Bizarrely unique voice with an extreme nasal tonality spoken in mumbles.
Frequently played young, somewhat misunderstood rebels in his youth (A
Streetcar Named Desire, The Wild One, On the Waterfront) and later
powerful criminals (The Godfather, The Formula, The Freshman, The
Score).
The pioneering use of Method Acting
Often improvised his own dialogue.
Trivia
Ranked #13 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list (Oct. 1997).
He balked at the prospect of Burt Reynolds in the role of Santino Corleone in The Godfather (1972).
Eldest son Gary Brown was arrested for murdering his half-sister's
boyfriend Dag Drollet in 1990. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison
in March 1991 and released in January 1996.
Worked as a department store elevator operator before he became famous.
He quit after four days due to his embarrassment in having to call out
the lingerie floor.
Was roommates with Wally Cox during his theatrical training in New York
City. The two remained lifelong friends, and Brando took Cox's sudden
death from a heart attack at the age of 48 extremely hard.
Chosen by Empire magazine in 1995 as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars" in film history (#14).
Two years before Brando declined his Oscar for Best Actor in The
Godfather (1972), he'd applied to the Academy to replace the one he'd
won for On the Waterfront (1954), which had been stolen. Prior to its
theft, Brando had been using the Oscar as a doorstop.
Youngest of three children.
Owned a private island off the Pacific coast, the Polynesian atoll known as Tetiaroa, from 1966 until his death in 2004.
In 1995, as a guest on "Larry King Live" (1985), kissed Larry King on the mouth.
Native of Omaha, Nebraska. His mother once gave stage lessons to Henry Fonda, another Nebraska native.
Lived on infamous "Bad Boy Drive" (Muholland Drive in Beverly Hills,
California), which received its nickname because its residents were
famous "bad boy" actors Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty and Brando.
Son of Marlon Brando Sr.
His son Miko C. Brando was once a bodyguard for Michael Jackson. Jackson and Brando remained good friends thereafter.
Born to alcoholic parents, Brando was left alone much of the time as a child.
While filming The Score (2001), he refused to be on the set at the same
time as director Frank Oz, referring to the former "Muppets" director
as "Miss Piggy.".
Brother of actress Jocelyn Brando, who appeared with him in The Ugly American (1963) and The Chase (1966).
Daughter Cheyenne committed suicide in 1995, aged 25.
In April 2002, a woman filed a $100-million palimony lawsuit in
California against Brando, claiming he fathered her three children
during a 14-year romantic relationship. Maria Cristina Ruiz, 43, filed
the breach-of-contract suit, demanding damages and living expenses. The
lawsuit was settled in April 2003.
Ranked #12 in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 100 Entertainers" of all time (2000).
Received more money for his short appearance as Jor-El in Superman
(1978) than Christopher Reeve did in the title role. Brando later sued
for a percentage of the film's profits.
Used cue cards in many of his movies because he refused to memorize his
lines. His lines were written on the diaper of baby Kal-El in _Superman
(1978)_.
One of the innovators of the Method acting technique in American film.
Was mentioned in La dolce vita (1960) in a discussion about salary paid to film stars.
Adopted child: Petra Barrett Brando, whose biological father is author James Clavell.
Said that the only reason he continued to make movies was in order to
raise the money to produce what he said would be the "definitive" film
about Native Americans. The film was never made.
Expelled from high school for riding a motorcycle through the halls.
His signature was considered so valuable to collectors, that many
personal checks he wrote were never cashed because his signature was
usually worth more than the amount on the check.
Studied at the Dramatic Workshop at the New School for Social Research in New York City.
Dated Broadway actress Elaine Stritch.
Mentioned in Neil Young's song "Pocahontas," in David Bowie's song
"China Girl," in Bruce Springsteen's song "It's Hard To Be A Saint In
The City", and The Cult's song "American Horse".
Appeared on the front sleeve of The Beatles' classic album "Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" as Johnny in The Wild One (1953).
Brando's first wife was Anna Kashfi, who bore him a son whom they named
Christian. His second wife was Movita Castenada, who played the
Tahitian love interest of Lt. Byam in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). His
third wife was Tarita Teriipia, who played the Tahitian love interest
of Lt. Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962).
His mother was of Irish-English descent; his father of Dutch-German
descent whose ancestral name was spelled either "Brandau" or
"Brandeis". Brando himself was somewhat confused about his own
heritage, attributing the name "Brando" to a French paternal ancestor
with the spelling "Brandeau". His French ancestry was on his father's
side through his 2nd great-grandmother, who was a 5th generation
descendant of Louis DuBois, a French Huguenot refugee who, with 11
others, founded the town of New Paltz, New York.
Helped out a lot of minorities in America, including African Americans,
Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native American Indians.
He reputedly suggested that his cameo role as Jor-El in Superman (1978)
be done by him in voiceover only, with the character's image onscreen
being a glowing, levitating green bagel. Unsure if Brando was joking or
not, the film's producers formally rejected the suggestion.
Russell Crowe wrote and sang a song about him called "I Wanna Be Marlon Brando."
