Oscar Profile #38: Marlon Brando

Born April 3, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska, Marlon Brando was the middle of three children born to a pesticide manufacturer and a local stage actress who mentored Henry Fonda among others.

He had a troubled childhood with his stern father and alcoholic mother whom he often had to bail out of jail. Following older sister Jocelyn into the acting profession, he made his Broadway debut as Nels, the son, in 1944’s I Remember Mama, a great success, winning excellent notices for that and several other plays including Candida opposite Katharine Cornell. He became a major star as Stanley Kowalski in the 1947 production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Jessica Tandy as Blanche DuBois.

Screen tested for Rebel Without a Cause which would not be made into a film for another five years, eventually to star James Dean, Brando made his screen debut as the bitter paraplegic in Fred Zinnemann’s 1950 film, The Men. His second film was the screen version A Streetcar Names Desire opposite Vivien Leigh who had played Blanche on the London stage. Nominated for an Oscar, he was the only one of the film’s four stars – Kim Hunter and Karl Malden were the others – who did not win for the film. The style of acting employed by Brando became known as The Method and has been emulated by actors ever since. The highly trained Brando, however, did not consider himself a method actor, nor did director Elia Kazan for whom he did some of his best work. Brando’s skill went far beyond the confines of method acting, which may be why so many of his imitators look like nothing more than the mere imitations they are.

Kazan, who had directed him in both the stage and screen versions of Streetcar next cast him as Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata!, for which he put his penchant for accents to good use and received his second Oscar nomination. A third quickly followed for his Mark Antony in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s production of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. A fourth consecutive nomination for 1954’s On the Waterfront, again directed by Kazan, brought him his first Oscar.

The period between 1951 and 1954 established him as the great actor of his generation and James Dean, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen all became stars imitating him as did the later Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

During the next few years he was a major box office draw in such diverse films as Guys and Dolls in which he sang and danced; Teahouse of the August Moon in which he played a Japanese interpreter and Sayonara in which he played a U.S. serviceman in love with a Japanese actress, resulting in his fifth Oscar nomination.

His star power began to wane with Sidney Lumet’s 1959 film of Tennessee Williams’ The Fugitive Kind which also hurt the reputations of co-stars Anna Magnani and Joanne Woodward. His ludicrous performance in the bloated 1962 remake of Mutiny on the Bounty caused the public to ignore some his best work over the next few years in such films as The Ugly American; The Chase and Reflections in a Golden Eye.

Essentially washed up by the early 1970s, he had to audition for the part that brought him back to prominence as The Godfather, for which he won his second Oscar. He gave an even better performance in Bernardo Bertolucci’s devastating Last Tango in Paris but felt embarrassed by the rawness of his work in the film and essentially gave up on acting, subsequently taking mostly minor roles for huge paychecks and delivering indifferent performances.

He received an eighth Oscar nomination for a rare late career passionate performance in 1989’s anti-Apartheid drama, A Dry White Season and was hilarious spoofing The Godfather in 1990’s The Freshman. His psychiatrist in 1994’s Don Juan DeMarco was his last interesting role.

Marlon Brando’s three wives were all actresses: Anna Kashfi (1957-1959), Movita (1960-1962) and Tarita (1962-1972). Movita had played Clark Gable’s love interest in the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty. He divorced her to marry Movita, who played his own love interest in the remake. He died July 1, 2004 at 80.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951), directed by Elia Kazan

Brando’s brutal, sarcastic Stanley Kowalski brilliantly contrasted with Vivien Leigh’s frail, fretful Blanche DuBois and Kim Hunter’s loyal, yearning Stella gave the screen one of its most memorable characters. It made him an icon and a superstar, decades before the term was coined. The film itself is one of the most perfect examples of a great stage play made even more potent on the big screen. Remade several times, there have been several brilliant Blanches, most notably Ann-Margret and Jessica Lange, but there has never been, and probably never will be, another Stanley as compelling as Brando.

ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), directed by Elia Kazan

One man against the establishment is a theme as old as drama itself, but seldom has there been a character as torturously alone as Brando’s Terry Malloy who sands up to the corruption on the mid-20th Century New Jersey waterfront. Brando is brilliantly supported by newcomer Eva Marie Saint as the sister of the friend he betrays; Karl Malden as an activist priest and Rod Steiger as the brother who cooks the books for the union. Lee J. Cobb may be over the top as the malevolent union boss but he, too, registers a strong characterization. His first Oscar on his fourth nomination was richly deserved.

THE GODFATHER (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola

After a decade at the top and another at the bottom of the Hollywood heap, Brando made a thrilling comeback as the elderly crime boss in the seminal gangster film of its era. Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Richard Castellano, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire and others all had dynamic roles and killer scenes, but towering above them all was the presence of the back-from-the-dead career-wise Brando. The silliness of his hiring a Hollywood extra impersonating a Native American to refuse his Oscar briefly tarnished his reputation, but in the long run it hurt awards ceremonies more than it did the actor. With rare exception ever since, winners who are not present at televised awards ceremonies have their awards accepted by presenters not designated stand-ins.

LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1973), directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

The Godfather may have been the most successful film of the middle-aged Brando’s career, but his greatest performance of the period was as the lonely, sad and miserable recent widower in Bertolucci’s scorching film in which Brando’s mixture of grief and rage is acted out in a sordid affair with a woman young enough to be his daughter. Maria Schneider excellently portrays the innocence destroyed by the awakening sexuality of her character. If there is a flaw in the film it is Jean-Pierre Leaud’s annoying portrayal of the young filmmaker who is engaged to Schneider’s character. Even so, Brando’s towering performance still makes it all worthwhile.

THE FRESHMAN (1990), directed by Andew Bergman

After years of taking big bucks to do very little to earn it, Brando gave a couple of memorable late career performances, the best of which was arguably this spoof of his Godfather character. Matthew Broderick as his errand boy actually has the lead, but make no mistake, the film wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun with anyone other than Brando as the guy who resembles the character in his then 18 year-old movie. The film had an eclectic supporting cast which included Bruno Kirby, Penelope Ann Miller, Frank Whaley, B.D. Wong, Maximilian Schell and Bert Parks.