CAUSE: Belle Chrystall died aged 93 of natural causes.
René Clair
(RENé -LUCIEN CHOMETTE)
Born November 11, 1898
Died March 15, 1981
Leading French cinéaste. Born in Paris, the son of a soap seller, Clair grew up to be one of France’s leading film directors. He wrote and directed his own plays from the age of seven. Like many students, he could produce the work in class but not when it came to examinations and he left school having failed. In World War I he drove ambulances until a spinal injury forced him home. He spent time in a Dominican monastery in 1918. He began acting in films such as Le Lys De La Vie (1920), Parisette (1921), L’Orpheline (1921) and Le Sens De La Mort (1922) before deciding acting wasn’t for him and moving behind the camera. Among his films were: Entr’acte (1924), Le Fantôme Du Moulin-Rouge (1925), Un Chapeau De Paille D’Italie (1927), one of the best-known satires on French middle-class life, Les Deux Timides (1928), Le Million (1931), The Ghost Goes West (1935), Quatorze Juillet (1933), I Married A Witch (1942), Les Belles De Nuit (1952) and Tout L’Or Du Monde (1961). When France was occupied by Germany Clair fled to America. His brother, Henri Chomette (1896–1941), was also a director.
CAUSE: He died in Paris aged 82 of natural causes.
Nicholas Clay
Born September 18, 1946
Died May 25, 2000
Unfulfilled heartthrob. Born in London, Nicholas Anthony Phillip Clay trained at RADA and made his film début in The Night Digger (1971) as Billy. It seemed at the beginning of the Eighties that he was destined to become a cinematic heartthrob with his sexy roles in Excalibur and Lady Chatterley’s Lover opposite, respectively, a topless Cherie Lunghi and a naked Sylvia Kristel. But for some reason he did not seem to be able to maintain the momentum and the rest of his career was something of a disappointment. His films included The Darwin Adventure (1972) as Charles Darwin, Victor Frankenstein (1977) as Henry Clerval, Lovespell (1979) as Tristan, Zulu Dawn (1979) as Lieutenant Raw, Excalibur (1981) as Lancelot, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1981) as Oliver Mellors, Evil Under The Sun (1982) as Patrick Redfern, Lionheart (1987) as Charles De Montfort, Cannon Movie Tales: Sleeping Beauty (1987) as Prince and And Beyond (2000) as Jackie. In 1980 he married Lorna Heilbron by whom he had two daughters, Ella and Madge.
CAUSE: He died in London aged 53 of cancer.
Jack Clayton
Born March 1, 1921
Died February 26, 1995
Kitchen sink director. Jack Isaac Clayton was born at 95 King’s Road, Brighton, the illegitimate son of Beatrice Clayton. He had a sister Jill (1917–1993). After one term at the Arnold House School in London he entered the film industry in 1935 as a runner for Alexander Korda, although Clayton described it in less romantic terms: “[I was the] one who runs messages for everybody, calls the actors and acts as general dogsbody.” An industrious worker, he rose to become production manager on Korda’s An Ideal Husband (1947) via such films as Wings Of The Morning (1937) and Q Planes (1939). During the Second World War, he served with the RAF film unit. In the early Fifties Cole became associate producer at Romulus Films. His work included Moulin Rouge (1952), Beat The Devil (1953), I Am A Camera (1955), Sailor Beware (1956), Dry Rot (1956), Three Men In A Boat (1956), and the melodrama The Story Of Esther Costello (1957), which starred Joan Crawford. In 1956 he directed Wolf Mankowitz’s updated version of Gogol’s The Bespoke Overcoat and won a prize at Venice and an Oscar for the best short subject. This led to him directing Room At The Top, John Braine’s 1957 best-seller, although he was loath to hire Laurence Harvey as Joe Lampton. He relented and cast Simone Signoret as Alice Aisgill opposite Harvey. The film, when it was released