He was offered a chance to reprise his role as Vito Corleone in The
Godfather: Part II (1974) and Jor El in Superman II (1980), but he
turned them both down due to his own credo that once he finished a
role, he put it away and moved on. He turned down both films despite
being offered three times more money than any of his co-stars.
Mentioned in Madonna's song "Vogue."
Film critic Roger Ebert praised Brando as "the Greatest Actor in the World."
Empire Magazine profiled him as part of their "Greatest Living Actors"
series. The issue containing this feature was published a week before
he died.
He was voted the 7th "Greatest Movie Star" of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Biographer Peter Manso said that at the time of production of flops
such as The Appaloosa (1966), Brando had turned down the leading role
of a Hamlet production in England, with Laurence Olivier.
Mentioned in Slipknot's song "Eyeless."
During an acting class, when the students were told to act out "a
chicken hearing an air-raid siren," most of the students clucked and
flapped their arms in a panic, while Brando stood stock-still, staring
up at the ceiling. When asked to explain himself, Brando replied, "I'm
a chicken - I don't know what an air-raid siren is."
Received top billing in nearly every film he appeared in, even if not cast in the lead role.
Was born on the same day as Doris Day.
Was offered $2 million for four days work to appear as a priest in
Scary Movie 2 (2001) but had to withdraw when he was hospitalized with
pneumonia in April 2001. Consequently the role was played by James
Woods.
In his book "The Way It's Never Been Done Before: My Friendship with
Marlon Brando," George Englund relates how Brando told him a couple of
years before his death that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts &
Sciences offered him a Lifetime Achievement Oscar on the condition that
he attend the ceremony to personally accept the award. Brando refused,
believing that the offer shouldn't be conditional, and that the
condition that he appear on the televised ceremony showed that the
Academy was not primarily focused on honoring artistic excellence.
He was reportedly interested in making a film of Rolf Hochhuth's
controversial play "The Deputy," an indictment of the alleged silence
of Pope Pius XII (God's "Deputy" on Earth) over the Nazi persecution of
the Jews during World War II. The film was never made.
He attended a staging of Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical "Long Day's
Journey Into Night" with an eye towards starring in a proposed film of
the play. The play deals with the drug addiction of Mary Tyrone,
modeled after O'Neil's own mother, which, along with her husband's
miserliness and her oldest son's alcoholism, has blighted her youngest
son's life. When asked his opinion of the play, Brando, whose mother
was an alcoholic and had died relatively young in 1954, replied,
"Lousy." Jason Robards, who originated the role of older son James
Tyrone, Jr. in the original Broadway production in 1956, subsequently
appeared in Sidney Lumet's 1962 movie.
He was reportedly once interested in playing Pablo Picasso on film and
was trying to reduce weight on a banana diet. The film was never made.
In his autobiography, he said that he was physically attracted to
Vivien Leigh during the making of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). He
could not bring himself to seduce her, however, as he found her
husband, Laurence Olivier, to be such a "nice guy."
According to friend George Englund in his book "The Way It's Never Been
Done Before: My Friendship with Marlon Brando," he testified at the
manslaughter trial of his son Gary Brown that his mother and father and
one of his two sisters had been alcoholics.
Paramount studio brass wanted him to appear as Jay Gatsby in The Great
Gatsby (1974), but he wanted $4 million, an unheard-of salary at the
time.
Director Francis Ford Coppola wanted Brando to appear as Preston Tucker
Jr. in his biopic of the maverick automotive executive he planned to
make after he completed The Godfather: Part II (1974). Brando was not
interested but did appear in Apocalypse Now (1979), the film Coppola
actually did make after finishing The Godfather (1972) sequel. When
Coppola finally got around to making the film Tucker: The Man and His
Dream (1988), he cast Jeff Bridges in the role.
According to co-producer Fred Roos, Brando was scheduled to make a
cameo appearance in The Godfather: Part II (1974), specifically in the
flashback at the end of the film in which Vito Corleone comes back to
his home and is greeted with a surprise birthday party. In fact, he was
expected the day of shooting but did not show up due to a salary
dispute. According to Francis Ford Coppola, he hadn't been paid for The
Godfather (1972) and thus would not appear in the sequel.
Was a fan of Afro-Caribbean music, and changed from being a strict
drummer to the congas after becoming enthralled by the music in New
York City in the 1940s.
Took possession of friend Wally Cox's ashes from his widow in order to
scatter them at sea but actually kept them hidden in a closet at his
house. In his autobiography, Brando said he frequently talked to Cox.
The Los Angeles Times on September 22, 2004 quoted Brando's son, Miko,
to the effect that both his father's and Cox's ashes were scattered at
the same time in Death Valley, California in a ceremony following
Brando's death.
Asked The Godfather (1972) co-star James Caan what he would want if his
wishes came true. When Caan answered that he'd like to be in love,
Brando answered, "Me too. But don't tell my wife."
Was scheduled to appear in the David Lean-directed "Nostromo" in 1991,
but when Lean died, the production came to a halt. Thus, the world
missed the last of three chances to see one of the world's greatest
actors work with one of the world's greatest directors. Producer Sam
Spiegel, who had won an Oscar for On the Waterfront (1954), offered
Brando the title role in Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), but he
turned it down, saying he didn't want to ride camels in the desert for
two years. Brando was Lean's first choice for the male lead in Ryan's
Daughter (1970/I), but Brando, who at that time was considered box
office poison by movie studios, never was offered the role.
