R.I.P Marlon Brando
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Beitrag von Martin Abend vom Juli 02. 2004 um 22:35:59:
Marlon Brando, who revolutionized American acting with his Method
performances in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "On the Waterfront" and
went on to create the iconic character of Don Vito Corleone in "The
Godfather," has died. He was 80.
Brando died at an undisclosed Los Angeles hospital Thursday, attorney
David J. Seeley said Friday. The cause of death was being withheld,
Seeley said, noting the actor "was a very private man."
Brando, whose unpredictable behavior made him equally fascinating off
the screen, was acclaimed the greatest actor of his generation, a
two-time winner of the Academy Award who influenced some of the best
actors of the generation that followed, among them Al Pacino, Robert De
Niro and Jack Nicholson.
He was the unforgettable embodiment of the brutish Stanley Kowalski of
"A Streetcar Named Desire," the mixed up Terry Malloy of "On the
Waterfront" (which won him his first Oscar) and the wily Corleone of
"The Godfather."
But his private life may best be defined by a line from "The Wild
One," in which Brando, playing a motorcycle gang leader, is asked what
he's rebelling against.
"Whattaya got?" was his famous reply.
His image was a studio's nightmare. Millions of words were written
about his weight, his many romances and three marriages, his tireless
-- and, for some, tiresome -- support of the American Indian and other
causes, his battles with film producers and directors, his refuge on a
Tahitian isle.
His most famous act of rebellion was his refusal in 1973 to accept the
best actor Oscar for "The Godfather." Instead, he sent a woman who
called herself Sasheen Littlefeather to read a diatribe about
Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans.
It was roundly booed.
Brando's private life turned tragic years later with his son's
conviction for killing the boyfriend of his half sister, Cheyenne
Brando, in 1990. Five years later, Cheyenne committed suicide, still
depressed over the killing.
Still, the undying spotlight never made him conform.
"I am myself," he once declared, "and if I have to hit my head against
a brick wall to remain true to myself, I will do it."
Nothing could diminish his reputation as an actor of startling power
and invention.
Starting with Kowalski in the stage version of "A Streetcar Named
Desire" and a startling series of screen portrayals, Brando changed the
nature of American acting.
Schooled at the Actors Studio in New York, he created a naturalism
that was sometimes derided for its mumbling, grungy attitudes. But
audiences were electrified, and a new generation of actors adopted his
style.
Marlon Brando Jr. came from the American heartland, born in Omaha,
Neb., on April 3, 1924. He was a distant, conservative man of French,
English and Irish stock; the original family name was Brandeau.
His mother, the former Dorothy Pennebaker, was small, willowy,
compassionate and filled with creative energy. Her ambitions often were
unrealized, and she underwent periods of problem drinking. She had
given birth to two daughters, Frances and Jocelyn, before Marlon was
born.
He grew up a pudgy, mischievous boy who was called Bud to distinguish
him from his father. Jocelyn was charged with getting Bud to
kindergarten, a difficult task. She solved it by leading him on a
leash.
Young Marlon first became exposed to the theater through his mother,
who became a leader and occasional actress in the Omaha Community
Playhouse. When a leading man dropped out of a play, she pleaded with a
young neighbor just home from college to take the role. Henry Fonda
reluctantly agreed. Mrs. Brando also encouraged another young Omaha
native, Dorothy McGuire.
The lives of Dorothy Brando and her children were upset when the
father was transferred to Evanston, Ill., when Bud was 6. The family
later moved to Santa Ana, Calif., and finally to Libertyville, Ill.
Bud was constantly being reprimanded for misbehavior at school,
infuriating his father. The boy also displayed a talent for playacting,
both in elaborate pranks and in plays and recitations. He proved a
skilled pantomimist, especially in his depiction of the death of John
Dillinger.
His exasperated father sent the boy to military school in an effort to
instill discipline. He was expelled. Unable to join the war because of
4-F status, Brando at 19 moved to New York and stayed with his sister
Frances, an art student.
Jocelyn Brando studied acting with Stella Adler, and Marlon decided to
join her. It changed his life. After a week with the young man, Adler
declared: "Within a year, Marlon Brando will be the best young actor in
the American theater."
It took longer. He appeared in such plays as "I Remember Mama," "A
Flag is Born" (a Jewish pageant with Paul Muni) and "Truckline Cafe."
The latter was directed by Elia Kazan, who would remember him for "A
Streetcar Named Desire" in 1947.
