Authentic Hollywood

MARLON BRANDO

Dec 13, 2010 Hollywood

A giant in the interpretation of immense influence, the paradigm of interpretation methods of Konstantin Stanislavsky established by the Actors Studio, and symbol maverick of his generation.

Marlon Brando Jr. was born on April 3, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska (United States). He was the youngest son of a trade representative of Irish descent named Marlon Brando and stage actress Dorothy (Dodie) Pennebaker, co-founder of the Omaha Community Playhouse and addicted to alcohol. This addiction led to his death in 1954. Marlon had two older sisters, Jocelyn and Frances.

Rebel from his early youth, Brando was expelled from several schools (including the Shattuck Military School for insubordination), failing to find his career path until he decided to move to early 40 to the city of New York to study first in the New School, under the orders of the director Erwin Piscator, and later at the Actors Studio, under the guidance of Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg.

Brando became one of the greatest exponents of the method, achieving significant successes in the theater world with her performances on Broadway.

After starring in such plays as “I Remember Mama” or “A Streetcar Named Desire” (directed by Elia Kazan, one of the great representatives of the Actors Studio), managed to make the leap to film speaking on “Men” (1950), a great Fred Zinnemann film.

From this interpretation, Marlon Brando and mirror erected an idol of many other actors (including James Dean and Paul Newman), thanks to its impressive presence in films like “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951), directed by Kazan, “Viva Zapata” (1952) also Kazan, starring as Marc Antony in “Julius Caesar” (1952) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, “On the Waterfront” (1954) of Kazan, playing Napoleon in “Desiree” (1954) by Henry Koster, “Savage” (1954) Laslo Benedek, “The Teahouse of the August Moon” ( 1956) by Daniel Mann, “Sayonara” (1957) Joshua Logan, alongside another great actor, Montgomery Clift in The Young Lions “(1958) by Edward Dmytryk,” The Fugitive “(1959), Sidney Lumet, Music or Joseph L. Mankiewicz “Guys and Dolls” (1955), a film in which actor credits shared Omaha Frank Sinatra.

Although the creator of fashions derived from the characters he played (such as the biker look “Savage”), Brando was a very individualistic and lived apart from starry world that surrounded the glamorous Hollywood of the 50.

Before the ’60s Brando had already won an Oscar for his role in “On the Waterfront” and was nominated for “A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata,” “Julius Caesar” and “Sayonara.”

The 60′s were not so fortunate in quality as the previous decade, and its most outstanding films “The Chase” (1966) by Arthur Penn, “Queimada” (1968) by Gillo Pontecorvo, and his only film as director, the phenomenal western “One-Eyed Jacks” (1961), a title co-starring his good friend Karl Malden.

Also in this decade worked with the great Charles Chaplin in “A Countess from Hong Kong” (1967), but overall his career in this period suffered a major commercial and artistic decline.

The 70′s began differently. With his remarkable impersonation of Don Vito Corleone in “The Godfather” (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola for which he won an Academy Award (prize went to collect an alleged native India, was not so, to protest the treatment accorded to the Reds in USA), Brando was back in today at the box office.

A year later with “Last Tango in Paris” (1973), Bernardo Bertolucci film which was a big scandal, Marlon Brando returned to the forefront of cinema.

From here, his appearances became more irregular. His brief appearance in the blockbuster “Superman” (1978) by Jor-El, the father of the hero, he was a large and advertised contract.

Beautifully finished the decade thanks to the movie “Apocalypse Now” (1979), adapted from “The Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad who led Francis Ford Coppola.

Retired from the screen, sometimes with a surprising unexpected return, usually in small roles in minor films and thanks to having the presence of Brando and managed a huge extra publicity (“The Rookie”, “A Dry White Season” or ” Don Juan de Marco “).