Marlon Brando

MARLON BRANDO

Date of Birth: April 3, 1924

Date of Death: July 1, 2004

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, and youngest of three, Brando was a difficult child and was expelled from a number of his schools. His first job was as a ditch digger, but his father ultimately grew so frustrated with his son's seeming lack of ambition that he offered to finance whatever more meaningful path the young man chose to pursue. Taking up his father's offer, Brando ventured to New York where he studied Stanislavsky's acting techniques at the New School before enrolling at the Actors' Studio. This method acting would become a signature of all his works as well as an inspiration to many future actors.

Beginning his career in theatre, Brando played the sensitive Nels in I Remember Mama. This role was followed up with appearances in Truckline Café and Candida. With each appearance, Brando's presence became more known. The play A Streetcar Named Desire established Brando as a celebrated performer with a charismatic acting style influencing actors everywhere.

In 1950 Brando turned to the screen starting with The Men, followed by the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire. By 1954, he garnered his first Oscar for Best Actor, playing the impressionable punch-drunk ex-boxer in On the Waterfront. Brando continued to prove his versatility with roles in such films as The Wild One, Guys and Dolls, and Teahouse Of The August Moon.

A combative and often contradictory man, Brando refused to play by the rules of the Hollywood game, openly expressing his loathing for the film industry and for the very nature of celebrity, while exploiting his fame to bring attention to political causes and later accepting any role offered him as long as the price was right.

By 1961, he made his directorial debut with One-Eyed Jacks. A film which he also performed in, it was not well received and ultimately would mark the first and last time he would ever sit in the director's chair.

His reputation began to suffer following release of the bloated 1962 remake of Mutiny on the Bounty (with Brando in the Clark Gable role of Fletcher Christian), which came in grotesquely over budget, thanks in part to his capricious penchant for "inspired" improvisation and painstaking attempts to achieve the "perfect mood." Such odd and unusual films as Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) and Burn! (1969) put Brando outside the mainstream -- to the extent that he had to test for the role of mob boss Vito Corleone. That remarkable performance in The Godfather (1972) not only netted Brando his second Oscar, but restored the lustre to his tarnished reputation. Although he won the golden statue, he refused to accept it due to the fact that the U.S. and especially Hollywood were discriminating against Native Americans.

After The Godfather, Brando took on fewer and fewer projects as his price tag became more unreasonable. Some of his strongest performances came in films like Superman, Apocalypse Now, and A Dry White Season (for which he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor).

Throughout his career, Brando earned eight Oscar nominations (2 wins) and a lifetime achievement award from the academy, seven BAFTA nominations (3 wins) and five Golden Globe nominations (winning four). He was married three times and fathered nine children. He passed away in Los Angeles on July 1, 2004 at the age of 80, from lung failure. He was cremated, and in keeping with his reclusive nature, a private ceremony with only his family in attendance was held.

Filmography:

The Score (2001)
Sophia Loren: Actress Italian Style (1999)
Free Money (1998)
The Brave (1997)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
Don Juan DeMarco (1995)
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 (1992) (V)
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
The Freshman (1990)
A Dry White Season (1989)
The Formula (1980)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Raoni (1978)
Superman (1978)
The Missouri Breaks (1976)
The Nightcomers (1972)
Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
Quemada! (1969)
The Night of the Following Day (1968)
Candy (1968)
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)
Meet Marlon Brando (1966)
The Appaloosa (1966)
The Chase (1966)
Morituri (1965)
Bedtime Story (1964)
The Ugly American (1963) Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
The Fugitive Kind (1959)
The Young Lions (1958)
Sayonara (1957)
The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)
Guys and Dolls (1955)
Desirée (1954)
On the Waterfront (1954)
The Wild One (1954)
Julius Caesar (1953)
Viva Zapata! (1952)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
The Men (1950)