Marlon Brando

 

Marlon Brando in Apocalypse nowRod Steiger + Marlon Brando in On the waterfrontMaria Schneider + Marlon Brando in Last tango in Paris

Biography

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando
I'm here in Hollywood because I don't have the moral courage to refuse the money

Movie news:

This week 32 years ago The missouri breaks premiered (May 19, 1976)

Born:

April 3, 1924

Died:

July 1, 2004

Brando grew up in Illinois (USA), and after being expelled from a military academy, he moved to New York to study at Lee Strasberg's Actors' Studio. At the Actors' Studio, Brando adopted the "method approach," which emphasizes characters' motivations for actions.

He made his Broadway debut in 1944 in I remember mama. In 1947, Brando exploded into stardom with his portrayal of Kowalski in A streetcar named Desire. Three years later Brando reprised his role for the film adaptation of Street- car earning the first of four consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Actor: Viva Zapata! (1952), Julius Caesar (1953) and On the Waterfront (1954).

During the 1960s his career had more downs than ups, but in the early seventies Marlon made a remarkable comeback with The Godfather and with Last tango in Paris. Since then Brando worked less frequently, appearing both in classics, e.g. Apocalypse Now (1979) and silly ones, e.g. Superman (1978). With his death there was gossip that his life had been reduced to a life of poverty.

Academy awards:

1990 Nominated Supporting Role for: A dry white season(1989)
1974 Nominated Leading Role for: Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972)
1973 Won Oscar Leading Role for: The Godfather (1972)
1958 Nominated Leading Role for: Sayonara (1957)
1955 Won Oscar Leading Role for: On the waterfront (1954)
1954 Nominated Leading Role for: Julius Caesar (1953)
1953 Nominated Leading Role for: Viva Zapata! (1952)
1952 Nominated Leading Role for: A streetcar named Desire (1951)

Selected Movies:

Books:

Gary Carey -> Marlon Brando: The Only Contender (1985)
Peter Manso -> Brando: The Biography (1994)
Lawrence Grobel -> Conversations with Brando (1991/1999)

 

Marlon Brando in The Godfather

News

This week 32 years ago The missouri breaks premiered (May 19, 1976)

Trivia

Marlon’s mother Dorothy gave actor Henry Fonda his first job at the stage of the Omaha Community Playhouse in 1923. Source / More (Book)

The immortal line “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse” came second in a poll by the American Film Institute to find the most memorable movie quote ever. AFI asked about 1,500 creative industry professionals for their favorite quote. Source / More (Web)

Marlon refused to memorize his lines and used cue cards.

Director Bernardo Bertolucci (Last tango in Paris) about Brando: “An angel as a man and a monster as an actor” Source / More (Book)

Marlon has a star on Hollywood Boulevard (Vine street).
It’s located one north of Hollywood Boulevard.

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Marlon Brando’s annotated script from The Godfather along with handwritten notes on how he created the Mafia boss Don Corleone, are among hundreds of his personal items that have been sold June 30 2005 in New York (USA) at auction house Christie’s. The Godfather script brought more than $312,000 (20 times its estimated auction price of $10,000 to $15,000). The auction of Brando memorabilia made more than $2.3m in total. Source / More (Web)

While filming Viva Zapata! (1952) director Kazan told Brando that Anthony Quinn was bragging to everybody about how much better he had been in A streetcar named Desire (1951). Kazan told Quinn the same about Brando. He wanted for the picture a killing rage between the actors. This worked, but the two actors didn’t speak for fifteen years. Only when Quinn described in a TV show what happened, Brando understood what happened and phoned Quinn to explain the situation. Source / More (Book)

Marlon on his role of Terry Malloy in On the waterfront: “What I didn’t realize then was that On the waterfront was really a metaphorical argument by Gadg [Director Elia Kazan] and Budd Schulberg: they made the film to justify finking on their friends”. Source / More (Book)

Marlon was married three times:
Anna Kashfi (1957 - 1959)
Movita Castenada (1960 - 1968)
Tarita Teriipia (1962 - ?).

Writer Truman Capote: “It was if a stranger’s head had been attached to the brawny body” Source / More (Book)

“I’ve never had any respect for Hollywood. It stands for greed, avarice, phoniness, crassness. But when you act in a movie, you act for three months and then you can do what you want for the rest of the year” Source / More (Book)

Bibliography