Drama Darker Than Imagined in 1960

The Misfits a Last or Near Last for Many --- Part OneThere’s a story persistent about the night Montgomery Clift died. His assistant rapped upon a closed bedroom door to ask Monty if he’d like to watch The Misfits on television. Accounts goes that Clift replied, “Absolutely no!” these his last words. I took the tale for truth until just now when I checked dates and found that Clift died on July 23, 1966. The Misfits at that time had only played network dates, 1-3-65 and 5-23-65, as of 7-23-66. These were ABC broadcasts, per their ongoing deal with United Artists for theatrical features to be shown in primetime. There was one more run, 3-22-69, before The Misfits went into UA’s “Showcase 6” syndicated package in 12-70. So how much does this matter, if at all? Enough anecdotes get shine rubbed off by niggling detail to make me feel most should be let alone. Monty-balk at The Misfits for his exit line seems good as any, but if his man mentioned a movie for Clift perhaps to watch, it was…