Brando tried to join the Army during World War II but was rejected due
to a knee injury he had sustained while playing football at Shattuck
Military Academy. After he made The Men (1950), the Korean War broke
out, and he was ordered by the draft board to report for a physical
prior to induction. As his knee was better due to an operation, he
initially was reclassified from 4-F to 1-A, but the military again
rejected him, this time for mental problems, as he was under
psychoanalysis.
The story about his mother his character Paul tells Jeanne in Ultimo
tango a Parigi (1972), about how she taught him to appreciate nature,
which he illustrates with his reminiscence of his dog Dutchy hunting
rabbits in a mustard field, is real, based on his own recollections of
his past.
His best friend was Wally Cox, whom he had known as a child and then
met again when both were aspiring actors in New York during the 1940s.
According to Brando's autobiography, there wasn't a day that went by
when he didn't think of Wally. So close did he feel to Cox, he even
kept the pajamas he died in.
Studied modern dance with Katherine Dunham in New York in the early 1940s and briefly considered becoming a dancer.
Considered Montgomery Clift a friend and a "very good actor." They were
not rivals, as the public perceived them to be during the 1950s. After
Clift died of a heart attack in 1966, Brando took over his role in
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967).
Just after the end of World War II, met the then-unknown James Baldwin
and Norman Mailer at a cafeteria in New York. He became friends with
Baldwin, a friendship that lasted until Baldwin's death.
Shortly before his death in 2004, he gave EA Games permission to use his voice for its video game The Godfather (2006) (VG).
After a decade of being considered "box-office poison" after the large
losses generated by the big-budget remake of Mutiny on the Bounty
(1962), the twin successes of The Godfather (1972) and _Ultimo tango a
Parigi (1972)_ made Brando a superstar again. He was named the #6 and
#10 top money-making star in 1972 and 1973, respectively, by the Motion
Picture Herald. The top 10 box-office list was based on an annual poll
of movie exhibitors in the US as to the drawing power of stars,
conducted by Quigley Publications. Brando used his unique combination
of box-office power and his reputation as the greatest actor in the
world to command huge salaries throughout the decade, culminating in
the record $3.7 million for 12 days work paid him for Superman (1978)
by Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind. Factored for inflation, his
adjusted salary of $11.25 million in 2002 terms equals almost $1
million a day, a record that stood until Harrison Ford breached it for
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002).
Even before he let himself get obese and balloon up to over 350 lb.,
his eating habits were legendary. The Men (1950) co-star Richard Erdman
claimed Brando's diet circa 1950 consisted "mainly of junk food,
usually take-out Chinese or peanut butter, which he consumed by the
jarful." By the mid-'50s he was renowned for eating boxes of Mallomars
and cinnamon buns, washing them down with a quart of milk. Close friend
Carlo Fiore wrote that in the '50s and early '60s Brando went on crash
diets before his films commenced shooting, but when he lost his
willpower he would eat huge breakfasts consisting of corn flakes,
sausages, eggs, bananas and cream, and a huge stack of pancakes
drenched in syrup. Fiore was detailed by producers to drag him out of
coffee shops. Karl Malden claimed that, during the shooting of One-Eyed
Jacks (1961), Brando would have "two steaks, potatoes, two apple pies a
la mode and a quart of milk" for dinner, necessitating constant
altering of his costumes. During a birthday party for Brando--the
film's director as well as star--the crew gave him a belt with a card
reading, "Hope it fits." A sign was placed below the birthday cake
saying, "Don't feed the director." He reportedly ate at least four
pieces of cake that day. His second wife Movita, who had a lock put on
their refrigerator to stop pilfering by what she thought was the
household staff, awoke one morning to find the lock broken and teeth
marks on a round of cheese. The maid told her that Brando nightly
raided the fridge. Movita also related how he often drove down to hot
dog stands late at night (one of his favorite spots was the legendary
Pink's Hot Dogs in Hollywood; it was open 24 hours a day, and Brando
would go there at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and polish off a
half-dozen hot dogs at a time). Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) costumer
James Taylor claimed that Brando split the seat on 52 pairs of pants
during the shooting of the film, necessitating that stretch fabric be
sewn into his replacement duds. He split those, too. Ice cream was the
culprit: Brando would purloin a five-gallon tub of the fattening
dessert, row himself out into the lagoon and indulge. On the set of The
Appaloosa (1966), Brando's double often had to be used for shooting
after lunch, and filming could only proceed in long shots, as Brando
could no longer fit into his costumes. Dick Loving, who was married to
Brando's sister Frannie, said that Brando used to eat "two chickens at
a sitting, and [go] through bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies." It was
reported during the filming of The Missouri Breaks (1976) that the
environmentally sensitive Brando fished a frog out of a pond, took a
huge bite out of the hapless amphibian, and threw it back into the
drink. Living on his island of Tetioroa, Brando created what he called
"real-life Mounds Bars" by cracking open a coconut, melting some
chocolate in the sun, then stirring it into the coconut for a tasty
treat. By the 1980s there were reports that one of his girlfriends had
left him because he failed to keep his promise of losing weight. He
seemed to be dieting, but to her astonishment, he never lost weight.
