I am a fan of actor Craig Chester, best known for starring in a string of independent films with single word titles: Swoon, Grief & Frisk. He also played Fred Hughes in I Shot Handy Warhol & best friend Terry in Kiss Me, Guido. Hollywood doesn't care all that much for openly gay, art film actors, even one who was nominated for a prestigious Spirit Award, so Chester takes time from acting to write screenplays & books.
I thought very highly of his delightfully witty & moving 2003 memoir: Why the Long Face?: The Advenures of a TrulyIndependent Actor. The title refers to Chester's experience with "Long Face Syndrome", a disfiguring jaw malady. Chester: “As a teen, I was looked like a Picasso sock puppet with pimples. A series of surgeries I was left swollen to massive, inhumane proportions, while on a liquid diet,I was made to sit at the dinner table, almost nightly, & watch in contempt as my father, mother, & sister gorged themselves on pot roast, chicken & dumplings, & sloppy joes." Happily, Chester survived this ordeal to have handsome, unconventional good looks.
On The Moth ( a group dedicated to strytelling) Podcast released on April 26, 2010, Chester recounts his encounter Montgomery Clift, who has been dead for 45+ years. Chester goes on to explain the story of how 2 separate psychics (one a professional psychic, the other a long-time psychic who does not provide readings for money) approached him to tell him about a spirit that insists on reaching him. They both explain on separate occasions, (Chester verified they did not know each other or are in any way connected) that Montgomery Clift wants Chester to write a screenplay about his life. The spirit of Montgomery Clift goes on to explain that he wants Chester to do this because he has the chance to live the life he was never able to; Chester is openly gay & Clift spirit explains he lived "in the closet" as a gay man during his life.
The spirit of Clift reaches out to Chester on another occasion, & explains (through one of the psychics) that he must go to his former home (which has been preserved since Clift's death) & spend the night there. This is where Chester finally made the connection to himself & Clift while soaking in the same bathtub that Clift died in.
Chester: "I understood him in a way that maybe nobody else would. And when we want that person to tell our story be somebody who understands who we are... I could be Monty's happy ending."
After the moment at Clift's house,Chester does not pursue the screenplay or Clift's memory. But soon after, Chester hears from a relative who does not regularly speak with him. She tells him that she had a dream about a man who looked like Chester, & he explained who he was & that she was to call Chester to tell him to find Elizabeth Taylor. Someone close to Chester, who had never been told this story before, & who did not regularly speak with Chester, called him to Cntinue his mission on Clift's behalf. Chester: "Elizabeth Taylor, if you're there, it's me, Montgomery Clift."
Chester's Filmography: Adam & Steve (2005)Quintessence (2003) The Look (2003) Bumping Heads (2002) Circuit (2001) The Anniversary Party (2001) The Experience Box (2001) Charlie! (1999) The Misadventures of Margaret (1998) Shucking the Curve (1998) Kiss Me, Guido (1997) David Searching (1997) I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) Frisk (1995) Grief (1993) Swoon (1992)
He made his Broadway debut at 13 in Fly Away Home, & continued to work on the Broadway stage for the next decade before being lured to Hollywood. He was friends with & an inspiration to James Dean & Marlon Brando. They were the trio of brooding & intense young actors that were trying on a new style of naturalistic acting personified by The Actors Studio in NYC. Montgomery Clift thought he was under-valued as an actor, but was, in fact, extremely accomplished & well regarded by critics & fellow actors. He would receive 4 Oscar nominations, 1 for his 2nd film- The Search. Clift was also an isolated & tortured, closeted gay man who used drugs & alcohol to escape his pain. Although he was gay, he maintained close relationships with several actresses, the closest of which was with Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor & Clift were both passionate & vulnerable people who felt a bond immediately. They worked together on several films, beginning with George Stevens' A Place in the Sun in 1951 (his 2nd Oscar nom), & remained best friends until the end of his life. He was teased & ridiculed by Frank Sinatra for being gay during the making of From Here To Eternity (his 3rd nomination).
On May 12, 1956, after leaving a party at Taylor's, Clift drove his car into a telephone pole (8 months after his friend James Dean died in a similar accident). The crash caused scarring & partial paralysis of his beautiful face. He continued to act, & gave some of his most memorable performances after the accident: Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (an Oscar nomination for a 7 minute role) & John Huston's The Misfits in 1961, but his expressive acting & his personal life were never the same. Clift made 16 films before the crash, & 16 films after.
Clift plunged more deeply into drug & alcohol abuse & wild sexual behavior. He began to be considered unreliable by studio bosses. By the time his lover Lorenzo James found him naked & dead of a heart attack at their home in Greenwich Village, on July 23, 1966, he was virtually unemployable. He was just 45 years old.
He made his Broadway debut at 13 in Fly Away Home, & continued to work on the Broadway stage for the next decade before being lured to Hollywood. He was friends with & an inspiration to James Dean & Marlon Brando. They were the trio of brooding & intense young actors that were trying on a new style of naturalistic acting personified by The Actors Studio in NYC. Montgomery Clift thought he was under-valued as an actor, but was, in fact, extremely accomplished & well regarded. He would receive 4 Oscar nominations, 1 for his 2nd film- The Search. Clift was also an isolated & tortured, closeted gay man who used drugs & alcohol to escape his pain. Although he was gay, he maintained close relationships with several actresses, the closest of which was with Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor & Clift were both passionate & vulnerable people who felt a bond immediately. They worked together on several films, beginning with George Stevens' A Place in the Sun in 1951 (his 2nd Oscar nom), & remained best friends until the end of his life. He was teased & ridiculed by Frank Sinatra for being gay during the making of From Here To Eternity (his 3rd nomination).
On May 12, 1956, after leaving a party at Taylor's, Clift drove his car into a telephone pole (8 months after his friend James Dean died in a similar accident). The crash caused scarring & partial paralysis of his beautiful face. He continued to act, & gave some of his most memorable performances after the accident: Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (an Oscar nomination for a 7 minute role) & John Huston's The Misfits in 1961, but his expressive acting & his personal life were never the same. Clift made 16 films before the crash, & 16 films after.
Clift plunged more deeply into drug & alcohol abuse & wild sexual behavior. He began to be considered unreliable by studio bosses. By the time his lover Lorenzo James found him naked & dead of a heart attack at their home in Greenwich Village, on July 23, 1966, he was virtually unemployable. He was 45 years old.
