Born April 3, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska, Marlon Brando turns 80 years old today.
Now, the guy has often come across like an extremely self-indulgent flake. Coming along after the height of his career, many now might know him more for his, um, eccentricities rather than his actual acting.
But whoo doggies, what a good batch of acting in great movies this guy did. Everybody knows Vito Corleone, the godfather- his last major role (give or take Apocalypse Now). Secondarily, most people know his role from On the Waterfront with the famous "I could have been a contender" speech.
Can't forget that early career-making role in A Streetcar Named Desire, though. He also cast an iconic role in 1953 as the tender-hearted badass biker, The Wild One.
Not that it's all because of Brando particularly, but his performance that has had my attention a lot in the last several year is Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls with Sinatra and Jean Simmons.
He was just the kind of guy to deliver delightfully contrived faux-hipster speeches such as this bit of advice from his father:
One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken. Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you're going to wind up with an ear full of cider.
Happy birthday, Marlon!
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
What a great actor he was in his prime Al. Just when I am sick of him after such films as The Freshman or The Formula, I'll watch him in On the Waterfront again and realize he was one of the great actors of all time. What a fantastic film that was, fierce, poetic, artistic. It's one of the hallmark films of all time. Any film he starred in from this era was raised several notches by his incredible intensity and presence......
2 - Al Barger
Also what an exceptional physical specimen he was. I'm not even gay, but just look at the cover up in the Amazon links for the Streetcar book.
3 - bhw
Rrrrrrrrow!
4 - Chris Kent
lol.....I don't know if I would consider Mr. Brando a great physical specimen, especially after seeing him later in life.......but he does have a spark. All one has to do is to see him in The Last Tango in Paris to see that.......a truly classic film, and one of his greatest performances.