Marlon Brando was one of only three professional actors, along with Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) and Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962), to be included in Time magazine’s 1999 list of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. Brando was also an activist, supporting a number of causes, most notably the civil rights movement for blacks in the United States and various movements in defense of American Indians.
Marlon Brando is best known for his roles as the gay Army officer “Weldon Penderton” in “Reflections in a Golden Eye” (1967). This role was one of his most acclaimed. He also played “Stanley Kowalski” in “A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951); “Emiliano Zapata” in “Viva Zapata!” (1952); “Mark Antony” in MGM’s Shakespeare (1564–1616) adaptation: “Julius Caesar” (1953); and boxer “Terry Malloy” in “On the Waterfront” (1954), During the 1970s, he gained notoriety for his Academy Award-winning performance as “Don Vito Corleone” in “The Godfather” (1972); and his role as “Colonel Walter Kurtz” in “Apocalypse Now” (1979), both directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1939–). Brando also received an Oscar nomination for his controversial performance as “Paul” in “Last Tango in Paris” (1972), but did not win the award.
The cult western “One-Eyed Jacks” (1961), in which he played bank robber “Rio”, was a critical and commercial failure, after which he had a series of notable box office failures, beginning with “Mutiny on the Bounty” (1962), playing the character “Fletcher Christian”.
Brando earned a reputation as a “bad boy” for his public outbursts. “The Godfather” is one such controversial moment for the actor, as he refused to accept his second Academy Award for Best Actor. At the 1973 ceremony, indigenous American actress and model Marie Louise Cruz, better known as Sacheen Little Feather (1946–2022) represented him. She appeared in full Apache garb and declared that: “Due to the poor treatment of Native Americans in the motion picture industry, Brando would not accept the award”. This Oscar statuette for Best Actor was eventually stolen. Days later, it turned up at an auction house in London, England, which contacted the actor and informed him of its whereabouts.
In addition to the 2 Academy Awards for Best Actor, Brando won 5 Golden Globe Awards, Henrietta Awards: 1956, 1973, and 1974; Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama: 1955 and 1973; 3 BAFTA Film Awards: Best Foreign Actor: 1953, 1954, and 1955 and 1 Primetime Emmy Award: Best Supporting Actor: 1979.
Marlon Brando has a star on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame at 1765 Vine Street in the motion picture category.
Marlon Brando Jr. was born on April 3, 1924, in Omaha, United States, and died on July 1, 2004, in Los Angeles, United States, at the age of 80.
Homosexuality and love life: Brando was known for his tumultuous personal life and his large number of partners and children. He fathered more than 11 children, three of whom were (allegedly) adopted. In a 1976 interview with a French journalist, he said: “Homosexuality is so fashionable that it is no longer news. Like many men, I have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think of me. But if there are people who are convinced that Jack Nicholson (1937–) and I are lovers, and who continue to maintain that relationship, I find it funny”. In 2018, Quincy Jones (1933–2024) and American journalist Jennifer Lee (1971–) alleged that Brando had a homosexual relationship with comedian and “Superman III”, co-star Richard Franklin Lenox Thomas Pryor (1940–2005). Pryor’s daughter, actress Rain Pryor (1969–), disputes this claim.
In his autobiography “Songs My Mother Taught Me” (1994), Brando wrote that he met Marilyn Monroe at a party where she was playing the piano unnoticed. Brando and Monroe had an on-and-off relationship for many years, and that he received a phone call from her a few days before Hollywood’s most famous blonde died. He also claimed to have had several other affairs, although he did not name many of them or give many details about his marriages and children in this autobiography. What is known is that Brando met Japanese actress and dancer Reiko Sato (1931–1981) in the early 1950s; they had a relationship for several years. Although the relationship cooled, they remained friends for the rest of Sato’s life. Brando later fell in love with Mexican actress Katy Jurado (1924–2002) after seeing her in the film “High Noon” (1952). They met while Brando was filming “Viva Zapata!” in Mexico (that same year). The relationship lasted for years after they worked together on “One-Eyed Jacks”, a film directed by Brando. After this relationship, in 1954, Brando met Puerto Rican actress, singer, and dancer Rita Moreno (1931–) and began a torrid relationship. Moreno revealed in her memoirs that when she became pregnant with Brando, he arranged an abortion for her. After the abortion, she attempted suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills mixed with whiskey. Years after their breakup, Rita played a romantic lead with Brando in the film “The Night of the Following Day” (1969). In 1957, Brando married British actress Anna Kashfi (1934–2015). Kashfi, who was born in Calcutta, moved from India to Wales in 1947. In 1960, Brando married Movita Castaneda (1916–2015), a Mexican-American actress eight years his senior; the marriage was annulled in 1968 after it was discovered that the actor’s previous marriage was still active. Castaneda starred with Marlon in “Mutiny on the Bounty” (1935), some 27 years before the remake of (1962) with Brando as “Fletcher Christian”. They had two children together: Miko Castaneda Brando (1961–) and Rebecca Brando (1966–). French actress Tarita Teriipaia (1941–), who played the leading lady “Maimiti” opposite Brando in “Mutiny on the Bounty” (1962), became his third wife on August 10, 1962. She was 20 years younger than Brando, and the actor was reportedly charmed by her naivety. As Teriipaia was a native French speaker, Brando became fluent in the language and gave numerous interviews in French. Teriipaia became the mother of two of his children: Simon Teihotu Brando (1963–) and Tarita Cheyenne Brando (1970–). Brando also adopted Teriipaia’s daughter Maimiti Brando (1977–) and niece Raiatua Brando (1982–). Brando and Teriipaia divorced in July 1972. After Brando’s death, actress Cynthia Lynn’s (1937–2014) daughter Lisa Brando (1964–) alleged that the actor had a short-lived affair with her mother, who starred as the character “Frieda” opposite Brando in “Bedtime Story” (1964), and that this affair resulted in her birth. In the late 1960s and early 1980s, he had a tempestuous and long-term relationship with the beautiful American actress Jill Banner (1946–1982). Brando also had a long-term relationship with his housekeeper Maria Cristina Ruiz (1949–), with whom he had three children: Ninna Priscilla Brando (1989–), Myles Jonathan Brando (1992–), and Timothy Gahan Brando (1994–). Brando also adopted Petra Brando-Corval (1972–), the daughter of his assistant Caroline Barrett (1942–) and Australian novelist James Clavell (1921–1994). Many biographers of Marlon Brando believe that Petra is another legitimate daughter of the actor. American actor Stephen Blackehart (1967–) is considered another of Brando’s children, but Blackehart disputes this claim.