She found out that his buddies had been throwing bags of Burger King
Whoppers over the gates of his Mulholland Dr. estate late at night to
relieve the hunger pangs of their famished friend. In the late '80s
Brando was spotted regularly buying ice cream from a Beverly Hills ice
cream shop--five gallons at a time. He supposedly confessed that he was
eating it all himself. Finally, a reported Brando snack was a pound of
cooked bacon shoved into an entire loaf of bread. When Brando became
ill, he seriously cut back and lost 70 pounds on a bland diet, but
never lost his love of food and especially ice cream.
Won his seventh, and last, Best Actor Oscar nomination in 1974, for
Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972), after he had generated much ill-will in
Hollywood by refusing his Oscar for The Godfather (1972). Academy
President Walter Mirisch said of the nomination, "I think it speaks
well for the Academy. It proves that voting members are interested only
in performances, not in sidelights." Interestingly, the only other
actor to refuse an Academy Award, George C. Scott, also was nominated
as Best Actor the year following his snubbing of the Academy. So far,
Brando, Scott and screenwriter Dudley Nichols, who refused to accept
his 1935 Oscar for the movie The Informer (1935) due to a Writers Guild
strike, are the only people out of more than 2,000 winners to turn down
the Award.
In his September 1972 Playboy Magazine interview, director Sam
Peckinpah said that a problem with One-Eyed Jacks (1961) is that Brando
would not play a villain. Peckinpah had worked on rewriting the script,
which was based on the novel "The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones," a
re-telling of the Billy the Kid legend. Billy the Kid, according to
Peckinpah, was a genuine villain, whereas Brando's character "Rio" was
not, thus lessening the dramatic impact of the story. He praised Brando
for his acting comeback as Don Corleone in The Godfather (1972), both
as the return of a great actor and as an example of Brando's newfound
willingness to shuck off his old predilection and actually play a
villain.
At the 77th Academy Awards ceremony, he was the last person featured in
the film honoring film industry personalities who had passed away the
previous year.
At the 27th Academy Awards, held March 30, 1955, at the RKO Pantages
Theatre in Hollywood, Brando chewed gum throughout the ceremony,
according to columnist Sidney Skolsky. When Bette Davis came out to
present the Best Actor Oscar, Brando stopped chewing. When she
announced him as the winner, Brando took the gum out of his mouth and
shook hands with fellow nominee Bing Crosby, who had been reckoned the
favorite that night, before going on stage to accept the statuette.
Bette Davis, who had presented Brando with his first Best Actor Oscar
at the 27th Academy Awards in 1955, told the press that she was
thrilled he had won. She elaborated, "He and I had much in common. He,
too, had made many enemies. He, too, is a perfectionist.".
When participating in the March on Washington, brandished a cattle prod
to show the world the brutality blacks faced in the South.
Attended the memorial service for slain Black Panther 'Bobby Hutton' (I).
Tithed a tenth of his income to various black civil-rights organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
He and director Tony Kaye paid 350,000 pounds sterling for footage of
what allegedly is the "Angel of Mons," according to The Sunday Times
(March 11, 2001). The Angel of Mons was an apparition that legend holds
appeared in the skies during the British Expeditionary Force's first
encounter with the Imperial German army during WWI, which enabled a
successful retreat by the BEF. The film allegedly was found in August
1999 in a junk-shop, which had a trunk belonging to a man called
William Doidge, a WWI veteran. Doidge had been at Mons in August 1914
and knew about or possibly saw the apparition in the sky as the British
army retreated before the overwhelming German advance. After the war he
became obsessed by these apparitions. An American war veteran told him
in 1952 that angels had appeared before some American troops were
drowned during an exercise in 1944 at Woodchester Park in the
Cotswolds. Doidge went there with a movie camera and supposedly
captured images of them. Kaye planned to make a film of the incident,
starring Brando as the American vet, but the plans fell through when
the two fell out over an acting video.
The news agency Reuters, in an article about about Vanity Fair
magazine's upcoming Hollywood issue, reported after his death that
Brando repeatedly voiced objections to appearing in The Godfather
(1972). According to Brando's friend Budd Schulberg, who won an Oscar
writing the screenplay for On the Waterfront (1954), Brando repeatedly
told his assistant Alice Marchak that he would not be in a film that
glorified the Mafia. Schulberg said that Marchak pestered him to read
the best-seller, and at one point he threw the book at her, saying,
"For the last time, I won't glorify the Mafia!" However, Marchak
noticed that Brando subsequently began toying with the idea of a
mustache to play Don Corleone, at first drawing one on with an eyebrow
pencil and asking her, "How do I look?" "Like George Raft," she
replied. Marchak told Schulberg this went on for awhile, with Brando
trying different mustaches, until he finally won the part after
agreeing to a screen test. Among the actors he beat out for the role
were Laurence Olivier, who was too sick to work on the film, and Burt
Lancaster, who had offered to do a screen test for the role and was
looked on favorably by Paramount brass.
