Tribute to Marlon Brando

[Dances With Rolls]

Marlon Brando, aka Don Octavio, died today. Here is an article about it...

LOS ANGELES (July 2) - 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.''

[Bring Me That Horizon]

I can't believe he died...god. He was such a great actor...brilliant. I just started likeing him too! Why....freakin' why??!!!Today is ruined, all beacuse of aol's stupid news flash...I didn't want him to die. I fon't wanna watch Don Juan any more...oh ship, Johnny immitates him in OUATIM...crap. God I HATE TODAY!!!!!!

[Dances With Rolls]

God, I can't believe it... he was so good!! My mom said that he was sick for awhile. This *pardon the Johnny-pun* BLOWS.

[The High Flyer]

R.I.P Marlon Brando. He was a good man, bless his soul. I had heard he was having some medical problems, and he had jsut went bankrupt. I wish that his last days were worthy even if he was down. R.I.P!!

[Bring Me That Horizon]

Oh, gosh...that makes it 10 times worse! I wish he was just a little happy when he died...oh, boy. Phew...I'm not gonna start again...I'm not gonna start cryin' again...Oh no! Here come the water works!

[Dances With Rolls]

Here's the full article....

LOS ANGELES (July 2) - 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 of lung failure Thursday evening at UCLA Medical Center, said Roxanne Moster, a spokeswoman for the medical center. She didn't give details.

Brando, whose unpredictable behavior made him equally fascinating off the screen, was acclaimed the greatest actor of his generation, a two-time Academy Award winner who influenced some of the best actors of the generation that followed, among them Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson.

''He influenced more young actors of my generation than any actor,'' longtime friend and ''Godfather'' co-star James Caan said Friday through his publicist. ''Anyone who denies this never understood what it was all about.''

Brando 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.

''Whaddya got?'' was his reply.


On the Silver Screen


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 ceaseless 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.

He was schooled at the Actors Studio in New York, learning Method acting in which the performers closely identify with the role of the character they portray. 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.

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 became exposed to the theater through his mother, 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.

[Dances With Rolls]

And here's more.. it was to big to post in one post.

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 play 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).

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 Ford Coppola chose him to play Mafia leader 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 that 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 made TIME's list of the most important people of the 20th century. And EW ranked him fifth on its list of stars who made the movies matter. How do you view Brando?

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 from Wales, 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 committed suicide. She was 25.

Details about funeral plans weren't disclosed. Brando's attorney David J. Seeley in Seattle said arrangements would be private.

[The Caribbean Crusader]

DWR! Thank you for posting that! That was so informative and... wow, I never knew much about him! But I can see now why Johnny was so drawn to him!

Very cool... wow, must ponder all that... *ponders*

[Dances With Rolls]

Thanks CC.. got it from AOL. I also saw a little bit of something on E! about him... they weren't actually that nice. They said that he never really apprieciated acting, etc.. but like you said, I can see why he and Johnny were good together. He was a rebel as well. Sigh... death sucks sometimes. I wonder how Johnny is taking it.

[Little Miss Misfit]

Yeah, I wonder how Johnny is too....
Plain Dealer (Cleveland newspaper):

From 'Streetcar' to 'Godfather,' he revolutionized film acting
Saturday, July 03, 2004
John Petkovic
Plain Dealer Reporter
He rode in like a strapping symbol of sex, youth and rebellion.

He left alone and obese and, by many accounts, a penniless recluse.


From Our Advertiser



But to the end, Marlon Brando was a rebel.

The man who revolutionized modern cinema and is considered the greatest actor of his generation died of lung failure Thursday in a Los Angeles hospital. He was 80.

Services will be private.

Things were always private with Brando, an iconoclast who paid no quarter to the world or what it thought of him. He followed his own muse from the peaks of screen greatness to the depths of personal hell.

Brando appeared in more than 40 films, earned two Oscars and starred in classics such as "The Godfather," "On the Waterfront," "The Wild One" and "Apocalypse Now."

