Elizabeth Carswell

COM-290

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando Jr. was born on April 3, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. He was the last child born to Dorthy Pennebaker Brando and Marlon Brando Sr. He has two older sisters Jocelyn and Frances. For a brief period, from 1935 to 1937, his parents separated, but were reunited and moved to Liberty, Illinois in 1937. Brando went on to attend a military boarding school, from which he was soon expelled; this is only one example of his life of rebellion in and out of the movies.

In 1943 he attends the Dramatic Workshop located in New York. This is where Brando learned to use the “method”, this is a concept when actors have to develop every part they play out of the emotion of their own personality (brando). Soon he debuts in Rogers and Hammersteins Broadway production of I Remember Mama. He appears in several other plays for years and finally teams up with Elia Kazan in Tennessee William’s, A Streetcar Named Desire. This is where he explodes to Broadway stardom. “His naturalistic style of acting and his casual, mumbling delivery, under the guidance of Elia Kazan, also heralded the arrival of the ‘method’ as a fashionable style of acting” (Katz). “His performance of Stanley Kowalski, later repeated on film, provided one of our age’s emblematic images, the defining portrait of mass man—shrewd, vulgar, ignorant, a rapacious threat to all that is gentle and civilized in our culture. He gave us something else too, this virtually unknown 23-year-old actor. For when the curtain came down at the Ethel Barrymore Theater Dec. 3, 1947, our standards for performance, our expectations of what an actor should offer us in the way of psychological truth and behavioral honesty, were forever changed” (time). This is when people realized that Brando was going to succeed as an idol for those who followed. His good looks, and unique style that included mumbling, stuttering, and long pauses mid sentence for effect were just a few things that he brought to acting.

The 1950’s are when Brando brings his rebellious and influential personality to the screen. He begins to pave way for actors like James Dean, Paul Newman, and Robert De Niro. His first major role comes in his second film, the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1951. This is where he received his first academy award nomination for his second portrayal of Stanley Kowalski. He was also nominated for his next three films, his role in Viva Zapata (1952), his role as Marc Antony in Julius Caesar (1953), and for his portrayal of the ex-prize fighter Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954). For this he won the Best Actor Oscar.

Throughout the 1950’s Brando rose to the top and became extremely famous. It was his own personality that made him such a powerful artistic force. “Young audiences acclaimed him as the rebellious, nonconforming prototype of the beat generation; older audiences often saw him as an antisocial menace, but audience and critics agreed that he was one of the most original and compelling personalities to appear on the screen in a long time” (Katz). For a brief moment in 1955 Brando abandons this rebel street like character he is popular for, and teams up with Frank Sinatra for the musical Guys and Dolls. Also, in 1955, Brando establishes his own production company, which he calls Pennebaker Productions after his mother’s maiden name. Brando makes his directorial debut in 1961 with One-eyed Jacks in which he produces and stars in as well. He goes on to star in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), which is the first blow of his acting career. After this, he stars in several unsuccessful films that weakened his popular image.

In 1972 Brando makes a remarkable comeback with his portrayal of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. He receives his second Best Actor Oscar for his performance, but rejects the award. He is represented at the awards by a Native America who proclaims, “To his great regret Marlon Brando feels unable to accept his award. The reasons lie in the treatment of the Indian in TV and the movies in this country, and in the recent events at Wounded Knee” (brando). Also in the 1970’s, he starred in films like The Nightcomers (1971), and Superman (1978), and he won another Oscar nomination in 1973 for “his study of middle age sexuality in Bernard Bertolucci’s controversial The Last Tango in Paris” (Katz). This film was the first “x” rated film to be nominated for an Academy Award. He also makes an appearance in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now in 1979.

He was absent from the screen for quite some time and managed to blow up to around 300 pounds, but still remained a great film personality. He comes back and acts in the last of his great roles, A Dry White Season (1989), for which he receives an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor. In 1994 Brandon writes his autobiography, titled Songs My Mother Taught Me. In 2001 he starred alongside Robert De Niro in The Score. Many people consider him one of the most powerful and greatest actors the American screen has ever seen.

His family life was very involved and reflective of his rebellious personality as well. He had three ex-wives and nine children, two of which have unknown names and origins. In the mid 1990’s his son Christian was charged with killing the abusive boyfriend of his pregnant half-sister, Cheyenne. She later committed suicide when called to testify in the trial.

Marlon Brando had a great effect on his fellow actors as well as his family. “Jack Nicholson said it simply and the best, ‘He gave us our freedom’. By which he meant that Brando’s example permitted actors to go beyond characterizations that were merely well made, beautifully spoken and seemly in demeanor; allowed them to play not just a scripts polished text but its rough, conflicting subtext as well” (time).

Bibliography

Katz, E. (2001). Marlon Brando. The film encyclopedia, fourth edition. New York:

HarperCollins Publishers.

http://brando.crosscity.com/HTMLVer/BioMB/BioMB2.asp

http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/brando3.html