Clifford Montgomery was born in 1920, the eldest son of an odd-job man, and brought up alongside six brothers and sisters in a two-bedroom flat in East London. At the age of 14 he was spotted by a tall, moustachioed man who declared he wanted to use the already good-looking young Clifford in a "special film". Little is known about this screen debut and Montgomery has been reluctant to discuss it in interviews, but it brought the young actor into contact with the people who would later launch his glittering Hollywood career. The 1940s saw a young Clifford Montgomery establishing himself as a pin-up hero in films such as Glorious Victory (1940), The Good Old Days (1941), A Final Kiss (1943 -- his first lead role and the one which would leave him typecast for many years as a sailor who has to leave his family behind), Narrowboat to China (1944), Submarine from Rio (1945), All Aboard! (1947) and Southern Mutiny (1949).
	The 1950s opened with Montgomery's first movie that did not revolve around the sea: A Woman in Orange (1951). This was Montgomery's least successful release on both sides of the Atlantic, with reviewers expressing doubts over the director's decision to give Montgomery the title role: "Gee!" exclaimed one critic, "I'd heard this new Clifford Montgomery movie wasn't set on a boat, but nobody told me he'd be wearing a dress!" After this cinematic disaster, Montgomery was able to salvage his career, once again playing a series of similar roles. In 1958 however, the actor, not yet 40, was angered at being cast as an ageing father, left behind by his sailor son. The ironically named All Washed Up would be his last big screen appearance.
Having beaten alcoholism in the late sixties, Montgomery made a comeback a few years later, hosting the popular quiz show That's My Boy! After 200 outings, the show was axed and replaced by the even more popular Where's My Hat? presented by stand-up comedian 'Cheeky' Chas Champion. Montgomery never came to terms with losing his fame and by 1982 he was back on the booze and heading for a nervous breakdown, despite being cleared of the attempted murder of 'Cheeky' Chas Champion. Having divorced his third wife last year, Montgomery is now living in Torremolinos with 19-year-old Martine Powell, wayward daughter of sixties singer Dizzy Powell. Preliminary drafts for a chat show entitled Talk to Clifford have been rejected by all major satellite networks.

© 1997 pjl27@hermes.cam.ac.uk

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