October 24, 1954 2 Marlon Brando as Napoleon

Screwball or genius? That is the question posed in this Parade magazine cover story about 30-year-old controversial actor Marlon Brando. “There are two schools of thought about this handsome, 5-foot-10 hunk of masculinity,” writer Lloyd Shearer opined. “Bud,” as some friends and fans quoted in the article call him, wowed with his amazing performances (“If he’s not a genius, then I’ve never seen one,” said On the Waterfront director Elia Kazan) and with his hijinks (lighting a sweater on fire in a department store) and “disreputable” dress (so bad Hollywood restaurants wouldn’t serve him). The “screwball-genius” label stuck with Brando his entire life.

Parade,