He was voted the 15th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
Was named #4 Actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends list by The American Film Institute
Mentioned in the song "Risen Within" by MC Homicide featuring Paz.
He constantly referred to his good friend Johnny Depp as "the most talented actor of his generation".
His mother gave him an odd pet: a raccoon he named Russell.
He liked to box. While performing as Stanley Kowalski in the stage
version of "A Streetcar Named Desire", he would often persuade a member
of the stage crew to spar with him in a room underneath the stage
between his acts. During one of these impromptu boxing matches, a crew
member surprised him with a hard punch to the nose. Brando's nose was
broken so badly that it literally was split across its bridge. He
managed to go on stage and finish the play despite the fact that
backstage efforts to stanch the bleeding had failed, but he was taken
to the hospital immediately after. His famous broken-beak nose was the
result of his having taken off his bandages in order to cover his nose
with Mercurochrome to make it look particularly bad when he was visited
by the play's producer, Irene Mayer Selznick. The subterfuge worked, as
Selznick gave him two weeks off from the grind of the play (he was on
stage with "Streetcar" for two years), but by taking the bandages off,
his nose did not properly set.
Believed that he could control stress in his life and physical pain
through meditation. So sure he was of this, that he wanted to prove it.
When he decided in the early nineties to be circumcised, he wanted the
doctor to do the operation with no anesthesia so that he could show off
this skill. The doctor refused because of medical ethics, but Brando
underwent the operation anyway after receiving a painkilling shot in
his back. Nevertheless, he wanted to show the doctors what he could do,
and he asked them to take his blood pressure. Through meditation, he
brought his blood pressure down more than 20 points.
Elton John's song "Goodbye Marlon Brando" was inspired by the actor's retirement in 1980.
His The Night of the Following Day (1968) co-star Richard Boone
directed the final scenes of the film at the insistence of Brando, who
could no longer tolerate what he considered the incompetence of
director Hubert Cornfield. The film is generally considered the nadir
of Brando's career.
A collection of personal effects from Brando's estate fetched
$2,378,300 at a June 30, 2005 auction at Christie's New York. His
annotated script from The Godfather (1972) was bought for a world
record $312,800. "Godfather" memorabilia were the most sought-after
items at the 6.5-hour auction, which attracted over 500 spectators and
bidders and multiple telephone bids. Brando's annotated film script
originally was figured to sell at between $10,000 and $15,000, but
brought more than 20 times the high end of the pre-auction estimate.
The previous record for a film script bought at auction was $244,500
for Clark Gable's Gone with the Wind (1939) script, which was auctioned
at Christie's New York in 1996. A letter from "Godfather" writer Mario
Puzo to Brando asking him to consider playing the role of Don Corleone
in the movie version of his novel was bought for $132,000. A photograph
of Brando and former lover Rita Moreno in The Night of the Following
Day (1968), the only piece of film memorabilia he kept in his
Mulholland Dr.home, was bought for $48,000. A transcript of a telegram
from Brando to Marilyn Monroe after her 1961 nervous breakdown was
bought for $36,000. His extensive library of over 3,600 books was sold
in lots, some of which fetched over $45,000; many of the books were
annotated in Brando's own hand.
Shortly before his death, his doctors had told him that the only way to
prolong his life would be to insert tubes carrying oxygen into his
lungs. He refused permission, preferring to die naturally.
Was a licensed amateur (ham) radio operator with the call signs KE6PZH
(his American license) and FO5GJ (is license for his home in French
Polynesia). For both licenses, he used the name "Martin Brandeaux".
His decision to play the title role in The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
turned out to be an offer that he definitely should have refused. He
received the Worst Supporting Actor Razzie Award, beating Burt
Reynolds, who was nominated for Striptease (1996), by a single vote.
The vote was cast by Razzie award founder John Wilson, who always
chooses to vote last.
At the time of his death at the age of eighty, Brando had been
suffering from congestive heart failure, advanced diabetes and
pulmonary fibrosis (damage to the tissue inside the lungs resulting
from a bout of pneumonia in 2001). Doctors had recently discovered a
tumor inside his liver, but he died before they could operate to remove
it.
In a 1966 review of Brando's film The Chase (1966), film critic Rex
Reed commented that "most of the time he sounds like he has a mouth
full of wet toilet paper."
Rode his own Triumph 6T Thunderbird, registration #63632, in The Wild One (1953).
Contrary to popular belief, Brando was not an atheist. At his son's
trial, where he supposedly revealed his atheism and refused to swear
upon a Bible, his actual words were, "While I do believe in God, I do
not believe in the same way as others, so I would prefer not to swear
on the Bible".
Apocalypse Now (1979) was based on the novel "Heart of Darkness" by
Joseph Conrad. Years after "Apocalypse Now" was released, a television
film was made of Heart of Darkness (1993) (TV), which featured Ian
McDiarmid in a small role. McDiarmid also appeared in Dirty Rotten
Scoundrels (1988), a remake of Bedtime Story (1964), a '60s comedy in
which Brando appeared.