In the process, he rewrote the script for acting and influenced performers from Elvis Presley to Robert DeNiro.

Brando popularized Method acting.

Method acting is a system developed by Konstantin Stanislavsky that stressed an interpretive, psychological approach over the stilted gestures of Hollywood.

In "The Godfather," he spontaneously picked up a cat and started stroking it - a brilliant bit of nuance that revealed the mobster's domestic and animal sides. For his 1950 screen debut "The Men," Brando spent a month in a military hospital "living" his role, a paraplegic war veteran.

But Brando didn't merely relate to brooding, conflicted characters. He was one of them.

Born April 3, 1924, in Omaha, Neb., Marlon Brando Jr. was the youngest of three children. His mother, Dorothy Pennebaker, was an actress. His father sold farming products.

They were both alcoholics in an often tumultuous household. Brando once found his mother naked and drunk in a bar - a scene that inspired the actor's out-of-control finale in Bernardo Bertolucci's X-rated classic, "Last Tango in Paris."

Brando didn't just encounter turbulence, he stoked it with wicked glee. During high school, Brando was a prankster. When he was shipped off to Shattuck Military Academy in Minnesota, he was expelled for bad grades and a bad attitude.

But his encounter with theater at Shattuck inspired him.

In 1943, he moved to New York City, where he worked odd jobs, like ditch digging. He roomed with actor Wally Cox, the voice of the "Underdog" cartoon.

When it came to acting, though, Brando had more serious ambitions. He enrolled in the New School for Social Research's dramatic workshop.

He made an impression on instructor Stella Adler when she asked her students to pretend to be chickens who had just learned an atomic bomb was about to hit them. Instead of running around like a chicken with its head cut off, Brando sat still and pretended to lay an egg.

Nuance as a form of defiance would become his calling card.

Enter "A Streetcar Named Desire."

Brando landed the role in a Broadway adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play thanks to Elia Kazan. The director had seen Brando in the play "I Remember Mama" and was taken by the actor.

Brando's stage performance in "Streetcar" convinced Kazan that he had found his Stanley Kowalski for the movie. Kazan's 1951 classic starring Brando catapulted the actor into the mainstream.

More than that, it upset acting conventions.

Brando's portrayal of the working-class brute runs the gamut from passion to aggression. Some lines are mumbled and jumbled and trail off into nothingness. Others - "Stella!" - reveal a raging soul dying to punch its way out.

The poles of passion and aggression, energy and empathy, would become Brando's playthings in "The Wild One." The 1953 film set the template for the young rebel image.

In it, Brando plays a denim- and-leather-and-T-shirt-clad biker who turns a town upside- down. He's asked, "What are you rebelling against, Johnny?" To which Brando responds, "Whaddya got?"

The line proved to be prophetic.

Brando would spend the rest of his career rebelling against Hollywood, public images of himself, even his own profession.

In "On the Waterfront," Brando played a boxer turned longshoreman who confronts a corrupt union boss on the docks of New York. It will always be the film in which the actor with the most famous lines mumbles his most famous: "I coulda been a contender."

The role earned Brando an Oscar and paid $100,000, a hefty sum at the time. It also provided him with instant clout in a system he reviled.

He took advantage of it, taking on a wide range of roles to varying degrees of success - an army officer in "Sayonara," Napoleon in "Desiree," a suave singing con man in the musical "Guys and Dolls" and a Nazi in "Young Lions."

By the time Brando appeared in the underrated "The Fugitive Kind," playing a moody, wandering musician, he seemed to be making a comeback.

Once you're gone, you can never go back, especially when you're Marlon Brando. Within a few years, the actor had gone from enfant terrible to a megalomaniac, even by Hollywood standards.

His only directorial voyage, 1961's "One-Eyed Jacks," went millions over budget and was turned in more than five hours long. He was also blamed for drowning "Mutiny on the Bounty" with debt. During filming in the South Seas, Brando would throw outlandish parties that required flying in friends and extravagant party favors.

