Brando, Marlon (1924-2004), became the leading American actor of his generation. He popularized the Method style of acting in the 1950’s, which emphasized a strongly psychological technique. Brando first gained fame when he appeared on Broadway in 1947 as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. Brando became a movie star when he repeated the role in the film version in 1951. He won Academy Awards for best actor in On the Waterfront (1954) and The Godfather (1972).
Brando was born on April 3, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. He first appeared on Broadway in 1944. His first motion picture was The Men (1950). His other early films include The Wild One (1953), The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956), and The Young Lions (1958). He directed and starred in One-Eyed Jacks (1961). During the 1960’s and 1970’s, Brando became known for his liberal political activities, especially his support of civil rights for both African Americans and Native Americans. He refused to accept his Academy Award for The Godfather to protest the condition of Indians in the United States. From the early 1970’s until his death, Brando appeared in only a few movies, notably Last Tango in Paris (1973), Superman (1978), Apocalypse Now (1979), A Dry White Season (1989), The Freshman (1990), Don Juan DeMarco (1995), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), and The Score (2001). An autobiography titled Songs My Mother Taught Me was published in 1994. Brando died on July 1, 2004. Brando and the British filmmaker Donald Cammell co-wrote an adventure novel called Fan-Tan, which was published in 2005, after Brando’s death.
