***Marlon Brando Appreciation Thread***

I read his autobiography back in '95, he seemed very charming. He should never have been a father, though.

I read his autobiography back in '95, he seemed very charming. He should never have been a father, though.

What do you mean, more sympathetic? As R2 said, his autobiography was great, as was the interview 'Brando Speaks' published in book form. He was an incredibly intelligent, caring, almost selfless person, especially considering he was an actor.

Incredible actor. For a while, a gorgeous man. Made a lot of good movies, some of them classic. Made a lot of really bad ones, too. Was as crazy as they come, a real nut case. His children, understandably, were hot messes; one of them was a murderer, one was a suicide. He never should have had children. He was too pathologically disturbed to be a father.

He hit on me once. And then he died. That’s all I’ve got.

Oh. One day, I too will be dead.

Brando hated Burt Reynolds and heavily criticized him (probably because he was younger, handsome, and still in shape). One night a friend of Brando's brought Burt with her to a party at Brando's house. He refused to acknowledge Burt and when he finally did he verbally lambasted him to which Burt promised that he would not get plastic surgery to look like him, and he added at the end, "And I promise not to get fat". Brando was enraged and never spoke to him again.

A young and handsome Marlon Brando.

"STELLA...……!!!"

Christian’s mom (Brando’s 1st wife) and Brando.

Christian looked just like him mom, imho.

R6: "Burt promised that he would not get plastic surgery to look like him..."

Well, he certainly kept that promise.

I can't wait for Mann's book on Debbie Reynolds.

His lips.

I thought Brando seemed stunningly virile in Last Tango in Paris. And in Streetcar. And in Waterfront. Like he'd be a mean fuck but totally get the job done.

Something dangerous about him.

Keep in mind that William J. Mann is a sleazebag writer. I don't trust him to tell the truth about much of anything. His biographies of famous stars are meant to shock and titillate; accuracy is of little importance.

R14, so much jealousy in show business. Yes, so little accuracy. Of course Hepburn was crazy for Spence!

He was sex on a stick for 25+ years. Not sure why he ballooned circa 1975 or so...

It’s interesting to see what MB chose to write about and what he chose to ignore in Songs My Mother Taught Me as referenced by R2.

Yes, R15, so little accuracy. William J. Mann is full of shit. I guess you believe everything he says. You must be very gullible.

He used to live in Paris with a man for some years. They were madly in love. Best way to learn to speak French, that he spoke fluently all his life.

Thanks for that specific example R18. If he was/is so inaccurate, where are the lawsuits? Many confirmed what he wrote in 'Kate', and both Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher were alive and well in 2009, when he suggested in his book on Elizabeth Taylor that perhaps Reynolds wasn't so truthful about her relationship with Eddie Fisher.

Why didn't they not only sue, but even put out a press release?

Hottest actor o all time

Well, if sex had a name it would certainly be called Marlon Brando

Love his screen tests and outtakes on youtube. Very delicate sounding... :)

He was a two pump hump.

This thread is proof that bisexual men exist, bitches.

Here’s a man who appealed to both straight women, and gay/bi men. Surely he appealed to straight men as well, or he wouldn’t be a fucking legend.

Let’s not pussyfoot around here, and talk BS. Brando had his long term sidekicks and/or primary partners, but he was a sexual enigma in that he was not confined in his private life to just this, or just that, and he didn’t stop, just because someone raised an eyebrow. He fucked everything he could, and turned down some amazing ass, with no apologies.

This is an example of what a real, genuine, honest to goodness bisexual man with no hang ups, looks like. Just one example, because there are certainly many more, and all are individuals.

Heidi Fleiss claimed he was the best lay she ever had. I believe her, 100%, no question. Bisexual men are THE best in the sack, and while many on DL choose to believe these dudes are unicorns, or non-existent, some of here know better.

"If he was/is so inaccurate, where are the lawsuits? Many confirmed what he wrote in 'Kate', and both Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher were alive and well in 2009, when he suggested in his book on Elizabeth Taylor that perhaps Reynolds wasn't so truthful about her relationship with Eddie Fisher."

A lot of celebrities don't bother to spend time and money on a lawsuit. Celebrities ignore a lot of shit; if a celebrity sued every time some lie was told about them...well, that would really boggle the mind. Here's a suggestion for you. There's a very good biography of Spencer Tracy; "Spencer Tracy" by James Curtis. It's the definitive biography on him, extensively researched and full of documentation. There's a final chapter entitled "The Biographies of Katherine Hepburn." I suggest you read it. It will enlighten you on how "truthful" Manning is.

By the way, here's a excerpt from a review of "Kate":

"Mann's style, a slightly elevated version of the journalism-as-salespitch practiced by the likes of Entertainment Weekly, abets his smarmy search for facts to support his claims about (1) Hepburn's sexuality (she may have had lesbian affairs with, among others, longtime companion Laura Harding); (2) what gnarled complexes really lay behind the alliance with Spencer Tracy; and (3) how much of Hepburn's image was founded on fact. But Mann's desperation to prove such points, none of which is as critical to Hepburn's ultimate cultural importance as any one of a dozen film performances, makes the experience of "Kate" rather tiresome."

Should we believe Elaine Stritch and her Brando Story?

"I'm glad what I done to you!"

A lot of memorable moments in many Brando films, but a couple that stand out in memory that are less talked about:

The look on his face when he finds his pigeons with their necks wrung by the kid for squealing on the mob as Terry Malloy in 'On the Waterfront".