in 1959, was the first to receive an X certificate and was the first of the genre labelled “kitchen-sink dramas,” a tag that Clayton disliked. Signoret won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance, and Clayton was nominated as Best Director, but lost out to William Wyler for Ben Hur. His next film was The Innocents (1961), adapted from Henry James’ novella The Turn Of The Screw. It starred Deborah Kerr. This was followed by The Pumpkin Eater (1964), based on Penelope Mortimer’s book about motherhood, adapted by Harold Pinter, which starred Anne Bancroft and featured Maggie Smith in a small role as the local gossip. His other films included Our Mother’s House (1967) and The Great Gatsby (1974) but neither set the box office alight. Then Clayton suffered a stroke and it was almost ten years before he was ready to work again. Disney hired him to direct Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983). It was not a success but has since become something of a cult movie. His penultimate film was based on Brian Moore’s book The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne (1987) and Maggie Smith played the title role. Smith also appeared in his last film, Muriel Spark’s Memento Mori (1992). Michael Winner said of him, “Jack was a very close friend of mine. He was outside the normal director both as a talent and as a human being. He was an exception. Jack was the most gentle, quiet, wonderful man. He was a meticulous craftsman with enormous heart and sensitivity.” On December 13, 1947, he married Mary Lydia Cole, the actor Christine Norden (1924–1988). They divorced in 1953 and the following year he married Katherine Kath, another actor. At an Oscar party after the April 4, 1960 ceremony he met and fell in love with the Israeli actress Haya Harareet (b. Haifa, September 20, 1931 as Haya Neuberg) who had played Esther in Ben Hur. They married on August 29, 1984, after Clayton’s divorce from Katherine Kath.
CAUSE: Jack Clayton died in Wrexham Park Hospital, Slough, Berkshire, from heart and liver problems. He was 73.
Montgomery Clift
Born October 17, 1920
Died July 23, 1966
Flawed idol. Born at 2101 South 33rd Street, Omaha, Nebraska (his death certificate lists his year of birth as 1921), a twin, Edward Montgomery Clift, the son of a banker, had been a brilliant child actor, amazing Broadway critics when he was 15 in Fly Away Home at the 48th Street Theater. Moving to Hollywood he was nominated for an Oscar for his first film The Search (1948) and became a much sought after star, appearing in such films as Red River (1948), A Place In The Sun (1951) (which caused writer Raymond Chandler to comment “Mr Montgomery Clift gives the performance of his career which is not saying a great deal since he had already demonstrated in The Heiress that he didn’t belong on the same screen with first-class actors”), I Confess (1953), From Here To Eternity (1953) as Robert E. Lee Prewitt, Raintree County (1957) as John Shawnessy, Suddenly Last Summer (1959) as Dr Cukrowitz, The Misfits (1961) as Perce Howland, Judgment At Nuremberg (1961) as Rudolph Peterson and the title role in Freud (1962). There was a black side to Clift. He hated his homosexuality and resorted to narcotics to attempt to block it out. His friend Marilyn Monroe described him as “The only person I know who is in worse shape than me.” Black moods ran in the family. On October 1, 1962, his pregnant 21-year-old niece, Suzanne, murdered her 27-year-old boyfriend, Pierro Brentani, because he refused to marry her. She was sent to a mental hospital. Six years earlier, on May 12, 1956, Clift was leaving a dinner party at Elizabeth Taylor’s Coldwater Canyon home when he was involved in a car crash. His stunning good looks were ruined and his friends believed he was never the same afterwards.