Both of his Oscar-winning roles have been referenced in the
Oscar-winning roles of Robert De Niro. DeNiro played the younger
version of his character, Vito Corleone, in The Godfather: Part II
(1974). Brando's first Oscar was for On the Waterfront (1954), where
his famous lines were "I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I
could been somebody." DeNiro imitates this monologue in Raging Bull
(1980), which won him his second Oscar.
When cast as Col. Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now
(1979), Brando had promised to lose weight for the role, as well as
read Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness", on which Coppola's
script was based. Coppola had envisioned Kurtz as a lean and hungry
warrior; the character of Kurtz in the Conrad novellas was a wraith and
weighed barely more than a child despite his great stature, due to his
suffering from malaria. When the 52-year-old Brando -- who had already
been paid part of his huge salary -- appeared on the set in the
Philippines, he had lost none of the weight, so Coppola and
cinematographer Vittorio Storaro were forced to put Brando's character
in the shadows in most shots. In the penultimate appearance of Kurtz in
the film, when he appears in silhouette in the doorway of his temple
compound as the sacrificial bull is lead out, a very tall double (about
6'5") was used to try to give the character a greater physical stature,
rather than just Buddha-like belly-fat that girded the 5'10" Brando. He
didn't get around to reading the novella until many years later.
He did not like to sign autographs for collectors. Because of this, his
own autograph became so valuable that many checks he wrote went
uncashed--his signature on them was worth more than the value of the
check itself. Ironically, his secretary Alice Marchak remembered a time
when a fan asked for his autograph. Brando promptly signed the fan's
autograph book twice. Brando then told the fan that he had heard that
one John Wayne autograph was equal to two Marlon Brando's on the
collector's market.
After clashing with French director Claude Autant-Lara, Brando walked off production of Le rouge et le noir (1954).
In his 1976 biography "The Only Contender" by Gary Carey, Brando was
quoted as saying, "Like a large number of men, I, too, have had
homosexual experiences, and I am not ashamed."
It was his idea for Jor-El to wear the "S" insignia as the family crest in Superman (1978).
Is mentioned in Robbie Williams' song "Advertising Space".
His performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954) is ranked
#2 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
His performance as Paul in Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) is ranked #27
on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
Was the first male actor to break the $1-million threshold when MGM
offered him that amount to star in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), its
remake of its own 1935 classic. Brando had turned down the lead role in
David Lean's masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia (1962), which had been
offered by producer Sam Spiegel, because he didn't like the lengthy
shooting schedule. Ironically, "Bounty" itself wound up with an
extensive shooting schedule due to a snail-pace schedule caused by a
plethora of problems due to location shooting. With overages due to the
extended shoot, Brando pocketed $1.25 million for the picture
(approximately $8 million in 2005 dollars). Elizabeth Taylor had
previously broken the million-dollar mark for a single picture with her
renegotiated contract for Cleopatra (1963). Both films went vastly over
schedule and wildly over budget and wound up hemorrhaging rivers of red
ink despite relatively large grosses, though Taylor's flick outshone
Brando's in the area of fiscal irresponsibility and wound up
bankrupting its studio, 20th Century-Fox. Seventeen years later, after
almost a decade of failure that caused him to be considered "box office
poison" in the late 1960s/early 1970s (a string of flops that began
with the failure of the "Bounty" remake), Brando became the highest
paid actor in history with a $3.7-million up-front payment against a
percentage of the gross for Superman (1978), a role that required his
presence on the set for 12 days, plus an additional day for looping.
Steve McQueen earlier had priced his services at $3 million a picture
but had gotten no takers (many in Hollywood at the time believed he had
deliberately set his price that high so he could take some time off).
It was the price he quoted Francis Ford Coppola for his services for
Apocalypse Now (1979), but Coppola refused to meet his demands and
McQueen stayed off the screen for four years. Brando later appeared in
the Coppola film in what is a supporting performance for a leading
man/superstar salary of at least $2 million plus 8% of the gross over
the negative cost. Brando made more money from his share of "Apocalypse
Now" than from any other picture he appeared in; it financed his own
retirement from the screen during the 1980s. After a decade off screen,
so potent was the Brando name that he reportedly was paid over $2
million (donated to charity) for a supporting role in the
anti-apartheid drama A Dry White Season (1989). Even toward the end of
his life, when most of his contemporaries other than Paul Newman were
no longer stars (Tony Curtis's asking price reportedly had dropped to
$50,000 in the early 1990s) and could no longer command big money
(Newman was the exception in that the financially secure superstar
didn't ask for big money), Brando could still command a $3-million
salary for a supporting role in The Score (2001).
The Chase (1966) producer Sam Spiegel was quite fond of Brando, who won
his first Best Actor Oscar in the Spiegel-produced Best Picture winner
On the Waterfront (1954). Spiegel was worried that motorcycle
enthusiast Brando would kill himself like James Dean had, in an
accident (Brando had had lacerated his knee while biking before filming
began). Spiegel constantly queried "Chase" director Arthur Penn as to
whether Brando had brought his motorcycle with him to the filming. When
Brando got wind of this, he had the bike brought over to the set on a
trailer and left on the lot to play a joke on Spiegel, who quickly
arrived at the shooting to see that Brando didn't drive it. When
Spiegel found out it was all a joke, the normally taciturn producer
laughed heartily. Spiegel originally had acquired the property that
became "The Chase" in the 1950s and wanted Brando to play the role of
Jason 'Jake' Rogers and Marilyn Monroe to play his lover, Anna Reeves.
