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Daily News
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The Loss of The Godfather
Marlon Brando, perhaps the most influential actor to ever grace the big screen,
is dead at the age of 80.
Friday, July 2, 2004
By Mark Umbach
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Marlon Brando, the secluded statuesque actor and two-time Oscar winner who
many have dubbed the most influential actor of the century, died in Los Angeles
hospital early Friday morning at the age of 80. The specific cause of the actor's
death is unknown as Brando's lawyer reminded fans and the press that he was
a "very private" person.
Born in Omaha, Neb., on April 3, 1924, Marlon Brando Jr. was the third child
(he had two older sisters - Frances and Jocelyn) of the former Dorothy Pennebaker,
a small, compassionate woman spilling over with creative energy, and Marlon
Brando Sr. Dorothy's creativity was often left unrealized, she turned to the
bottle for condolence.
Brando's first theater experience came as his mother worked for and occasionally
acted in the Omaha Community Playhouse, where she dealt with the likes of a
young Henry Fonda and Dorothy McGuire.
Young Brando first gained the attention of the public for his brutally raw
performance as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar
Named Desire. Under the direction of Elia Kazan, Brando - a Method actor
- drew on his own experiences and psychology. Brando went on to make his first
film in 1950 - The Men - for which he earned positive reviews, but it
wasn't until the film adaptation of Streetcar in 1951 that he really
shot to stardom.
Once again under the director of Kazan, Brando's portrayal of Kawalski earned
him his first of eight Oscar nominations. For the next three consecutive years
he was nominated for Best Actor for roles in Viva Zapata!, Julius
Caesar and On the Waterfront in 1953, 1954 and 1955, respectively.
His role in On the Waterfront, which Kazan also directed, as ex-boxer
Terry Malloy won him his first of two Oscars and helped establish him as a film
icon and sex symbol of the 1950s.
As the '50s wound down, it seemed Brando's career was on the decline as well.
After performances in the hits The Teahouse of the August Moon and Sayonara
in the late '50s, Brando put in a self-conscious performance as Fletcher Christian
in the big-budget remake flop Mutiny on the Bounty and his career seemed all
but over.
His career revived, however, with perhaps one of the most famous roles, not
only of his career, but in the history of cinema - Don Vito Corleone in Francis
Ford Coppola's The Godfather. The mush-mouthed role, which Coppola fought
to get for Brando, won the actor his second Oscar, and The Godfather
was the highest-grossing film of his time.
| In one of his most famous moves off the big screen, Brando refused to accept
his second Oscar because of the U.S.', and especially Hollywood's, discrimination
against Native Americans. In his place, he sent a Native American woman who
called herself Sacheen Littlefeather to decline the award. It was later revealed
that the woman was actually Maria Cruz, a little-known California actress and
not a Native American at all.
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Following The Godfather, Brando took a role opposite Maria Schneider
in helmer Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. The film was raw
and passionate and earned an X-rating when released in the U.S. The film earned
Oscar nominations for both Brando and Bertolucci.
Then in the late '70s, he filmed Apocalypse Now, another pivotal role
in his career in which he played the wild Col. Kurtz. His final Oscar nomination
came in 1990 for his supporting role in A Dry White Season.
| Later in Brando's career and life, he became known for keeping private, yet
still managing to make some outlandish demands. In 1978 he scored a $4 million
pay day for filming 10 minutes in the movie Superman. Later, in 2001,
he refused to be on the set at the same time as director Frank Oz while filming
The Score. This combined with the troubles of his son, Chris - who was
arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison for the manslaughter of his sister's
boyfriend. Then, in 1995, his daughter Cheyenne committed suicide.
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Brando was married three times during his life. In 1957 he married Anna Kashfi
- a marriage which only lasted about a year. Then, in 1960, he married Mexican
actress Movita, who starred in the original Mutiny on the Bounty. They
divorced when he met Tarita, a Tahitian beauty who was on the set of the Brando-starring
Bounty. Brando and Tarita later married. In all, Brando had nine children.
Details about Brando's funeral plans were not disclosed, and the arrangements
will likely be private. Flowers will be placed on the Walk of Fame star of Marlon Brando today at 11:00 a.m. on behalf of the Hollywood community. The star is located at 1765 Vine Street, near Yucca Street.
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