CAUSE: On July 22, 1966, Clift spent the day in seclusion in his bedroom at 217 East 61st Street, a four-storey building in Manhattan with seven rooms, six fireplaces, six baths and a huge garden. He lived with Lorenzo James, his black personal secretary. The two men passed the day without talking to each other. Said James: “This wasn’t unusual. There were often days when he wanted to be all alone with his head.” For a late lunch Clift ate a goose liver sandwich in the afternoon. At 1am the following morning James bade his boss goodnight and mentioned The Misfits was on television that night and did he want to watch it. Clift’s answer was emphatic: “Absolutely not!” At 6am James went to wake Clift but received no answer and noted that the bedroom door was locked, which was unusual. Unable to break it down he went into the garden and put a ladder to the bedroom window. When he re
ached it, he saw Clift lying prone on his bed. He called Clift’s doctor and lawyer. However, because Clift’s personal physician was away a locum came in his stead and pronounced the actor dead at 45. He found Clift “lying face up in bed, glasses on, no clothes on. Right arm flexed. Both fists clenched. No evidence of trauma. Rigor present. Underclothes and pants scattered about on floor of bedroom. Liquor cabinet in bedroom. No empty bottles lying about. No notes, weapons, etc …” Death was due to “Occlusive coronary arteriosclerosis with pulmonary edema”. Clift had also been suffering from a calcium deficiency for four years. One hundred and fifty people attended his funeral at St James Episcopal Church and then he was interred at Friends Cemetery, Prospect Park, Brooklyn. His gravestone was designed by John Benson, who also designed President John F. Kennedy’s memorial at Arlington, Virginia. Shortly afterwards, Clift’s mother sold his New York home to a couple with three children. The sale had one stipulation – they must agree to a plaque being placed in the front stating “Montgomery Clift lived here in 1960–1966”. They agreed but for some time were pestered by fans, sightseers and weirdos who would ring the bell at all hours of the day and night. The problem was solved by planting a bush in front of the memorial. It stands there to this day but is completely covered. No one calls now.
FURTHER READING: Monty: A Biography Of Montgomery Clift– Robert LaGuardia (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1977); Montgomery Clift: A Biography– Patricia Bosworth (New York: Bantam, 1978).
Jimmy Clitheroe
Born December 24, 1921
Died June 6, 1973
‘The Clitheroe Kid’. James Robinson Clitheroe was born at 58 Wilkin Street, Clitheroe, Lancashire, the son of James Robert Clitheroe, a cotton weaver, and Emma Pye (d. 1973). He was raised and educated in the nearby village of Blacko, near Nelson. He joined a juvenile touring troupe called the Winstanley Babes, where, among other talents, he became a female impersonator. In 1933 he was stricken with a glandular problem and his growth was stunted. He never reached puberty and was forever stuck as a “boy”. He stood just 4́ 2˝ and weighed only five stone. He refused to discuss his stature with anyone. He made his film début in Old Mother Riley In Society (1940) playing Boots. He followed that with a performance as Jimmy in Much Too Shy (1942) and Joey in Rhythm Serenade (1943). In 1945 he teamed up with Albert Burdon, and they appeared together in revue and pantomime. He appeared as Sonny in Somewhere In Politics (1949) and Jimmy in School For Randle (1949). From May 5, 1958 until August 18, 1972, he starred as The Clitheroe Kid, the longest-running radio comedy programme in history and one that attracted 10 million listeners at its peak. In 1959 Clitheroe took part in the Royal Command Variety Show and he starred in the television series Holiday Hotel. His catchphrase – “Some mothers do ’ave ’em” – caught the public’s imagination. His last film was Rocket To The Moon (1967) in which he played Tom Thumb. Clitheroe was not a homosexual or asexual but believed that his medical condition made marriage an unlikely prospect. He spent much of his private life living reclusively with his mother behind the high walls of his home in Bispham Road, Blackpool.
CAUSE: Jimmy Clitheroe was never the most vigorous of men and his health began to fail in the early Seventies. In April 1973 he was found unconscious in the bedroom of a Plymouth hotel, but recovered in Freedom Fields Hospital, Plymouth. Two months later, on June 6, 1973, the day of his mother’s cremation, Clitheroe was found unconscious in bed by relatives arriving for the funeral. He died the same day in Victoria Hospital, Blackpool. He was 51. The inquest was told that he had swallowed at least four barbiturate sleeping pills and seven brandies. A verdict of “accidental death due to the combined toxic effects of barbiturates and alcohol” was recorded. His £102,306 fortune, intended for his mother, went, after a number of small bequests, to the Cancer Research Campaign.
