BIOGRAPHY:

Marlon Brando is a legendary American actor and political activist. He is considered one of the most significant artists in the history of cinema. The master’s influence on the development of the industry cannot be overestimated, and films with his participation will forever remain in the golden collection of Hollywood.

Childhood and youth:

The future performer was born on April 3, 1924 in the city of Omaha, located in Nebraska. His father, Marlon Brando Sr., owned his own production, which produced food for farm and pet animals.

Mother, Dorothy Pennybaker, played in the local theater and was closely acquainted with actor Henry Fonda. The boy, who was called Bud in childhood, was the youngest child in the family. Older sisters Jocelyn and Frances also grew up in the house.

The head of the family had a reputation as a rather reserved and tough person. He raised his children with extreme severity. The situation got to the point that they only got simple hugs on holidays. When Marlon was six years old, the family moved to the suburbs of Chicago, where he went to Abraham Lincoln School. The 11-year-old student met like-minded Wally Cox, who later also became a famous actor, and from him became infected with the dream of cinema.

A few years later, the young man’s parents temporarily decided to live separately, and Dorothy and the children moved to her mother in the Californian town of Santa Ana. Bud began to show himself well as an athlete at his new school. So, he finished first in the decathlon and set a record for push-ups.

In addition, Marlon Brando stood out from the rest: he dressed very flashily and brightly, clashed with teachers and the director, and behaved defiantly. In high school, the student actively played in plays – mainly dramatic heroes or villains. The young man was also a drummer in the band Keg Brando and His Kegliners.

In his youth, against his own wishes and at the strict insistence of his father, the graduate became a cadet at the Shattuck Sainte-Marie Military School. Despite the militaristic situation, the future performer found two places where he felt inner peace.

The first was a cinema where Brando watched hits of recent years, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent and Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. The second is the room of English teacher Earl Wagner, to which he often invited students. Here Bud shocked the teacher by reading excerpts from the poems of William Shakespeare, and soon he was given the main role in the production of “Message from Khafu.”

The talented young man not only received a thunderous ovation from the audience, but also with his performance convinced the professor that his place was on the stage, and not on the battlefield. Shocked by the young man’s talent, Wagner insisted that the cadet’s parents allow their son to begin an acting career.

Movies:

Brando starred in a large number of films over more than 50 years, during which his creative biography took place. From the very beginning he was a staunch supporter of the system of Konstantin Stanislavsky, and in his work adhered to its principles.

Subsequently, the artist’s performance began to be considered a standard, a model to which not only students of theater and film universities, but also famous actors are compared.

The debut film “Men” (1950) brought Marlon rave reviews from critics and the Finnish film award “Jussi” as the best foreign performer. But real success came a year later, when the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ classic play A Streetcar Named Desire was released. The famous actress Vivien Leigh became her partner on the set.

The film has become a classic of cinema and is included in the lists of the best films in the world. Thanks to the film, the star of the master of disguise rose. For his participation in A Streetcar Named Desire, the public favorite was nominated for an Oscar, but then he did not receive the statuette.

Later, Marlon’s filmography was supplemented by the drama “Savage” directed by Laszlo Benedek. The script is based on the short story “Motorcycle Raid” by Frank Rooney, published in January 1951 in Harper’s Magazine. It is noteworthy that the film was banned from showing in the UK for 14 years.

In 1954, the actor won an Oscar in the category “Best Actor” for his portrayal of former boxer Terry Malloy in the crime drama “On the Waterfront.” There are several interesting cases associated with the picture.

The main character was initially entrusted to Frank Sinatra, who was personally invited by director Elia Kazan. A contract was signed with the singer, but producer Sam Spiegel wanted to see Brando exclusively on screen.

He persuaded the artist, who was gaining popularity, to take part in the film and, despite legal proceedings with Sinatra, approved him in the leading role. Another curious fact is that “On the Port” was received rather coolly by the public the year it was released, despite the awards it received. And today the film, shot in 36 days, is one of the hundred best films of the 20th century.

1972 was a turning point in Brando’s career. Then he starred in two projects – the gangster drama “The Godfather” and the erotic melodrama “Last Tango in Paris.” It is noteworthy that the film company Paramount Pictures, which filmed The Godfather, demanded that Marlon not participate in the film. The producers had heard a lot about his defiant behavior on film sets.

But not a single candidate who participated in the tests was able to show the level of play that the outstanding performer demonstrated. As a result, he was approved for the role of the head of the mafia clan Don Vito Corleone. The crime thriller, which earned $250.3 million at the global box office, also starred the equally talented Al Pacino as the youngest son of a mafioso.

In the film “Last Tango in Paris” the famous artist constantly improvised. Most of his lines heard in the final version of the melodrama were absent from the original script. Despite his great creative investment, Brando, like his partner Maria Schneider, was dissatisfied with the work.

Nevertheless, the actor was nominated for an Oscar for his participation in both films, but the award was awarded to him for his portrayal of Don Corleone. Unexpectedly for everyone, Marlon refused to receive the prize and sent Sasha Light Feather, a girl of Indian origin from the Apache tribe, to the stage in his place, who also did not accept the statuette. With such an act, the public’s favorite drew public attention to discrimination against the indigenous population of America.