By the time production began in 1965, Brando was too old to play the
role of the son, and took the part of Sheriff Calder instead. Brando
was paid $750,000 and his production company, Pennebaker, was paid a
fee of $130,000 (Marlon's sister Jocelyn Brando was cast in the small
role of Mrs. Briggs). Brando did not like the part, and complained that
all he did in the picture was wander around. He began referring to
himself as "The Old Lamplighter." However, many critics and cinephiles
consider Sheriff Calder one of his best performances.
According to Lawrence Grobel's "Conversations with Brando" (NY:
Hyperion, 1991), Brando ultimately made $14 million from Superman
(1978). The Salkinds, producers of the movie, tried to buy out his
share of the profits for $6 million, but Brando refused and had to file
a lawsuit to recover what was owed him.
Was paid $3 million for 10 days work on The Formula (1980)
(approximately $8.5 million in 2005 terms). Brando told Lawrence Grobel
("Conversations with Brando") that the movie, which he only made for
the money as he was broke, was ruined in the editing room, with the
humor of his scenes cut out. In his autobiography, Brando -- in a
caption for a picture from the film -- recounts that George C. Scott
asked him during the shooting of the film whether he, Brando, would
ever give the same line-reading twice. Brando replied, "I know you know
a cue when you hear one." The two both played chess together during
waits during the shooting. Scott said that Brando was not that good a
player.
Brando had to sue Francis Ford Coppola to get all the money owed to him
from his percentage of the profits of Apocalypse Now (1979). Brando
characterized the people in the movie industry as "liars" to Lawrence
Grobel (who conducted his 1979 Playboy interview): "Even Francis
Coppola owed me one-and-a-half million and I have to sue him. They all
do that, as they make interest on the money . . . so they delay paying
. . . It's all so ugly, I hate the idea of having to act, but there's
no other way to do it".
The producers of the film adaptation of Sir Peter Shaffer's play Equus
(1977) were interested in casting either Brando or Jack Nicholson in
the lead role of Dr. Martin Dysart. The part went instead to Richard
Burton, who had to "screen-test" for the role by agreeing to appear in
the play on Broadway. Burton did, got rave reviews and a special Tony
award, and won his seventh and last Oscar nomination for the role. In
his diary, Burton wrote that in the late 1950s, he was always one of
the first actors producers turned to when Brando turned down a role.
Became quite friendly with Elizabeth Taylor while shooting Reflections
in a Golden Eye (1967). He agreed to pick up her Best Actress Award for
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) from the New York Film Critics
Circle. When Brando made his appearance at the NYFCC Award ceremony at
Sardi's on January 29, 1967, he badgered the critics, querying them as
to why they hadn't recognized Liz before. He then flew to Dahomey,
Africa, where Taylor was shooting The Comedians (1967) with husband
Richard Burton to personally deliver the award. Brando later socialized
with the Burtons, visiting them on their famous yacht the Kalizma,
while they plied the Mediterreanean. Brando's ex-wife Anna Kashfi, in
her book "Brando for Breakfast" (1979), claimed that Brando and Burton
got into a fistfight aboard the yacht, probably over Liz, but nothing
of the incident appears in Burton's voluminous diaries, in which Burton
says he found Brando to be quite intelligent but believed he suffered,
like Liz did, from becoming too famous too early in his life. He
recognized Brando as a great actor, but felt he would have been more
suited to silent films due to the deficiency in his voice (the famous
"mumble"). As a silent film star, Burton believed Brando would have
been the greatest motion picture actor ever.
His performance as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
is ranked #85 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of
All Time.
His performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954) is ranked
#69 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
His monumental portrayal of Vito Corleone in the masterpiece The
Godfather (1972) is the #1 Greatest Movie Character of All Time in
Premiere Magazine.
Was unable to raise the $10-million bail initially required of his son
Christian Brando (Gary Brown) in the May 16, 1990, slaying of his
sister Cheyenne's boyfriend Dag Drollet. After a two-day preliminary
hearing in early August 1990, the presiding judge ruled that enough
evidence had been presented to try Christian on first-degree murder
charges. At that time the judge refused to lower the $10-million bail
due to what he termed evidence of the Brando family's failure to
cooperate with he court, specifically citing Cheyenne's flight from the
United States to avoid helping the police investigation. However, two
weeks later the same judge reduced Christian's bail to $2 million,
which Marlon was able to post by putting up his Mulholland Drive house
as collateral. He soon accepted a cameo role in the film Christopher
Columbus: The Discovery (1992) for $5 million, according to Variety,
the bible of the Hollywood trade papers.
