Marlon Brando
Biography
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned six decades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and three British Academy Film Awards. Brando was also an activist for many causes, notably the civil rights movement and various Native American movements. Having studied with Stella Adler in the 1940s, he is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the Stanislavski system of acting and method acting, derived from the Stanislavski system, to mainstream audiences. He initially gained acclaim and his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for reprising the role of Stanley Kowalski in the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire, a role that he originated successfully on Broadway. He received further praise, and a first Academy Award and Golden Globe Award, for his performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, and his portrayal of the rebellious motorcycle gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One proved to be a lasting image in popular culture. Brando received Academy Award nominations for playing Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata! (1952); Mark Antony in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar; and Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver in Sayonara (1957), an adaptation of James A. Michener's 1954 novel. The 1960s saw Brando's career take a commercial and critical downturn. He directed and starred in the cult western One-Eyed Jacks, a critical and commercial flop, after which he delivered a series of notable box-office failures, beginning with Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). After ten years of underachieving, he agreed to do a screen test as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972). He got the part and subsequently won his second Academy Award and Golden Globe Award in a performance critics consider among his greatest. He declined the Academy Award due to alleged mistreatment and misportrayal of Native Americans by Hollywood. The Godfather was one of the most commercially successful films of all time, and alongside his Oscar-nominated performance in Last Tango in Paris (1972), Brando reestablished himself in the ranks of top box-office stars. After a hiatus in the early 1970s, Brando was generally content with being a highly paid character actor in supporting roles, such as Jor-El in Superman (1978), as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), and Adam Steiffel in The Formula (1980), before taking a nine-year break from film. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Brando was paid a record $3.7 million ($16 million in inflation-adjusted dollars) and 11.75% of the gross profits for 13 days' work on Superman. Brando was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fourth-greatest movie star among male movie stars whose screen debuts occurred in or before 1950. He was one of only six actors named in 1999 by Time magazine in its list of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. In this list, Time also designated Brando as the "Actor of the Century".
Known For
Colonel Walter Kurtz
Apocalypse Now
Jor-El
Superman Returns
Terry Malloy
On the Waterfront
Carmine Sabatini, aka Jimmy The Toucan
The Freshman
Stanley Kowalski
A Streetcar Named Desire
Self (archive footage)
Movie Tough Guys
Paul
Ultimo tango a Parigi
Self (archive footage)
Il était une fois... Le dernier tango à Paris
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Emiliano Zapata
Viva Zapata!
Ken
The Men
Dr. Jack Mickler
Don Juan DeMarco
Jor-El
Superman
Maj. Weldon Penderton
Reflections in a Golden Eye
Self (archive footage)
The Movie Orgy
Self
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Ogden Mears
A Countess from Hong Kong
Sky Masterson
Guys and Dolls
First Lieutnant Fletcher Christian
Mutiny on the Bounty
Max
The Score
Warden Sven 'The Swede' Sorenson
Free Money
Sheriff Calder
The Chase
Adam Steiffel
The Formula
Ian McKenzie
A Dry White Season
Dr. Moreau
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Matt
The Appaloosa
McCarthy
The Brave
Don Vito Corleone
The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
Self (archive footage)
Sophia Loren, une destinée particulière
Lt. Christian Diestl
The Young Lions
Major Lloyd Gruver
Sayonara
Johnny Strabler
The Wild One
Freddy Benson
Bedtime Story
Himself (archive footage)
Brando: An Icon Is Born
Tomas de Torquemada
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
Robert E. Lee Clayton
The Missouri Breaks
Peter Quint
The Nightcomers
Sir William Walker
Queimada
Robert Crain
Morituri
Sakini
The Teahouse of the August Moon
Napoleon Bonaparte
Désirée
Grindl
Candy
Chauffeur
The Night of the Following Day
Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier
The Fugitive Kind
Self (archive footage)
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It
Self (archive footage)
Tab Hunter Confidential
Mark Antony
Julius Caesar
Rio
One-Eyed Jacks
Ambassador Harrison Carter MacWhite
The Ugly American
(archive footage)
Final Cut: Hölgyeim és uraim
Don Vito Corleone
The Godfather
Self (archive footage)
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
Self (archive footage)
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
Self (archive footage)
Montgomery Clift: The Hidden Star
Self (archive footage)
Making Montgomery Clift
Himself (archive footage)
Daniel Day-Lewis : l'héritier
Self
Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration
(archive footage)
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Hello Actors Studio
Self (archive footage)
Sacheen: Breaking the Silence
Self
Meet Marlon Brando
Self
Martin Scorsese, l'Italo-Américain
Self (archive footage)
Anthony Quinn: An Original
Self
The Godfather: Behind the Scenes
Self (voice) (archive footage)
Listen to Me Marlon
Johnny Strabler (segment "The Wild One") (archive footage)
Black Leather Jacket
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Marlon Brando: Im Paradies
Self (archive footage)
An Actor Named Brando
Self (archive footage)
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
Himself
The Brando Interregnum: The Decade of Marlon's Dirty Dozen 1962-1972
Self (archive footage)
Brando
Self - Actor / Various Roles (archive footage)
Marlon Brando, un acteur nommé désir
Self (archive footage)
The Godfather and the Mob
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Self
Taking Flight: The Development of 'Superman'
Self
The Making of 'Superman: The Movie'
Self
Making 'Superman': Filming the Legend
Self - Narrator (voice)
Raoni
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
A Huey P. Newton Story
Stanley Kowalski / Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier (archive footage)
Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
Don Vito Corleone
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Invasion
Jor-El
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Self (archive footage)
Marlon Brando: The Wild One
Self (archive footage)
Ballybrando
Self (archive footage)
The Madding Crowd
Self (archive footage)
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
Self (archive footage)
Les derniers jours de Marlon Brando
Self (archive footage)
All Power to the People!
Self (archive footage)
kid 90
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Naqoyqatsi
Self (archive footage)
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau
Self (archive footage)
Quentin Tarantino: From a Movie Buff to a Hollywood Legend
(archive footage)
1955, Seven Days of Fall
Self
Operation Teahouse
Self (voice)
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
Jor-El (archive footage)
Lost in "The Thinking"
Self(archive footage) (uncredited)
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
Self (archive) - subject
Le mirage tahitien de Marlon Brando
Self (archival)
Albert Maysles: The Poetic Eye
Self
Come vorresti che fosse il futuro?
Stanley Kowalski/Self
Flashing Images of Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando
Self
Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity
Hollywood: No Sex, Please!
Hollywood sul Tevere
Self - Activist (archive footage)
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Always Brando
Self (archive footage)
Lynch/Oz
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
109
Gender
Male
Birthday
1924-04-03
Place of Birth
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Also Known As
Marlon Brando Jr.