On the set, Brando was just as difficult. Whenever "Mutiny" director Lewis Milestone would shout out instructions, Brando was known to insert ear plugs and feign ignorance.

"I am myself," Brando once said. "And if I have to hit my head against a brick wall to remain myself, I will do it."

Despite his reputation, Brando kept on hitting.

With "The Godfather," he hit on greatness. But it almost wasn't to be.

Director Francis Ford Coppola had to battle studio executives for Brando to play Don Vito Corleone in the 1972 mob classic.

Usually, Brando was notoriously dismissive of roles: "The only reason I'm here is because I don't yet have the moral strength to turn down the money," he once said.

Not so with "The Godfather."

He welcomed the role after stuffing his cheeks with tissues and creating the character at home, in front of the mirror.

It marked a glorious return and won him an Oscar.

But Brando refused the award, instead sending "Sacheen Littlefeather" to the Academy Awards to read a statement attacking Hollywood and America's treatment of American Indians.

As it turned out, the woman was really Maria Cruz, the winner of the 1970 Miss American Vampire competition - and not even an American Indian.

But the episode was telling. For the next 30 or so years, Brando would receive more attention for his off-screen exploits than his on-screen accomplishments.

On screen there was "Last Tango in Paris," perhaps his greatest acting role. Then there was 1979's "Apocalypse Now." Brando not only demanded to be shot only in the shadows, he also refused to read the script or the Joseph Conrad story it was based on.

The rest of his career seemed to play out in the tabloids.

There were stories of Brando padlocking his refrigerator to keep himself from eating. There were three failed marriages. The paternity suits.

In 1990, his son Christian was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of his half-sister Cheyenne's boyfriend. Cheyenne Brando committed suicide in 1995.

And finally, there were recent reports of financial ruin and of Brando, living alone and impoverished in his Mulholland Drive home, having to hide his Oscars from debt collectors.

Then there was the career suicide.

As the forgettable efforts of the last few years attest - "Don Juan DeMarco," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," "The Score" - the man who had revolutionized acting ended up doing it for the money.

But to Brando, even that was an act of rebellion - against his profession and against the trappings of self-importance he so thoroughly despised.

As the man once said, "Would people applaud me if I were a good plumber?"

But what I really want you guys to see is:

As the forgettable efforts of the last few years attest - "Don Juan DeMarco," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," "The Score" - the man who had revolutionized acting ended up doing it for the money.

GRRRRRRRRRR

[The High Flyer]

Due to Marlon's wishes, there will be no Funeral



No Funeral for Brando

Friends and fans of Marlon Brando will be forced to mourn the late screen legend in private, because there will be no funeral. The On The Waterfront icon - who died of lung failure in Los Angeles on Thursday at the age of 80 - rejected proposals to hold a service for him after his passing, insisting there would be "no weeping widow". And his sister Jocelyn has confirmed there won't be a ceremony, because the actor despised the idea of having a congregation of people shedding tears over his absence. She says, "If someone wants to do something, that's there business. But Marlon would have hated it. He wouldn't have liked it and we don't want to do anything he didn't want. He's off on his trip, whatever that is."

[Dances With Rolls]

Hmm, well it's his choice. I guess a funeral wasn't his thing... good finds LMM and HF!

[The High Flyer]

Not specfically a quote from Johnny about Marlon's death, but it is a quote about MArlon that I thought was funny and very....Johnnyish!

Marlon Brando is maybe the greatest actor of the last two centuries. But his mind is much more important than the acting thing. The way that he looks at things, doesn't judge things, the way that he assesses things. He's as important as, uh... who's important today? Jesus, not many people... Stephen Hawking!


- Johnny Depp

[Dances With Rolls]

Oooh, I saw that on Depp Impact.. thanks for posting it HF! It does seem very Johnny-ish.

[The Rolling Rooster]

that's so sad. i was sobbing when i found out.