9 Completely Pointless Preparations By Method Actors

8. Montgomery Clift Learned How To Bugle And Box, Was Dubbed And Replaced By A Stuntman On From Here To Eternity

Despite everything you've heard about Brando and James Dean, Montgomery Clift was the silver screen's first true method actor. Before Marlon and Jimmy were making names for themselves in the 1950s, Montgomery Clift was already immersing himself in the cowboy life for 1948's Red River and learning the piano for a scene in 1949's The Heiress. The pinnacle of Clift's method, however, arguably came with Fred Zinnemann's WWII romance From Here To Eternity, for which Clift gave his all. So, to play rebellious soldier, bugler and boxing champ Robert Prewitt, Clift learned to play the bugle, practiced for hours at military drills and had extensive boxing lessons. Unfortunately, a lot of Clift's hard work was for naught, as his bugling was dubbed by someone else in post-production and boxing scenes saw him replaced by a stuntman. Hopefully the Oscar nomination for Best Actor helped to ease the pain.