The Two Sides of Marlon Brando

Before watching On The Waterfront, my only exposure to any of Marlon Brando’s work was his role as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. I knew of his work but had never taken the time to see any of his other films or learn more about him, so after watching On The Waterfront I decided to learn a little more about Marlon Brando as a person. Besides the obvious facts & figures that can be found about awards he had won and such, something that really caught my eye was this conflicted image of who Marlon Brando really was.

On one hand, Brando was an unbelievably generous and caring person. He used his status as an American icon as a platform to advocate for many social causes. He was particularly involved in the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. In fact, he was so deeply moved by Martin Luther King Jr. and his assassination that he even backed out of a role in The Arrangement, also directed by Elia Kazan, to dedicate his time to promoting the cause (Mell). Here’s a clip I found of Brando on a talk show with other famous actors such as Charlton Heston discussing their views on the civil rights movement.

Civil Rights 1963 – James Baldwin and Marlon Brando

In this clip, he also mentions the mistreatment of Native Americans, another cause Brando advocated for. Brando was particularly bothered by the mistreatment and typecasting of Native Americans in Hollywood. He famously protested this by declining his award for Best Actor for his role in The Godfather, sending a woman named Sacheen Littlefeather to decline his award and nationally address this issue, seen here:

Marlon Brando’s OscarĀ® win for ” The Godfather”

Based on all this, you would assume that Brando is an outstanding and morally good individual. But, on the other hand, after I perused the Internet I discovered that Brando wasn’t always as morally good as his actions may have let on. To pull a quote directly from his biography,

“Although Brando avoids speaking in detail about his marriages, even in his autobiography, it is known that he has been married three times to three ex-actresses. He has at least 11 children. Five of the children are with his three wives, three are with his Guatemalan housekeeper, and the other three children are from affairs. One of Brando’s sons, Christian Brando, told People magazine, “The family kept changing shape. I’d sit down at the breakfast table and say, ‘Who are you?'” (Biography.com Editors)

Along with his promiscuous lifestyle, I learned that his son Christian (quoted in the biography earlier) was also a convicted murderer and served ten years in prison. When Brando was called to the witness stand, he blamed himself for the incident by not being a good enough father to his son. He was quoted as saying, “I tried to be a good father. I did the best I could.” (Biography.com Editors). This created a multi-faceted person for me, and I was very internally conflicted about how I felt about Brando as a person.

Ultimately, it is a judgement call. Public perception praises Brando as an influential and a man of outstanding character, but the reality is that there are several wrenches thrown in that can lead to doubt about his individual character. Personally, I believe that a few transgressions should not defame a man who has done so much good in this world, especially in a world where many actors choose to avoid controversy at all costs. In Brando’s case, the good absolutely outweighs the bad, and I can now see why he is considered one of the greatest actors of his time.

http://www.biography.com/people/marlon-brando-9224306
https://books.google.com/books?id=8AMyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=marlon+brando+the+arrangement&source=bl&ots=V-FF-VUJ7U&sig=KEJeYqMdjnY5zYIHKSloFY47gcg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9gfbIzJHLAhUIPj4KHbLMAGEQ6AEISDAL#v=onepage&q=marlon%20brando%20the%20arrangement&f=false

2 thoughts on “The Two Sides of Marlon Brando

  1. Dan Hofman

    This is really interesting. I can’t believe he declined the Oscar. Like you, I only knew him from “The Godfather” before, and “Apocalypse Now,” so I had never seen him acting in a young role, and was really impressed with “On the Waterfront.” This makes me feel as if I really need to look into more of his stuff.

  2. Maria Cosma

    Great post! And what’s so very interesting is that the same can be said of Charlie Chaplin. His messages in Modern Times and other movies are beautiful: that we should revel in our human qualities and care for one another in hard times. But Chaplin was also an abusive partner who married 16-years-old girls. When Professor Jordan mentioned this in class, I got a little curious, and found a slew of articles on Chaplin’s dark side. Here’s one that sums it up pretty well: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2597412/2-000-lovers-comedy-genius-didnt-like-women-New-book-reveals-Charlie-Chaplins-obsession-young-girls-cruelly-treated-them.html

Leave a Reply