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Marlon Brando, 1924-2004:
One of the Greatest Actors of All Time |
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Many actors say he influenced
them more than any other person in the film industry. Transcript of
radio broadcast: |
VOICE
ONE:
I'm
Faith Lapidus.
VOICE
TWO:
And,
I'm Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today, we tell
about actor Marlon Brando. Many critics say he was the greatest actor of all
time. And many actors say he influenced them more than any other person in the
film industry.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
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Marlon Brando |
There
was no public service to honor Marlon Brando when he died in two thousand four
at the age of eighty. The actor's sister, Jocelyn Brando, said he would have
hated such an event. The family held a small private ceremony instead.
Brando
did not seek public attention when he was alive. He protected his private life.
But he was a huge star. This, combined with his personal tragedies and his
politics, made him a special target of the press.
VOICE
TWO:
Marlon
Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska in nineteen twenty-four. He was named after
his father, a salesman, but his family called him Bud. His mother, Dorothy, was
an actress in the local theater. He had two older sisters.
Marlon
Brando's childhood was not happy. His parents drank too much alcohol and argued
often. Dorothy Brando blamed her husband for the failure of her acting career.
The older Marlon Brando did not have a good relationship with his son. In a
book about his life, the actor wrote that his father never had anything good to
say about his son.
VOICE
ONE:
The
Brandos moved many times when Marlon was young. His parents separated when he
was eleven, but they re-united after two years. Young Marlon was always getting
into trouble at school. His father decided to send him to a military school in
Minnesota. Marlon did not do well in classes there. But he did find support for
his interest in theater. A drama teacher urged him to begin acting in plays
there and he did. But he was expelled from the school for getting into trouble.
VOICE
TWO:
Marlon
Brando moved to New York City when he was nineteen years old in nineteen
forty-three. He took acting classes at the New School for Social Research. One
of his teachers was Stella Adler, who taught the "Method" style of
realistic acting. The Method teaches actors how to use their own memories and
emotions to identify with the characters they are playing.
Marlon
Brando learned the Method style quickly and easily. Critics say he was probably
the greatest Method actor ever. One famous actress commented on his natural
ability for it. She said teaching Marlon Brando the Method was like sending a
tiger to jungle school.
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Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar
Named Desire" |
Marlon
Brando appeared in several plays. He got his first major part in a Broadway play
in nineteen forty-seven, at the age of twenty-three. He received great praise
for his powerful performance as Stanley Kowalski in the Tennessee Williams
play, "A Streetcar Named Desire."
His
fame grew when he acted the same part in the movie version, released in
nineteen fifty-one. Brando plays an angry working-class man. His wife's sister,
Blanche, comes to visit them in New Orleans, Louisiana. Blanche's family used
to be rich landowners but they lost all their property. Now she is mentally
unstable. Stanley treats Blanche unkindly and insults her. Here, he tells
Blanche what he thinks about women.
STANLEY:
"I don't go in for that stuff."
BLANCHE:
"What stuff?"
STANLEY:
"Compliments to women about their looks. I never met a dame yet didn't
know if she was good-lookin' or not without bein' told. And there's some of
them that give themselves credit for more than they've got. I once went out
with a dame who told me, 'I'm the glamorous type'…she says 'I am the glamorous
type.' I says 'so what?'"
BLANCHE:
"And what did she say then?"
STANLEY:
"She didn't say nothin'. I shut her up like a clam."
VOICE
ONE:
"Streetcar"
was Brando's second film. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the
performance. He was nominated for Oscars for his next two films as well. In
nineteen fifty-two he played Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata in
the movie "Viva Zapata." The following year he played Marc Antony in
"Julius Caesar."
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In
"On the Waterfront" |
Marlon
Brando did not win an Oscar for Best Actor until nineteen fifty-four for the
movie "On the Waterfront." Many critics consider it his finest
performance. The film's director, Elia Kazan, said it was the best performance
by a male actor in the history of film.
Brando
plays Terry Malloy, a failed boxer. He informs on organized crime leaders,
including his brother, Charlie. His brother had made him lose fights on purpose
so Charlie could make money gambling on the fights. But now, Terry expresses
his regrets about losing the fights.
TERRY
MALLOY: "You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a
contender. I coulda been somebody instead of a bum which is what I am. Let's
face it."
VOICE
TWO:
Marlon
Brando acted in about forty movies. He was nominated for a total of eight
Academy Awards. In his movies, he played a Japanese translator, a German Nazi
military officer and the father of Superman. He even sang in a movie musical
called "Guys and Dolls."
His real life was as colorful as his many movie characters. His love life was
especially active. He married actress Anna Kashfi in nineteen fifty-seven. The
marriage had problems from the start. Their child, a son named Christian, was
born a few months after they married. They separated the next year.
In
nineteen sixty, Brando married Movita Castenada, a Mexican-American actress.
They had two children before they separated in nineteen sixty-two. The same
year, he married a Tahitian actress, Tarita. The two had met while filming the
movie "Mutiny On the Bounty."
Brando's
marriage to Tarita lasted ten years. But his love of Tahiti never ended. In
nineteen sixty-six, he bought a small island near Tahiti. Brando divided his
time between his island and his home in California for the rest of his life.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
Critics
say Marlon Brando began to suffer professionally during and after his work on
"Mutiny on the Bounty." Hollywood directors and producers considered
him difficult to work with. Some critics said the actor appeared to be tired of
acting.
But
that changed in nineteen seventy-two when Brando appeared in "The
Godfather." At first, the film studio officials did not want Brando in the
movie. But the director, Francis Ford Coppola, chose him for the part. The film
was a major critical and financial success. Brando was praised for his
performance as the Godfather, Vito Corleone, the powerful head of a criminal
organization in New York City. He speaks to a man who wants the Godfather to
have someone killed.
VITO
CORLEONE: "If you'd come to me in friendship then this scum that ruined
your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man
like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then
they would fear you."
VOICE
TWO:
Marlon
Brando won the Best Actor Oscar for "The Godfather." But he rejected
it. He sent a woman named Sasheen Littlefeather to speak for him at the Academy
Awards ceremony. She said that Brando could not accept the award because of the
way the American film industry treated Native Americans. The people at the
Academy Awards ceremony did not like the speech. But some experts think the
action helped change the way American Indians were shown in movies.
Marlon
Brando was also active in the civil rights movement. He spoke out against
racism often and forcefully. He marched in demonstrations. And he gave money to
civil rights groups.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
Marlon
Brando had two family tragedies. In nineteen ninety, his son, Christian, shot
and killed a Tahitian man at the family's home in California. The victim, Dag
Drollet, was the boyfriend of Brando's daughter, Cheyenne. Christian Brando
said the killing was accidental. He was found guilty of responsibility in the
death and served almost five years in prison.
During
the trial, Marlon Brando told the court that he and Anna Kashfi had failed
Christian as parents. He also apologized to the Drollet family and said he
wished he could trade places with their son.
VOICE
TWO:
In
nineteen ninety-five, Marlon Brando's daughter Cheyenne killed herself. She had
struggled with mental problems and was still depressed about the killing of her
boyfriend.
Marlon
Brando never made public statements about the death of his daughter. But
reports said he blamed himself. He did not attend his daughter's funeral in
Tahiti.
VOICE
ONE:
In the
following nine years, he made just four more movies. And the parts he played
were small. But his influence on the American film industry was huge. When
Marlon Brando died, many famous actors expressed regret. One of them said
simply: "He was the best."
(MUSIC)
VOICE
TWO:
This
program was written and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE
ONE:
And I'm
Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another People in America in VOA
Special English.