Montgomery Clift

Edward Montgomery Clift arrived in Hollywood already certain of his value: he refused to sign until Red River and A Place in the Sun were both finished and both hits, creating a template for star power that held for decades. The New York Times called him the face of "moody, sensitive young men," and he delivered that in From Here to Eternity, Judgment at Nuremberg, and The Misfits, working alongside Brando and Dean as one of the first method actors—though he hated the label. Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan invited him into the Actors Studio early, and he brought a raw interior life to the screen…