at the age of 25, clift moved to hollywood. his first movie role was opposite john wayne in "red river", which was shot in 1946 and released in 1948. his second movie was "the search", which premiered in the same year. clift was unhappy with the quality of the script, and reworked it himself. the movie was awarded a screenwriting academy award for the credited writers. clift's naturalistic performance led to director fred zinnemann's being asked, "where did you find a soldier who can act so well?", and he was nominated for an academy award for best actor. clift signed on for his next movie, "the heiress" (1949), in order to avoid being typecast. clift was unhappy with the script, and unable to get along with most of the cast. he criticised co-star olivia de havilland, saying that she let the director shape her entire performance and telling friends that he wanted to change de havilland's lines because "she isn't giving me enough to respond [to]". the studio marketed clift as a sex symbol prior to the movie's release in 1949. clift had a large female following, and olivia de havilland was flooded with angry fan letters because her character rejects clift's character in the final scene of the movie. clift ended up unhappy with his performance, and left early during the film's premiere. clift also starred in "the big lift" (1950), which was shot on location in germany.