In 1973, Marlon Brando pulled off one of the most audacious stunts in Hollywood history. As the world waited for him to collect his Oscar for The Godfather (1972), a young Indigenous activist, Sacheen Littlefeather took the stage instead. With quiet dignity, Littlefeather바카라whose activism was subsequently tainted as her tribal roots were posthumously questioned바카라announced that Brando was rejecting the award in protest of Hollywood바카라s mistreatment of Native Americans. The audience gasped. Some cheered. John Wayne reportedly had to be restrained backstage from attacking her. This was Brando at his best바카라bold, political, and unwilling to play by Hollywood바카라s rules.
Brando was openly bisexual at a time when Hollywood was far from accepting. In a 1976 interview, he admitted, 바카라Homosexuality is so much in fashion, it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I too have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed.바카라 While this revelation was radical for its time, Brando바카라s immense stardom shielded him from the kind of career-ending backlash that other queer actors faced. Steeped in rigid notions of manhood, the industry largely chose to ignore his words. Among his fans, his bisexuality was either fetishised or downplayed. But Brando바카라s defiance of labels only added to his aura. He was an icon of rebellion바카라on-screen and off.
Brando바카라s arrival in Hollywood in the 1950s was like a hurricane. With A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), he wasn바카라t just acting바카라he was being. His Stanley Kowalski dripped with unrefined animalistic energy, a blueprint for every tortured antihero that would follow. His performance, replete with his signature mumbling diction, in On the Waterfront (1954) remains a masterclass in wounded masculinity, gifting us the immortal 바카라I coulda been a contender바카라 monologue. Born out of improvisation and method madness, this scene is considered one of the greatest moments in cinema history. And then there was The Godfather (1972), where he disappeared into Don Corleone, crafting a character so mythic, it has threatened to eclipse everything else the actor achieved.
Elia Kazan바카라s On the Waterfront바카라which led to some calling him the original angry young man바카라earned Brando his first Oscar. Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Mario Puzo's 1969 bestselling novel got him his second trophy. His raw, defiant energy in films like A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront made him a cultural icon of youth disillusionment and rebellion. With these roles Brando got to redefine masculinity. He portrayed men who were emotionally complex, vulnerable, and flawed. Unlike the stoic, invulnerable heroes of Hollywood바카라s golden age, his characters were sensitive and burdened by inner turmoil.
He was a maverick who reshaped cinema but self-destructed in the process. Today, 101 years after his birth, we can only sift through the life and choices of the legend. We can try to separate the brilliance from the self-indulgence, the humanist from the abuser, the genius from the wreckage he left behind.
Brando, the paradox
From Johnny Strabler in The Wild One (1953) to Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), Brando바카라s filmography is studded with paradigm shifting roles. By the time he stepped onto the set of Apocalypse Now, Brando had already cemented himself as a rebellious icon바카라the face of the so-called 바카라generation gap.바카라 However, his unpredictable brilliance meant that Brando was a titan who was also a paradox.
His chaotic on-set behaviour mirrored the madness of his Apocalypse Now character, Colonel Kurtz. From reports of showing up overweight on location in the Philippines, insisting on wearing black and being filmed in shadow to conceal his physical appearance to not having read Joseph Conrad's 1899 novel Heart of Darkness (the inspiration for the epic war film Apocalypse Now), Brando바카라s brand had started faltering. Coppola, already drowning in the film바카라s haywire production, had to reshape Kurtz바카라s character entirely around Brando바카라s whims.
His disruptive streak wasn바카라t new. He was nearly fired from the 1945 stage production of The Eagle Has Two Heads for pulling pranks and refusing direction. Decades later, he hadn바카라t changed바카라frustrating directors with his erratic behaviour, earpiece-fed lines, insistence on having cue cards strewn about the set or stuck to his co-actors, and an open disdain for the craft he once helped revolutionise. His early rebellious streak, once charming, now made him exhausting.
