That Much Closer to Eternity

So as I'm reading From Here to Eternity, one of the few remaining actors therein, Ernest Borgnine, decided to die. I'm not happy about this. I haven't even gotten to the part of the book that contains his character, Sgt. "Fatso" Judson. I don't even know if he's a good guy, a bad guy, or a chopped salad of mixed good and evil bits (which is what most James Jones characters actually seem to be). Now when I finish the book and reward myself by watching the movie, I'll have to watch it thinking, "Oh, Ernest Borgnine's poor family and friends - they must miss him terribly." Stupid reality! Stop intruding on my enjoyment of fictional characters.

The principle actors - Montgomery Clift as Prew, Donna Reed as Lorene, Deborah Kerr as Karen Holmes and Burt Lancaster as Milt Warden - are all dead. Long dead, in the case of Montgomery Clift. He had multiple addiction issues and died young, in his 40s.

But look at him: he's so beautiful.

Source: llovizna.tumblr.com via Erin on Pinterest

There's something else about this cool Nebraska guy - according to Patricia Bosworth, who wrote a biography of Clift, he was one of my people, the bisexuals. Maybe not the best example of a happy, well-adjusted bi, but still - I shall now picture him ascended to bisexual heaven, where he shall sit at the right hand of James Dean, amen.

Source: oldhollywood.tumblr.com via Kacey on Pinterest

The quote that accompanied this photo, when I found it on Pinterest, was, "I don't want to be labeled as either a pansy or a heterosexual. Labeling is so self-limiting. We are what we do, not what we say we are."

...and with that quote (which may or may not be accurate - don't trust the Internet), I am completely in love with him.

Well, I'd better go to bed now. Montgomery Clift, please get in my dreams.