A four-time Academy Award nominee, he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men", according to The New York Times. Along with Marlon Brando and James Dean , Clift was considered one of the original method actors in Hollywood though Clift distanced himself from the term ; he was one of the first actors to be invited to study in the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan. This was described as "a power differential that would go on to structure the star—studio relationship for the next 40 years".
His parents were Quakers and met as students at Cornell University , marrying in Edward Montgomery, the family doctor who delivered her. Part of Clift's mother's effort was her determination that her children should be brought up in the style of aristocrats. Thus, as long as Clift's father was able to pay for it, he and his siblings were privately tutored, travelled extensively in America and Europe, became fluent in German and French, and led a protected life, sheltered from the destitution and communicable diseases that became legion following the First World War.
Clift had shown an interest in acting and theatrics as a child living in Switzerland and France but did not take the initiative to go out for a part in a local production until age 13, when his family was forced to downsize and relocate from Chicago to Sarasota, Florida. He had a small non-paying role.
Close to a year later the family moved again, settling in New York City. Clift spent a short time at the Dalton School in Manhattan but struggled with traditional schooling. Clift also participated in radio broadcasts early in his career, though, according to one critic, he hated the medium.
In , as part of the promotional campaign for the film The Heiress , he played Heathcliff in the one-hour version of Wuthering Heights for Ford Theatre. Clift did not serve during World War II , having been given 4-F status after suffering dysentery in Immediately following the end of the war in September in what would be Clift's penultimate Broadway performance, he starred in the stage adaptation of D.