Colin Clive
(COLIN GLENN CLIVE-GREIG)
Born January 20, 1898
Died June 25, 1937
The mad scientist. Born in Saint-Malo, France, the son of a British colonel, the (6)߰bisexual Clive intended to have a military career until his hopes were wrecked by a knee injury. He turned to the stage and first came to attention as Captain Denis Stanhope in James Whale’s production of Journey’s End at London’s Savoy Theatre on January 21, 1929. The play had opened the previous month starring Laurence Olivier as Stanhope but he was unavailable for the West End run. Whale and author R.C. Sheriff searched through The Spotlight but were unable to find someone suitable. The 5́ 4˝ lesbian actor and playwright Jeanne de Casalis (b. Basutoland, South Africa, May 22, 1897, as De Casalis de Pury, d. London, August 19, 1966) recommended her boyfriend Colin Clive (whom she would marry in June 1929). Whale and Sheriff were unsure but agreed to meet Clive. When he read for them they knew that they had their man. However, Clive was nervous and hesitant and during rehearsals offered to resign but Whale refused to let him. At one run-through Sheriff suggested that Clive have a tot of whisky to calm his nerves. Several shots later, Clive’s rendition was perfect. Some authorities have suggested that this is where Clive’s alcoholism had its roots. Others have suggested it was his inability to come to terms with his bisexuality. David Manners, who appeared in Journey’s End with Clive, said, “There seemed to be a split in his personality: one side that was soft and gentle; the other, a man who took to alcohol to hide from the world his true nature … Today he would find help. Everyone of us wanted to help then, but when he was on the bottle, which was most of the time, he put on the mask of a person who repelled help and jeered at his own softness. He was a fantastically sensitive actor – and, as with many great actors, this sensitivity bred addiction to drugs or alcohol in order to cope with the very insensitive world around them.” On the day the play opened Clive was knocked down by a bus in the Strand but did not let this minor mishap stop the show going on. When the chance came to make the film version for Whale only one man could play Captain Denis Stanhope but Clive’s first screen test was described as “an inarticulate mumble”. Nevertheless, Clive was cast and Journey’s End was shot between November and December 29, 1929, being premièred in Glendale, California on March 13, 1930. Clive’s next film was The Stronger Sex (1931) in which he appeared as Warren Barrington. Then came the role that made his career and set the standard thereafter for portrayals of mad scientists – Dr Henry Frankenstein in James Whale’s Frankenstein (released December 1931). Although Carl Laemmle wanted Leslie Howard for the part, Whale was insistent that Colin Clive was the perfect choice. Boris Karloff’s casting was suggested by Whale’s boyfriend, David Lewis. Years before method acting, the fight scene was so realistic that Clive dislocated his arm. His co-star Mae Clarke said of Clive, “Colin Clive was the dearest, kindest man who gave you importance. He was wonderful, so clever. When he started acting in a scene, I wanted to stop and just watch … Colin was electric. I was mesmerised by him … When he looked at me, I’d flush … He was the handsomest man I ever saw – and also the saddest. Colin’s sadness was elusive; the sadness you’d see if you contemplate many of the master painters and sculptors of the face of Christ.” Clive’s next role was as Rupert Harvey in Lily Christine (1932). Then he starred as Sir Christopher Strong opposite Katharine Hepburn in her first starring role in Christopher Strong (1933), followed by Looking Forward (1933) as Geoffrey Fielding and The Key (1934) as Captain Andrew Kerr before being reunited with James Whale for One More River (1934) as Sir Gerald Corven. Whale asked Clive to stay in Hollywood to appear in another of his films. During the interim Clive busied himself by appearing in Jane Eyre (1934) as Edward Rochester, Clive Of India (1935) as Captain Johnstone and The Right To Live (1935) as Maurice Trent, a remake of Somerset Maugham’s The Sacred Flame (1929). The new Whale film was Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) and Clive reprised his part as Dr Henry Frankenstein. Clive made just six more films: The Girl From 10th Avenue (1935) as John Marland, Mad Love (1935) as Stephen Orlac, The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo (1935) as Bertrand Berkeley, The Widow From Monte Carlo (1935) as Lord Eric R
eynolds, and History Is Made At Night (1937) as Bruce Vail, during the filming of which he broke down and wept hysterically on the sound stage, his appearance wrecked by his alcoholism. His last film was The Woman I Love (1937) in which he played Captain Thelius.
CAUSE: Colin Clive died at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, Los Angeles, of pulmonary tuberculosis caused by alcoholism.
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 50