The Tennessee Williams made Brando famous, and his first signs of
discomfort emerged. The press made much of his motorcycle, leather
jackets and T-shirts, his bongo drum playing. He hated the clamor of
fans and suffered through interviews.
The image of Stanley seemed to have fallen on Brando, and he once
protested to an interviewer: "Kowalski was always right, and never
afraid. He never wondered, he never doubted. His ego was very secure.
And he had the kind of brutal aggressiveness that I hate. I'm afraid of
it. I detest the character."
Brando suffered through the tedium of his two-year contract with
"Streetcar," and he never appeared in another play. For his first film
he declined several big studio offers and joined independent Stanley
Kramer for "The Men" in 1950. To research the story of paraplegic war
veterans, he spent a month in a Veterans Administration hospital.
His impact on screen acting was demonstrated by Academy nominations as
best actor in four successive years: as Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named
Desire" (1951); as the Mexican revolutionary in "Viva Zapata!" (1952);
as Marc Anthony in "Julius Caesar" (1953); and as Terry Malloy in "On
the Waterfront" (1954). The latter brought his first Oscar.
Although he remained in Hollywood, he refused to be part of it.
"Hollywood is ruled by fear and love of money," he told a reporter.
"But it can't rule me because I'm not afraid of anything and I don't
love money."
His films after "Waterfront" failed to challenge his unique talent.
Most were commercial enterprises: "Desiree," "Guys and Dolls," "The
Teahouse of the August Moon," "Sayonara," "The Young Lions." He tried
directing himself in a Western, "One-eyed Jacks," going wildly over
budget.
A remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty" in 1962, with Brando as Fletcher
Christian, seemed to bolster his reputation as a difficult star. He was
blamed for a change in directors and a runaway budget though he
disclaimed responsibility for either.
The "Bounty" experience affected Brando's life in a profound way: he
fell in love with Tahiti and its people. Tahitian beauty Tarita who
appeared in the film became his third wife and mother of two of his
children. He bought an island, Tetiaroa, which he intended to make part
environmental laboratory and part resort.
Although he remained a leading star, Brando's career waned in the '60s
with a series of failures. He was impressive, however, in several
movies, among them the comedy "Bedtime Story" and the John Huston drama
"Reflections in a Golden Eye."
His box office power seemed finished until Francis Coppola chose him
to play Mafia leader Don Corleone in "The Godfather" in 1972. The film
was an overwhelming critical and commercial success and Brando's jowly,
raspy-voiced Don became one of the screen's most unforgettable
characters.
"I don't think the film is about the Mafia at all," Brando told
Newsweek. "I think it is about the corporate mind. In a way, the Mafia
is the best example of capitalists we have."
The actor followed with "Last Tango in Paris." One of his greatest
performances was overshadowed by an uproar over the erotic nature of
the Bernardo Bertolucci film.
In his memoir, "Songs My Mother Taught Me," Brando wrote of being
emotionally drained by "Last Tango," an improvised film which included
several autobiographical speeches.
Most of his later films were undistinguished. One hundred pounds
heavier, he hired himself out at huge salaries for such commercial
enterprises as "Superman" and "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery."
He was more effective as the insane army officer in Coppola's
"Apocalypse Now" and parodying his "Godfather" role in the hit comedy
"The Freshman."
His crusades for civil rights, the American Indian and other causes
kept him in the public eye throughout his career. So did his romances
and marriages. He married actress Anna Kashfi in 1957, believing her to
be East Indian. She was revealed to be Irish, and they separated a year
later.
In 1960 he married a Mexican actress, Movita, who had appeared in the
first "Mutiny on the Bounty." They were divorced after he met Tarita.
All three wives were pregnant when he married them. He had nine
children.
In May 1990, Brando's first son, Christian, shot and killed Dag
Drollet, 26, the Tahitian lover of Christian's half sister Cheyenne, at
the family's hilltop home above Beverly Hills. Christian, 31, claimed
the shooting was accidental.
After a heavily publicized trial, Christian was found guilty of
voluntary manslaughter and use of a gun. He was sentenced to 10 years.
Before the sentencing, Marlon Brando delivered an hour of rambling
testimony in which he said he and his ex-wife had failed Christian. He
commented softly to members of the Drollet family: "I'm sorry. ... If I
could trade places with Dag, I would. I'm prepared for the
consequences."
Afterward, Drollet's father said he thought Marlon Brando was acting
and his son was "getting away with murder."
The tragedy was compounded in 1995, when Cheyenne, said to still be
depressed over Drollet's death, committed suicide. She was 25.
Details about funeral plans weren't disclosed and Seeley said
arrangements would be private.
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