Brando's friend, actor William Redfield, mentioned him prominently in
the memoir he wrote about the 1964 stage production of "Hamlet" (later
transferred to film as Hamlet (1964/I)) directed by John Gielgud and
starring Richard Burton. In "Letters from an Actor" (1967, Viking
Press), Redfield -- who played Guildenstern -- said that Brando had
been considered the Great White Hope by his generation of American
actors. That is, they believed that Brando's more naturalistic style,
combined with his greatness as an actor, would prove a challenge to the
more stylized and technical English acting paradigm epitomized by
Laurence Olivier, and that Brando would supplant Olivier as the world's
greatest actor. Redfield would tell Burton stories of Brando, whom the
Welsh actor had not yet met. Redfield sadly confessed that Brando, by
not taking on roles such as Hamlet (and furthermore, by betraying his
craft by abandoning the stage, thus allowing his instrument to be
dulled by film work), had failed not only as an actor, but had failed
to help American actors create an acting tradition that would rival the
English in terms of expertise.
He worked for union scale on the anti-apartheid film A Dry White Season
(1989) with the proviso that the producers donate $3 million (which
would have been his normal fee) to charity. When Brando was interviewed
by Connie Chung for her TV program "Saturday Night with Connie Chung"
(1989), broadcast on October 7, 1989, he said he was upset with the
picture and mentioned the charitable gift the producers had made on his
bequest to show his commitment to toppling apartheid in South Africa.
Brando could be generous at that time, as he appeared to be set
financially for life due to his profit participation in Apocalypse Now
(1979) and the $14-million settlement he won from Superman (1978)
producer Ilya Salkind. However, the defense of his son Gary Brown, who
was arrested for murder on May 16, 1990, reportedly cost his father as
much as $5 million, so Brando was forced to go back to work after
almost a decade away from the screen, but for the anti-apartheid
picture and what he intended as his career swan-song, The Freshman
(1990), for which he was paid $3 million (approximately $4.7 million in
2005 dollars). When he died in 2004, Brando left an estate valued at
more than $20 million.
Turned down the role of the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid (1969) after Paul Newman took over the production from
Steve McQueen. McQueen, who was obsessed with Newman as his rival as a
movie actor and superstar, had bought the script from William Goldman,
originally called "The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy". McQueen was
slated to play "The Sundance Kid". When he dropped out and Newman took
over the production, the title was reversed and Brando was offered the
role. He declined in order to film _Queimada! (1969) ("Burn") with
Gillo Pontecorvo. Brando earlier had dropped out of Elia Kazan's The
Arrangement (1969) shortly after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther
King. Brando told Kazan he could not star in a run-of-the-mill movie
after King's assassination. Instead, he opted for "Burn", which was a
pro-revolutionary story about a rebellion of African slaves in the
Caribbean.
The very last film role that was ever offered to him was Rayburn in Man
on Fire (2004), less than a year before he passed away. The role
instead went to Christopher Walken.
Turned down the role of Earl Partridge in Magnolia (1999).
Turned down the role of the Headless Horseman in Sleepy Hollow (1999).
Was considered by director Tim Burton for the role of The Penguin in
Batman Returns (1992). "Batman" creator Bob Kane was relieved that he
wasn't cast, as he considered Brando the "wrongest possible choice for
the role.".
Keith Richards's son, Marlon Richards is named after him.
Signed on to appear in director Sidney Lumet's adaptation of the play
Child's Play (1972) as schoolteacher Joseph Dobbs, but backed out just
before principal photography was to begin when he realized James Mason
had the better part as his schoolteacher rival. According to Bob
Thomas' "Brando: Portrait of the Artist as a Rebel", Brando quit the
production when he realized his flagging career would soon be
revitalized by the The Godfather (1972). A last-minute replacement,
Robert Preston was signed to take over the role, and though a fine
actor, he bombed in the performance due to over-projection of his voice
(Preston had been playing mainly in the theater in the previous
decade). Brando subsequently was sued by producer David Merrick.
Ironically, both Brando and Mason were rivals for the part of Viktor
Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago (1965). Both were offered the role by
David Lean, and both turned it down.
Was offered the part of Viktor Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago (1965) by
double-Oscar winning director David Lean. However, a month went by and
Brando failed to respond to Lean's written inquiry into whether he
wanted to play Komarovsky, so the director offered the part to James
Mason, who was a generation older than Brando. Lean decided on Mason,
who initially accepted the part, as he did not want an actor who would
overpower the character of Yuri Zhivago (specifically, to show Zhivago
up as a lover of Lara, who would be played by the young Julie Christie,
which the charismatic Brando might have done, shifting the sympathy of
the audience). Mason eventually dropped out and Rod Steiger, who had
just won the Silver Bear as Best Actor for his role as the eponymous
The Pawnbroker (1964), accepted the role.
Is mentioned in the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire".
Made the Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars, as ranked by Quigley
Publications' annual survey of movie exhibitors, five times from 1954
to 1973. He debuted at #10 in 1954, and climbed to #6 in 1955 before
falling off the list in 1956. He again made the list, as #4, in 1958.
He did not appear on the list again until 1972, when he was ranked the
#6 Box Office star after the extraordinary success of The Godfather
(1972). He made one last appearance in 1973, going out as he had come
onto the list, at #10.
Supported John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election.
