Marlon Brando Biography 2022
Biography of Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, 1924-2004, American actor. As one of the most influential actors of his generation, Marlon Brando, in the 1950s, stood for a new acting style, the so-called method acting from the Actors' Studio in New York.
In a break with the sober form of expression of the 1940s, he represented an emotional identification with the character's psychology in roles built on intensely felt details and motivations in the characters.
To the roles, Marlon Brando brought his radiance of vulnerable, groping rebel, quickly making him the symbol of a new generation's showdown with the authorities.
Elia Kazan, one of the founders of the Actors' Studio, gave Brando his breakthrough on the stage with Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947 and had him reprise the role on film in 1951 (Ascension to Paradise) to the same effect.
Marlon Brando got his definitive star role as the motorcycle gang leader in The Wild One (1954), where the inarticulate rebellion of the time was felt in the restrained movements of the body and the murmur of the aloof face. This style triumphed in On The Waterfront (1954).
As Marcus Antonius in Julius Caesar (1953), Brando had proven that he could combine his distinctiveness with William Shakespeare's rhetorical mastery. Still, gradually, he began to stiffen in the manner and was often misplaced in historical roles or comedies. Only One-Eyed Jacks (1961) had some original sparks in his self-aggrandizing and spectacular staging and John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967).
Marlon Brando made a veritable comeback in 1972 with The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris, but since then mainly chosen to use his regained popularity in jarring, monumental guest roles.
last updated September 2022
