Marlon Brando
Born
April 3, 1924
Died
July 1, 2004 (80 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
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".

Marlon Brando's Tahitian Mirage
Self (archive) - subject
2025

Marlon Brando in Paradise
Self - Actor (archive footage)
2024

Martin Scorsese, l'Italo-Américain
Self
2023

Sly
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2023

Star 67
Prank Call Voice
2023

Johnny Depp: The Love of the Bizarre
Self (archive footage)
2023

The Brando Interregnum: The Decade of Marlon's Dirty Dozen 1962-1972
Himself
2022

Becoming Al Pacino
Self (archive footage)
2022

Mr. Saturday Night
2021

Daniel Day-Lewis: The Hollywood Genius
Himself (archive footage)
2021

Val
Self (archive footage)
2021

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It
Self (archive footage)
2021

kid 90
Self (archive footage)
2021
Quentin Tarantino: From a Movie Buff to a Hollywood Legend
Self (archive footage)
2021

Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth
Self (archive footage)
2020

Sophia Loren, a special destiny
Self (archive footage)
2019

Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
(archive footage)
2019

Sacheen: Breaking the Silence
Self (archive footage)
2019

Making Montgomery Clift
Self (archive footage)
2018

The Madding Crowd
Self (archive footage)
2017

Listen to Me Marlon
Self (voice) (archive footage)
2015

Tab Hunter Confidential
Self (archive footage)
2015

Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
Self - Actor / Various Roles (archive footage)
2014

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau
Self (archive footage)
2014

The Sixties
Self - Civil Rights Activist (archive footage) · (1 episode)
2014

And the Oscar Goes To...
Self (archive footage)
2014

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
(archive footage)
2012

Hollywood Invasion
Self (archive footage)
2011

Smash His Camera
Self (archive footage)
2010

Ballybrando
Self (archive footage)
2009

The Last Days of Marlon Brando
Self (archive footage)
2008

Brando: An Icon Is Born
Himself (archive footage)
2007

Brando
Self (archive footage)
2007

Brando: The Documentary
Self · (2 episodes)
2007

You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman
Self (archive footage)
2006

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Jor-El
2006

Albert Maysles: The Poetic Eye
Self (archival)
2006

Superman Returns
Jor-El
2006

Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman
Self (archive footage)
2006

An Actor Named Brando
Self (archive footage)
2006

The Godfather and the Mob
Self (archive footage)
2006

Lost in "The Thinking"
Jor-El (archive footage)
2005

1955, Seven Days of Fall
(archive footage)
2005

Behind the scenes: Last Tango in Paris
Self (archive footage)
2004

Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
Self(archive footage) (uncredited)
2004

Celebrities Uncensored
Self · (1 episode)
2003

Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Self (archive footage)
2003

Naqoyqatsi
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2002

Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration
Self
2001

Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
Self (archive footage)
2001

The Score
Max
2001

A Huey P. Newton Story
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2001

Taking Flight: The Development of 'Superman'
Self
2001

Making 'Superman': Filming the Legend
Self
2001

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1999

Free Money
Warden Sven 'The Swede' Sorenson
1998

Lee Marvin: A Personal Portrait by John Boorman
Self (archive footage)
1998

The Brave
McCarthy
1997

The Island of Dr. Moreau
Dr. Moreau
1996

E! True Hollywood Story
(1 episode)
1996

All Power to the People!
Self (archive footage)
1996

Divine Rapture
1995

Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
Stanley Kowalski / Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier (archive footage)
1994

Don Juan DeMarco
Dr. Jack Mickler
1994

Marlon Brando: The Wild One
Self (archive footage)
1994

The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980
Don Vito Corleone
1992

Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
Tomas de Torquemada
1992

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Self
1991

Movie Tough Guys
Self (archive footage)
1991

Anthony Quinn: An Original
Self (archive footage)
1990

The Freshman
Carmine Sabatini, aka Jimmy The Toucan
1990

The Godfather Family: A Look Inside
Self / Don Vito Corleone (archive footage)
1990

A Dry White Season
Ian McKenzie
1989
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
Himself
1989

Black Leather Jacket
Johnny Strabler (segment "The Wild One") (archive footage)
1989

Hello Actors Studio
Self (archive footage)
1988

John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1988

Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
Self (archive footage)
1988

Montgomery Clift: The Hidden Star
Self (archive footage)
1987

The Making of 'Superman: The Movie'
Self
1982

The Godfather 1901–1959: The Complete Epic
Don Vito Corleone
1981

The Formula
Adam Steiffel
1980

Apocalypse Now
Colonel Walter Kurtz
1979

Roots: The Next Generations
George Lincoln Rockwell · (7 episodes)
1979

Superman
Jor-El
1978
Raoni
Narrator
1978

Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television
Don Vito Corleone · (4 episodes)
1977

The Hollywood Greats
(1 episode)
1977

The Missouri Breaks
Robert E. Lee Clayton
1976

Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1974

Last Tango in Paris
Paul
1972

The Godfather
Don Vito Corleone
1972
Midi trente
Self · (1 episode)
1972

The Nightcomers
Peter Quint
1972
The Godfather: Behind the Scenes
Self
1971

King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
Self (archive footage)
1970

Burn!
Sir William Walker
1969

The Night of the Following Day
Chauffeur
1969

Candy
Grindl
1968

The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest · (1 episode)
1968

The Movie Orgy
Self (archive footage)
1968

Reflections in a Golden Eye
Maj. Weldon Penderton
1967

A Countess from Hong Kong
Ogden Mears
1967

Meet Marlon Brando
Self
1966

The Appaloosa
Matt
1966

The Chase
Sheriff Calder
1966

Morituri
Robert Crain
1965

Bedtime Story
Freddy Benson
1964

The Ugly American
Ambassador Harrison Carter MacWhite
1963

Mutiny on the Bounty
First Lieutnant Fletcher Christian
1962

The Mike Douglas Show
Self · (1 episode)
1961

One-Eyed Jacks
Rio
1961

The Fugitive Kind
Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier
1960

The David Susskind Show
Self · (1 episode)
1959

The Young Lions
Lt. Christian Diestl
1958

Sayonara
Major Lloyd Gruver
1957

The Teahouse of the August Moon
Sakini
1957

Operation Teahouse
Self
1956

Cinépanorama
Self · (1 episode)
1956

Guys and Dolls
Sky Masterson
1955

Désirée
Napoleon Bonaparte
1954

On the Waterfront
Terry Malloy
1954

The Wild One
Johnny Strabler
1953

Julius Caesar
Mark Antony
1953

The Oscars
Self · (3 episodes)
1953

Viva Zapata!
Emiliano Zapata
1952

A Streetcar Named Desire
Stanley Kowalski
1951

The Men
Ken
1950

The Ed Sullivan Show
Self · (2 episodes)
1948