The look on his face in "Sayonara" as Major Ace Gruber, when he finds his airman friend (Red Buttons) and his Japanese wife (Miyoshi Umeki) have committed hara kiri together rather than let the US military separate them.

I believe Elaine Stritch. She seems like an honest broad. I also believe Rita Moreno's tales of Brando. She was his on-again, off again lover for years. When they finally split for good it was so traumatic that it led Moreno to overdose on sleeping pills for “an escape-from-pain death” as she described it in her 2013 memoir, after Brando had organized an illegal abortion for her when she became pregnant with his child. She said Brando "slayed me good ’cause he was the king of everything. Eeeeeeverything. He was the king of movies. … He was really one of the most sexual men on Earth. It was one of those very tempestuous love affairs. It lasted eight years, on and off, on and off, on and off.” She wanted to marry him but he didn't want to be her husband. She called Brando "the lust of my life."

R29 - Odd you should mention Moreno, who gave an interview, I forget where, but it was many years ago, calling Brando "the best parent I know" before all the shit hit the fan with his dysfunctional family, and making it clear that he was one of the worst parents on the planet. Moreno sounds like she just drowned in him.

Wally Cox was the love of his life. He said this in several interviews.

Wally and Marlon lived together in the West Village at 55 Morton and later on West 56th. Wally's 1973 funeral was delayed until Marlon could fly in from Tahiti.

I, a gay man, consider Brando to be among the top 10 fantasy lovers or if not lovers, good friends. He's mesmerising but somehow very comforting. Pity he was a mess. I only had 1 lover who had this impeccable mix of masculine yet pretty allure. (My friend was Quebecois.) And Brando had great control over his gorgeous face and body. I'm happy we have him in cinema history.

Old School Cool

Allegedly, he refused Liz. Or was it Marilyn, or both?

Quincy Jones said in an interview a couple years ago that Brando had sex with Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye and James Baldwin.

He didn't refuse Marilyn. She was one of his lovers. I never heard anything about him doing Liz Taylor.

I don't think Brando was a "real, genuine, honest to goodness bisexual man with no hang ups." I think he was just...easy. Just somebody for whom sex meant nothing. Marlene Dietrich was like that. According to her daughter Dietrich didn't even much like sex; she preferred the aftermath of sex better than the actual act, the "cuddling" part. But she'd do anybody, male or female. When asked why she said "well, they ASKED." I guess Brando was similar.

Betsy Palmer dated James Dean. When asked if she knew he was gay, she said "he wasn't gay with me."

Marlon was easy on the eyes, very true, indeed. However, I don't find him all that good as an actor. He's painfully overrated, and it shows in his lazy attitude he had held towards the acting profession. He was a whore for the money, first and foremost, a hypocrite for scolding Hollywood all the while accepting their accolades and approval, a poseur and an intellectual imposter. A lot of what he said and put out there wasn't anything brilliant, there were no depths of profundity, or nuggets of wisdom. Just your standard narcissistic touting from the typical New York/ Hollywood garbage.

Brando's movie career was at its peak and greatness in the 1950's. Then it began to fizzle in the 1960's due to poor scripts. He bounced back in the early 1970's with an Oscar win for The Godfather, and shortly afterwards Last Tango In Paris was his last glow of greatness. After this he took movies only for the money and it showed. Then he got fat which slammed the door on his alluring presence. He was like a bar graph that started at the top and headed steadily down in leaps and bounds.

Brando's first movie was The Men (1950) in which he played a war veteran paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair. It was not a hit at the box office but nevertheless it introduced him to the silver screen.

R26, Newsflash: Reynolds went out of her way on multiple occasions to deny that she was gay and more than a friend to Agnes Moorehead. And although Mann (not Manning) did not outright say she was gay or bisexual, he interviewed and/or used quotes from not only Reynolds, but Carrie and Eddie Fisher and others, and quoted the press that surrounded Reynolds' for months house after Eddie left her for Taylor. His book (and others) is full of footnotes and citations just like the overlong, verbose bio of Tracy by Curtis.

You're confusing him unfairly with hacks like Darwin Porter. Anyway, back to Brando.

My Aunt was telephone operator in Chicago in the 1950s (google it, youngins) She put a call through to LA. When the person in LA answered, the caller said, "Marlon? This is (woman's name)."

My Aunt, bless her and RIP, listened in. Turns out the caller was a high school friend/classmate of his who wanted to congratulate him on becoming a success.

I asked my Aunt if he was nice to her during the call. She said "Oh yes. He asked her all about how her family members were doing and they caught up on how their other classmates were."

Bitches, don't you come at my Aunt. Maybe she shouldn't have listened in, but I'm glad she did.

Awesome story Della. Did your aunt listen in to anyone else's calls?

I'm sure she did, but, she only told me about that one, r44.

yessss

Great face but mediocre UNTIL The Godfather. Before then? Streetcar was his best and only. On the Waterfront? What a hambone.

"You're confusing him unfairly with hacks like Darwin Porter."

He's not that much different from Darwin Porter. He plays fast and loose with facts.

AND there goes your credibility R48.

My credibility is just fine, R49. Manning says a lot of bullshit. That's just a fact.

You've proven your 'credibility' more than once R50. Again, his last name is Mann, not Manning. That's just a fact.

"Again, his last name is Mann, not Manning. That's just a fact."

I'm not a fan of his, so his name at times escapes my memory. But he's a hack. I guess you don't know that. Oh well, some people will believe anything somebody says.