Marlon Brando

Introduction:

Marlon Brando Junior was born on 3 April 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. Marlon Brando was an American Actor. Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, he had significant impact on film acting. Once Scorsese said; ‘he is widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential actors of the 20th century’. Brando was famous for his notorious mumbling because of it Frank Sinatra used to call him ‘Mr Mumbles’. Brando is famous for his unforgettable performances most importantly as    Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954), as Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972), and as Col. Walter E. Kurtz in ‘Apocalypse Now’.

Early Life:

Marlon Brando was a child of Marlon Brando, Sr. and Dorothy Brando. Brando was the youngest child in his family. Brando‘s family nickname was “Bud”. His parents moved to Evanston, Illinois, but separated when he was 11 years old. Brando grew up with his mother. He was raised as a Christian. Brando’s mother known as Dodie she was an actress so his mother introduce him to acting she also helped out Henry Fonda in start of his career. Brando was expelled from his school for riding his motorcycle through the corridors. However, Brando left to study at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, part of the Dramatic Workshop of The New School with the influential German director Erwin Piscator and at the Actors Studio. Brando was a devoted student of Stella Adler. Brando didn't like the term "The Method," which quickly became the prominent paradigm taught by such acting gurus as Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Brando denounced Strasberg in his autobiography but Brando credits his knowledge of the craft to Adler and Kazan.

Acting Career:

In 1947, Brando was asked to do a screen test for Warner Brothers. Brando made his motion picture debut as a paraplegic World War II veteran in The Men (1950). In 1951 he starred in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. His performance as Stanley Kowalski was a breakthrough of his career and he was nominated for an Academy Award of Best Actor for that role. In very next year 1952 his performance in               ‘Viva Zapata’ was a popular and critical success.

In 1954 Marlon Brando won his first Academy Award for his role as (Terry Malloy) a longshoreman fighting the system in ‘On the Waterfront’, a hard-hitting look at New York City labor unions. During the 1960s, however, his career had more downs than ups; especially the disastrous 1962 remake of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ movie didn’t earn even half of its budget. Rest of the decade he made couple of more films but didn’t get any success. Brando’s career had other, more political causes. As the civil rights movement gathered momentum in the early 1960s, Brando immediately offered his support to the black minorities, who were fighting for equality.

Brando's performance as Vito Corleone or in 1972's, it was a mid-career turning point. Francis Ford Coppola believed there was only one actor who could play godfather role and it was Marlon Brando, though studio wants to give that role to Danny Thomas but he refused and said that Brando is the best option for this role. Eventually when they run a screen test of Brando the president of Paramount Pictures said "What are we watching? Who is this old guinea?"

Brando won his second Academy Award of Best Actor in a leading role for his performance in                    ‘The Godfather’ but refused to collect the award and even boycott the award ceremony in sympathy of Native Americans.

In 1973 he starred in ‘Last Tango in Paris’ a film by Bernardo Bertolucci's. He was now again a Top-Ten box office star and once again heralded as the greatest actor of his generation, an unprecedented comeback that put him on the cover of "Time" magazine and would make him the highest-paid actor in the history of motion pictures by the end of the decade. Academy once again nominates him for best actor in leading role.

 Another masterpiece of the 1970s was 'Apocalypse Now', where Brando earned $1 million per week playing the role of Colonel Kurtz for director Francis Ford Coppola.He now weighed over 220 lbs - most of his featured scenes in Apocalypse Now were shot in the shadows. Brando took on just one more major role for the next 20 years.

From now on, Brando’s weight problems largely prevented him from playing lead movie roles, and he announced his retirement from acting in 1980s. But he still continued to play a few supporting roles but Brando agreed for portrayed Superman's father Jor-El in the 1978 film Superman. On a contract that If they paid him a huge amount of money.

It was Brando's last bravura performance, though he did receive an eighth and final Oscar nomination for A Dry White Season (1989) after coming out of a near-decade-long retirement.

Persona Life and Death:

Brando married actress Anna Kashfi in 1957. Kashfi was born in Calcutta and moved to Wales from India in 1947. Brando and Kashfi had a son, Christian Brando, on May 11, 1958; they divorced in 1959.

In 1960, Brando married Movita Castaneda, a Mexican-American actress seven years his senior; they were divorced in 1962

Brando had a long-term relationship with his housekeeper Maria Christina Ruiz, by whom he had three children.

Brando's grandson Tuki Brando (born 1990), son of Cheyenne Brando, is a successful fashion model.

He was a close friend of the singer Michael Jackson and visited him regularly; indeed, the last time Marlon Brando left his bungalow home in 2003 was to visit Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch.

On 1 July 2004, Marlon Brando died in hospital from respiratory failure, although he had also been suffering from heart failure and diabetes. He was 80. His ashes were scattered partly in Tahiti, and partly in Death Valley. He is widely considered to be the greatest film actor of the twentieth century.

Honors:

Brando is widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential actors of the 20th century.

Brando was named as the fourth greatest male star by AFI in history of cinema.

Time magazine included his name in the most important people of the Century.

In 2007 in an article on ‘On the Waterfront’ Rob Reiner wrote: "Marlon Brando gives the single greatest performance ever. It's just so natural, powerful, real, and honest."

Awards and Nominations:

Marlon Brando had received eight nominations of Academy Award in his life and won two times out of it. He had also been nominated for BAFTA Films Awards several times and won only three. He had also received so many other major awards and considered the legend of cinematic history.

List of Marlon Brando films:

·         The Score (2001) Max

·         You Rock My World (2001) (TV)

·         Free Money (1998) Warden Sven ‘The Swede’ Sorenson

·         The Brave (1997) McCarthy

·         The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) Dr. Moreau

·         Don Juan DeMarco (1994) Dr. Jack Mickler

·         Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) Tomas de Torquemada

·         The Freshman (1990) Carmine Sabatini

·         A Dry White Season (1989) Ian McKenzie

·         The Formula (1980) Adam Steiffel, Chairman Titan Oil

·         Apocalypse Now (1979) Colonel Walter E. Kurtz

·         Superman (1978) Jor-El

·         The Missouri Breaks (1976) Lee Clayton

·         Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) Paul

·         The Godfather (1972) Don Vito Corleone

·         The Nightcomers (1971) Peter Quint

·         Burn! (1969) Sir William Walker

·         The Night of the Following Day (1968) Chauffeur

·         Candy (1968) Grindl

·         Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) Maj. Weldon Penderton

·         A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) Ogden Mears

·         The Appaloosa (1966) Matt

·         The Chase (1966) Sheriff Calder

·         Morituri (1965) Robert Crain

·         Bedtime Story (1964) Freddy Benson

·         The Ugly American (1963) Ambassador Harrison Carter MacWhite

·         Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) 1st Lt. Fletcher Christian

·         One-Eyed Jacks (1961) Rio

·         The Fugitive Kind (1960) Valentine ‘Snakeskin’ Xavier

·         The Young Lions (1958) Lt. Christian Diestl

·         Sayonara (1957) Maj. Lloyd ‘Ace’ Gruver – USAF

·         The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) Sakini

·         Guys and Dolls (1955/I) Sky Masterson

·         Desirée (1954) Napoleon Bonaparte

 On the Waterfront (1954) Terry Malloy

 Julius Caesar (1953) Mark Antony

 Viva Zapata! (1952) Emiliano Zapata

 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Stanley Kowalski

 The Men (1950) Ken

By: Haroon Anwar