Marlon Brando
April 3, 1924 — July 1, 2004
Marlon Brando is widely regarded as the greatest film actor of the twentieth century, a performer whose blazingly naturalistic approach to character — forged at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg — transformed American acting and made him a cultural phenomenon whose influence still shapes how actors work today.
The Method and the Myth
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, on April 3, 1924, Marlon Brando Jr. had a difficult childhood marked by a harsh, alcoholic father and a nurturing but unreliable mother. He moved to New York at 19 and studied with Stella Adler — not Strasberg, despite the popular myth — developing what became known as Method acting: a total psychological immersion in character that prioritized truth over technique. His Broadway debut in I Remember Mama (1944) led to his career-making role as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947, both stage and screen), a performance so electric and raw it became the template for American screen acting.
Two Career Peaks
Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor for On the Waterfront (1954), playing a former prizefighter who takes a stand against mob corruption, and in one of cinema's most famous scenes tells his brother "I coulda been a contender." He then spent the better part of two decades in box office and critical decline. But in 1972, Francis Ford Coppola cast him as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, and Brando's hushed, deliberate, jaw-dropping performance — achieved partly with cotton stuffed into his cheeks to alter his jawline — won him a second Oscar. He famously refused the award, sending Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather to decline it in protest of Hollywood's treatment of Indigenous peoples. The following year he appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial Last Tango in Paris and earned another Oscar nomination.
Did You Know?
During the filming of The Godfather, Marlon Brando was not the studio's first choice — Paramount executives were deeply opposed to his casting, fearing he was "difficult" and past his prime. Producer Robert Evans helped persuade them. Brando's preparation for the role included stuffing his cheeks with cotton wadding (later a dental plate was made), adopting a hushed raspy voice, and doing extensive work to embody the physical presence of an aging don. His screen test silenced all doubters immediately.
Later Years and Enduring Influence
Brando's later career was uneven — marked by massive eccentricity, legendary weight gain, bizarre behavior on film sets, and tragedy in his personal life, including the death of his son Christian who killed his sister's boyfriend. He gave a haunting performance as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979) and continued to work sporadically, on his own terms, according to his own logic. He died on July 1, 2004. Among his admirers: Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, Al Pacino, and virtually every serious male actor of the past seventy years. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the twentieth century.