Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando Jr April 3 1924 July 1 2004 was an American actor Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century he received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned six decades including two Academy Awards two Golden Globe Awards and three British Academy Film Awards Brando was also an activist for many causes notably the civil rights movement and various Native American movements Having studied with Stella Adler in the 1940s he is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the Stanislavski system of acting and method acting derived from the Stanislavski system to mainstream audiences He initially gained acclaim and his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for reprising the role of Stanley Kowalski in the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire a role that he originated successfully on Broadway He received further praise and a first Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for his performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront and his portrayal of the rebellious motorcycle gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One proved to be a lasting image in popular culture Brando received Academy Award nominations for playing Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata 1952 Mark Antony in Joseph L Mankiewiczs 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeares Julius Caesar and Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver in Sayonara 1957 an adaptation of James A Micheners 1954 novel The 1960s saw Brandos career take a commercial and critical downturn He directed and starred in the cult western OneEyed Jacks a critical and commercial flop after which he delivered a series of notable boxoffice failures beginning with Mutiny on the Bounty 1962 After ten years of underachieving he agreed to do a screen test as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppolas The Godfather 1972 He got the part and subsequently won his second Academy Award and Golden Globe Award in a performance critics consider among his greatest He declined the Academy Award due to alleged mistreatment and misportrayal of Native Americans by Hollywood The Godfather was one of the most commercially successful films of all time and alongside his Oscarnominated performance in Last Tango in Paris 1972 Brando reestablished himself in the ranks of top boxoffice stars After a hiatus in the early 1970s Brando was generally content with being a highly paid character actor in supporting roles such as JorEl in Superman 1978 as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now 1979 and Adam Steiffel in The Formula 1980 before taking a nineyear break from film According to the Guinness Book of World Records Brando was paid a record 37 million 16 million in inflationadjusted dollars and 1175 of the gross profits for 13 days work on Superman Brando was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fourthgreatest movie star among male movie stars whose screen debuts occurred in or before 1950 He was one of only six actors named in 1999 by Time magazine in its list of the 100 Most Important People of the Century In this list Time also designated Brando as the Actor of the Century