a proper education for a suitable career. There he net Ethel, nicknamed Sunny by the doctor, Colonel Edward Montgomery who delivered her because of her lovely voice and golden hair, but because her mother’s family disliked the father had put her up for adoption; thus Sunny had no apparent background or family, which caused a major rift in the Clift family. ² Patricia Bosworth, Montgomery Clift: A Biography, Bantam Books, a division of Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, New York, c. 1978

Nevertheless, despite his parents objections married Sunny, who had been raised a Philadelphia Quaker by her adoptive family, and converted after the marriage. Bill’s stellar academic credentials got him a job in Omaha as a real estate appraiser (he had majored in civil engineering) and the young couple moved. Their first son was William Blair, William for Bill and Blair for Sunny’s “real” family and then the twins, Elizabeth, called always by Monty “Sister” and Edward Montgomery, named after the Colonel.

The rectified Monty

We found Monty’s chart with 14 Leo 43 works well. It has the Hyperion symbol of ‘boxes of rulers and squares” that highlights the disorder and chaos within his calm exterior. His talent as a sweet sensitive soul shows up with Neptune conjunct the Ascendant, but also points to his alcoholism that became very apparent, at least to his costars, by the time he made “Red River” with John Wayne, the Hawk’s movie that itself is a paean to the watery god.

Alas all of this is is mitigated by the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in his second house of Virgo where Jupiter is in its detriment. Sextile Pluto in Cancer in the twelfth, as his career and popularity zoomed, the more Monty retreated within — his chart points that while he wanted to be an actor, he did not expect that much applause or inquiries into his home life (Venus conjunct gossipy Mercury in the fourth house of Scorpio.)

Venus, as the most connected planet in his chart, gets the symbol of “On a terrace by the beach, Navy officers, in dress whites, waltz with local ladies dressed in formal gowns” highlighting his role as Prewitt in the aforementioned From Here to Eternity, his best role. But that Venus cannot be ignored as it highlights his how external beauty, and he was a very good looking man, was also his Achilles heel, because it made him too reliant on on external beauty. This became woefully apparent after his car accident where his face was scared, he became a recluse (Venus in the fourth conjunct Mercury) and would not even view himself on the television (Mercury semisextile Moon in the 5th).

The Helmet of Pluto ³ Sir Francis Bacon on the curse of fame

Pluto, which was not yet been discovered when he was born, but was found shortly after the family moved to New York City and were living the posh suburb of Manhasset,. While it’s discovery created many unfortunate, the Black Friday Crash of 1929, and severe unemployment pre-dated its arrival by barely a year, it also created many fortuitous events for those wealthy enough to take advantage of it. One of them was the Clift family, as many universities released their untenured professor for lack of cash. This was a boon for those wealthy enough to take advantage of it, and the Clift family, was one, because of Bill’s secure job as a banker. Thus cause Ethel was social climber to make up for her lack of standing, hired a former English professor from Amherst, Massachusetts, who taught the Clift twins Shakespeare. This unleashed in Monty the desire to be an actor which horrified his staid parents.

made up of two modern planets (Pluto and Uranus) and also creates a YOD to his fifth house cusps. The head is then his eleventh house cups of 12 Gemini 58 that Sepharial paints evocatively as a “a young laurel tree broken by the wind.” He the symbol suggests despite a glorious youth and great prospects, but will lose many opportunities through misfortunes unforeseen and expected honours (the many Academy nominations) will not come to fruition.

Pluto is also important as it creates, like the writer Oscar Wilde, a Grand Sextile. Finally, wile there are many debates whether Monty killed himself or not, the Arabian Part of Suicide exact to his Sun is rather indicting unfortunately.

Footnotes:

This chart was updated on 7 September 2021 to reflect the LaGuardia and Bosworth books.

Footnotes:

• 1
  Robert LaGuardia’s Monty: a biography of Montgomery Clift; Avon Books, a division of The Heart Corporation, NY, 1977
• 2
  Patricia Bosworth, Montgomery Clift: A Biography, Bantam Books, a division of Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, New York, c. 1978
• 3
  Sir Francis Bacon on the curse of fame