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Photo of Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando

Actor, Director, Additional Credits
Born April 3, 1924Died July 1, 2004 (80 years)
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. Mankiewicz's 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar; and Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver in Sayonara (1957), an adaptation of James A. Michener's 1954 novel.

The 1960s saw Brando's career take a commercial and critical downturn. He directed and starred in the cult western One-Eyed Jacks, a critical and commercial flop, after which he delivered a series of notable box-office 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 Coppola's 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 Oscar-nominated performance in Last Tango in Paris (1972), Brando reestablished himself in the ranks of top box-office stars.

After a hiatus in the early 1970s, Brando was generally content with being a highly paid character actor in supporting roles, such as Jor-El in Superman (1978), as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), and Adam Steiffel in The Formula (1980), before taking a nine-year break from film. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Brando was paid a record $3.7 million ($16 million in inflation-adjusted dollars) and 11.75% of the gross profits for 13 days' work on Superman.

Brando was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fourth-greatest 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".

Movies & Shows on Plex

  • Apocalypse Now
  • The Island of Dr. Moreau
  • Guys and Dolls
  • One-Eyed Jacks
  • Candy
  • The Nightcomers

Known For

  • The Godfather
  • On the Waterfront
  • Apocalypse Now
  • A Streetcar Named Desire
  • Superman
  • The Score
  • The Island of Dr. Moreau
  • Superman Returns
  • Don Juan DeMarco
  • The Freshman
  • Julius Caesar
  • Guys and Dolls
  • The Wild One
  • The Chase
  • One-Eyed Jacks
  • The Missouri Breaks
  • Sayonara
  • The Young Lions
  • The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980
  • The Fugitive Kind
  • A Countess from Hong Kong
  • Burn!
  • Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
  • Morituri

Filmography

2021
2020
2019
2018
2012
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen · as (archive Footage)
2008
2006
2006
Superman Returns · as Jor-El
2006
2006
Big Bug Man · as Mrs. Sour
2005
2005
1955, Seven Days of Fall · as (archive Footage)
2005
2004
Michael Jackson: The One · as Boss (segment "you Rock My World")
2003
Michael Jackson: Number Ones · as Boss (segment "you Rock My World")
2003
2001
The Score · as Max
1999
1998
Free Money · as Warden Sven 'the Swede' Sorenson
1998
1997
The Brave · as Mccarthy
1996
1996
1994
Don Juan DeMarco · as Dr. Jack Mickler
1992
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 · as Don Vito Corleone
1992
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery · as Tomas De Torquemada
1990
Hollywood Mavericks · as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz
1990
The Freshman · as Carmine Sabatini, Aka Jimmy The Toucan
1990
1989
A Dry White Season · as Ian Mckenzie
1987
Apocalypse Pooh · as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz
1981
1980
The Formula · as Adam Steiffel
1979
Apocalypse Now · as Colonel Walter Kurtz
1979
Roots: The Next Generations (TV Series) · as George Lincoln Rockwell
1978
Superman · as Jor-El
1978
Raoni · as Narrator
1977
The Godfather: A Novel for Television (TV Series) · as Don Vito Corleone
1977
1976
America at the Movies · as Terry Malloy
1976
The Missouri Breaks · as Robert E. Lee Clayton
1972
1972
The Godfather · as Don Vito Corleone
1971
The Nightcomers · as Peter Quint
1969
Burn! · as Sir William Walker
1969
1968
Candy · as Grindl
1967
Reflections in a Golden Eye · as Maj. Weldon Penderton
1967
A Countess from Hong Kong · as Ogden Mears
1966
The Appaloosa · as Matt
1966
The Chase · as Sheriff Calder
1965
Morituri · as Robert Crain
1964
Bedtime Story · as Freddy Benson
1963
The Ugly American · as Ambassador Harrison Carter Macwhite
1962
Mutiny on the Bounty · as First Lieutnant Fletcher Christian
1961
1960
The Fugitive Kind · as Valentine 'snakeskin' Xavier
1958
The Young Lions · as Lt. Christian Diestl
1957
Sayonara · as Major Lloyd Gruver
1956
1955
Guys and Dolls · as Sky Masterson
1954
Désirée · as Napoleon Bonaparte
1954
On the Waterfront · as Terry Malloy
1953
The Wild One · as Johnny Strabler
1953
Julius Caesar · as Mark Antony
1952
Omnibus (TV Series) · as Stanley
1952
Viva Zapata! · as Emiliano Zapata
1951
A Streetcar Named Desire · as Stanley Kowalski
1950
The Men · as Ken
1948
Actors Studio (TV Series) · as Cast

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