Brando Departs the Scene

Marlon Brando epitomized a form of thespian endeavor that is now known merely as "The Method," which requires the actor to draw on personal experience to take on the character's persona. In his personal life, Mr. Brando had more than enough emotional turmoil upon which to draw, and to actors like Robert Duvall and Martin Sheen, Mr. Brando was the best. If only he had respected his talent and his job.

The Method made him Stanley Kowalski, Terry Malloy and Vito Corleone. For two of these roles he won Oscars, and probably deserved one for the third. Other films, like "Reflections in a Golden Eye," will finally get some attention now that he has gone, and perhaps film fashion will make these roles popular for imitation by would-be Brandos.

However, his behavior off-screen was that of a man who couldn't quite believe that he got paid millions for doing what he did. In turning down the Oscar for "The Godfather" to protest the treatment of Native Americans, he put rather naive politics ahead of craft. In an interview with "Dick Cavett," he likened his business to the lumber business. He probably agreed with Alfred Hitchcock in that "all actors are cattle."

In a career such as his, few will ask what might have been. Yet, he turned down "Lawrence of Arabia" (for which Peter O'Toole will forever be grateful), "The Defiant Ones" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Or what if he had truly rebelled in "The Wild Ones" and made a film in which he believed?

Acting is, of course, no different than the lumber business. Some are good at it, some are bad, few are geniuses. Some make money, some don't. And in the end, the human race would be unrecognizable without it. If Mr. Brando had a failing, it was not seeing quite what his work meant to those around him.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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