The Method Man
Brando popularised Method acting, bringing Stanislavski바카라s system to Hollywood바카라s doorstep. If you바카라ve ever rolled your eyes at an actor바카라be it Jared Leto or Lady Gaga바카라using "Method" to make everyone around them miserable, you can probably blame Brando. As recently as 2023, Brian Cox called his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong바카라s immersive acting 바카라fucking annoying.바카라 But Coppola defended Brando바카라s intensity, believing it was inseparable from his genius.
He may have ushered in a new era in Hollywood, which steadily shifted away from the theatrical high histrionics to more naturalistic acting, but to discuss Brando바카라s legacy without confronting his darkest moments would be dishonest. One of the most chilling stories from his career comes from Last Tango in Paris (1972), a film now remembered more for the abuse that happened behind the scenes than for its cinematic merit. Just a year earlier, Brando had conspired with director Bernardo Bertolucci to do something that would forever traumatise his then 19-year-old co-star, Maria Schneider.
On the set of Last Tango in Paris (1972), Bertolucci and Brando orchestrated a rape scene, the methodology of which was crafted without Schneider바카라s consent. Brando바카라s ageing widower Paul was going to use butter to anally rape his young paramour, Schneider바카라s Jeanne. Bertolucci wanted 바카라to get a more realistic response바카라 and hence did not inform Schneider about this till they were about to shoot the scene. Schneider found this humiliating and despite protest, had to participate while crying throughout the scene. Brando later expressed regret, but regret is cheap when it comes after irreparable harm.
Even though Schneider wanted to move past this moment, it ended up defining much of her career. A 2024 biographical drama, Being Maria explored Schneider바카라s lasting trauma, focusing on the abusive making of Last Tango in Paris and the industry바카라s complicity in silencing her.
The Inevitable Reckoning
Brando바카라s later career is a graveyard of squandered potential. Films like The Island of Dr. Moreau saw him barely trying, slathered in white paint, wearing an ice bucket hat, humiliating both himself and his legacy. Roger Ebert described it as 바카라perhaps [Brando's] worst film바카라.
Ron Hutchinson, the screenplay writer of The Island of Dr. Moreau, wrote about the experience in his memoir, 바카라It was an island of crazy people바카라an awful experience.바카라 He described Brando as 바카라overweight, unprepared, mocking, dismissive,바카라 while fully believing he was out there to sabotage the 바카라$40m train wreck바카라 movie.
From his refusal to memorise his lines to his eventual notorious reclusiveness, he turned himself into a tragic spectacle. The 바카라Method바카라 was no longer a technique; it had swallowed him whole.
Brando바카라s life is a testament to both the heights of artistic triumph and the depths of human failure. He was, at times, a mensch바카라a man who fought for indigenous rights, who spoke out against racism in Hollywood, who used his power to amplify the voices of the oppressed. But he was also a man who wielded his own power selfishly, destructively, and often without remorse.
He defied the establishment and was also capable of profound cruelty. Brando grew up in a volatile household with an abusive father and an alcoholic mother. His own tumultuous relationships and destructive tendencies reflect the cycle of intergenerational trauma, where the wounds of one generation manifest in the next through patterns of neglect, abuse, and emotional instability.
Tarita Teriipaia, Brando바카라s third wife, accused him of domestic violence and psychological torment. In her memoir, Marlon, My Love & My Torment, she wrote of Brando바카라s emotional cruelty and manipulation, describing how he kept her isolated and controlled her life. She was a rising star when they met during the filming of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), but after their marriage, she largely withdrew from acting.
A century after his birth, we can celebrate his art but not sanctify the man. You cannot separate the art from the artist when his shadow looms so large. To commemorate Brando properly is to remember him entirely바카라the great actor, the disruptor, the self-saboteur, the abuser, the activist, the tragedy.
Debiparna Chakraborty is an independent Film, TV and Pop Culture journalist who has been feeding into the great sucking maw of the internet since 2010.