Over time, the master appeared in the cult war drama directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now. The screenwriters were inspired by Joseph Conrad’s story “Heart of Darkness”. The film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as two Academy Awards in technical categories.

Personal life:

Marlon Brando was known as the conqueror of women’s hearts. His personal life consisted of many fleeting star romances, including a close relationship with film star Marilyn Monroe.

Also in the memoirs of the French actress Brigitte Bardot, several paragraphs were devoted to her American colleague, in which she indirectly confirmed their short romance.

Officially, the actor was married three times. In 1957, he married Indian actress Anne Kashfi, who gave birth to his son Christian Devi. In 1959, the couple divorced.

A year later, the Hollywood handsome man married Mexican actress Movita Castaneda. The family lasted only two years, but the diva managed to give her chosen one an heir, Miko Castanedo.

After his second divorce, Brando married 20-year-old colleague Tarita Teriipia. They had a son, Simon Teihotu, and a daughter, Tarita Cheyenne. The actor also adopted the child of his wife Maimiti. The marriage turned out to be the longest of all – the couple divorced only ten years later.

Brando never married again, but had a serious relationship with his housekeeper Maria Cristina Ruiz, who gave birth to three children from him: Nina Priscilla, Miles Jonathan and Timothy Gahan. In addition, the master had several other heirs outside of marriage. In total, Marlon had 11 natural children and three adopted children.

In 1976, the performer made a bisexual coming out and admitted that he was in a same-sex relationship. Jokingly, the idol of the audience added that “if the public wants to think that he is Jack Nicholson’s lover,” then he has nothing against it.

However, the authors of the biographical book “James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes,” Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, argued that Marlon was partial to Dean. Photos of sex symbols together can be found in the public domain.

Film career:

The stubborn and headstrong young man dropped out of school and went to New York, where his sister lived. He entered an acting studio and studied briefly at the School of Social Research, where there was a theater class. World War II was still going on when Marlon made his debut in the Broadway production of I Love Mother. The delight of the public and critics was caused by his appearance on stage in the role of Stanley Kowalski in Elia Kazan’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire. They began to call him the hope of the American theatrical stage, but Brando had little interest in the theater.
His Stanley on the screen – sensual, sexy, like an eternally hungry beast – amazed the audience. Even the famous Vivien Leigh was somewhat lost against his background, although she received an Oscar statuette for her role as Blanche. Brando was so dissolved in his hero that for some time he behaved similarly in life.

The actor began to be perceived as a rude, unbalanced person, but he decided not to dissuade those around him. Kowalski’s shadow haunted him in Kazan’s next film, Viva Zapata!

The demand for the actor became frantic. He was invited to film roles by famous directors, but Brando starred in the drama of the little-known Laszlo Benedek “The Savage”, playing the leader of the Black Rebels group, Johnny Strebler. And again I hit the mark. He became an idol of youth, embodying on the screen the image of a biker who goes against generally accepted norms.

Next was Mark Antony in the historical drama “Julius Caesar,” and the actor received his first Oscar for embodying the image of former boxer Terry Malloy, who embarked on the path of fighting a criminal trade union clique in the crime melodrama “On the Waterfront.”

Marlon became the youngest winner of the coveted prize, but he himself took it very matter-of-factly: he used the figurine to block his home door. It should be noted that the role of the main character was supposed to be played by Frank Sinatra, with whom a contract was even signed, but the producer insisted on Brando’s candidacy and was right.

The sixties were less successful in the actor’s creative career, despite several leading roles. Brando’s star reignited in 1972 when he starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster drama The Godfather. His character – Don Vito Corleone – has come a long way on the screen: from a brilliant, graying gentleman to a slovenly, unkempt old man. The actor’s performance was brilliant, despite the fact that at first the producers did not want to see him in the film, having heard about his unconventional behavior on the set.

Death:

In the 90s, the artist gained weight due to stage 2 diabetes; his weight was about 135 kg. In addition, he began to suffer from memory loss and had vision problems. He was also later diagnosed with liver cancer.

Miko’s son, who worked as a security guard for Michael Jackson, often brought his father to the Neverland ranch. Here the actor could spend a long time in the open air, as he began to experience oxygen deficiency.

On July 1, 2004, the public favorite was taken to the Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles in critical condition.

The patient refused the offer to insert tubes into the lungs, which was the only way to prolong life given the diagnosis. The cause of death was pulmonary fibrosis. The body of the deceased was cremated, and his ashes were scattered over the island of Tahiti and over Death Valley in California. Ten years later, the documentary film “Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire” premiered in Russia on Channel One. The announcement noted that the film “recreates the artist’s outstanding personality, combining all its elements without making value judgments.”

Filmography:

1951 – “A Streetcar Named Desire”
1952 – “Viva, Zapata!”
1953 — “Julius Caesar”
1954 — “At the Port”
1957 — “Sayonara”
1972 — “The Godfather”
1972 — “Last Tango in Paris”
1978 — “Superman”
1979 — “Apocalypse Now”
1989 — “Dry White Season”
1990 — “Newcomer”
1995 — “Don Juan de Marco”
1997 — “Brave”
2001 — “Bugbear”

Interesting Facts:

In 1999, the Hollywood actor was included in the list of 100 most influential people of the 20th century according to Time magazine.
The American Film Institute compiled a ranking of the “100 Greatest Movie Stars of 100 Years.” Brando was in fourth place.