Marlon Brando, Jr. is considered to be one of the most important actors of the American stage and screen in the twentieth century, as well as a very healthy sex symbol. Often associated with Lee Strasberg and The Method School of acting, he consistently denied its having had any influence on him, and instead gave credit to Stella Adler and the Stanislavski System. Marlon gained initial stardom in the role of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, the 1951 reprise of the Tennessee Williams play he had debuted on Broadway in 1947. His smoldering good looks and tough-guy persona seemed to be a shell masking an infinitely tender and sensitive man inside, as epitomized in his work in On The Waterfront in 1954. Some of Marlon’s most famous roles were in such movies as Guys and Dolls, Mutiny on the Bounty, Apocalypse Now, Last Tango in Paris, Superman, and of course, The Godfather. Nominated several times for the Academy Awards, he finally won for this film in 1972, and famously sent a Native American woman in his place to decline the prize. Marlon’s off-screen life was every bit as dramatic as his on-screen, as he married and divorced several times, fathered 12 children, and supported his son during the latter’s trial for killing Brando’s daughter’s boyfriend. His daughter later committed suicide and his son, Christian, died at age 49. Marlon espoused many social causes over the years, particularly on behalf of Native Americans and African Americans, and was quite obviously not a mainstream kind of guy. Once the epitome of dangerous cool, Marlon famously gained an immense amount of weight in his later years, and appeared in many forgettable roles. Nonetheless, when one says “Marlonâ€, one thinks only of Brando – his legacy is undeniably permanent and extraordinary. No doubt about it – he was a contender!
