THE BLUFFERS GUIDE TO BRANDO
■ THIS week marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Marlon Brando so here are some facts and figures about the actor.
❑ Marlon Brando Jr was born on April 3, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska, one of three children (he had two elder sisters).
❑ His mother, Dodie, was an actress who smoked, wore trousers and drove cars – all unusual for women of her time. She was also an alcoholic and instrumental in helping Henry Fonda begin his acting career.
❑ Brando disliked his father: “I was his namesake, but nothing I did ever pleased or even interested him. He enjoyed telling me I couldn’t do anything right. He had a habit of telling me I would never amount to anything.”
❑ When he tried to join the army, he was classified 4-F after doctors discovered a football injury left him with a trick knee.
❑ In 1951, he starred as Stanley Kowalski in the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s play A Streetcar Named Desire, a role that he originated on Broadway.
❑ His 1953 film The Wild One was banned in Britain for 15 years because of its violence.
❑ Brando had to audition for The Godfather, below, because by that time he had a poor reputation for his odd behaviour. He slicked back his hair, put boot polish under his eyes and stuffed his cheeks with tissue paper. He went on to win (and refuse) an Oscar for his performance in 1973.
❑ In 1978 he earned $3.7m for three days’ work playing Jor-El, the Man of Steel’s father, in Superman.
❑ Brando originally suggested the part should be played by a glowing, levitating green bagel and he would provide a voiceover. His idea was politely rejected.
❑ Brando won two Oscars and was nominated eight times but he did not learn his lines preferring other actors to “wear” cue cards or have them placed around the set.
❑ He fathered 11 children including son Christian. In May 1990, Christian killed half-sister Cheyenne’s boyfriend Dag Drollet. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served just five years behind bars. Cheyenne was pregnant at the time her boyfriend died.
❑ A year before Christian was released, she committed suicide aged 24 by hanging herself.
❑ Not only did Brando decide to be circumcised in his 60s, he also asked for it to be done without any anaesthetic or painkillers.
❑ In his final years, Brando became friends with Michael Jackson and it was later reported that on September 11, 2001, Brando, Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor shared a rental car to escape New York City.
❑ At the time of his death at age 80, Brando was suffering from congestive heart failure, advanced diabetes, damaged lungs as well as a liver tumour. He died on July 1, 2004.