

He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for that role, and again in each of the next three years for his roles in Viva Zapata! in 1952, Julius Caesar in 1953 and On the Waterfront in 1954.īrando finally won the Oscar for his role of Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront. He made a much larger impression the following year when he brought his performance as Stanley Kowalski to the screen in Kazan's adaptation of "Streetcar" in 1951. True to his method, Brando spent a month in bed at a veterans' hospital to prepare for the role. Williams recalled that he opened the screen door and knew, instantly, that he had his Stanley Kowalski.īrando's first screen role was the bitter crippled veteran in The Men in 1950. Brando sought out that role, driving out to Provincetown, Massachusetts where Williams was spending the summer to audition for the part. He achieved real stardom, however, as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947, directed by Elia Kazan. Critics voted him "Broadway's Most Promising Actor" for his role as an anguished, paraplegic veteran in Truckline Café, although the play was a commercial failure.

His behavior got him kicked out of the cast of the New School's production in Sayville, but he was discovered in a locally produced play there and then made it to Broadway in the bittersweet drama, I Remember Mama, in 1944. Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1948īrando used his Stanislavski System skills in summer-stock roles in Sayville, New York. It was at the New School's Dramatic Workshop that he studied with Stella Adler and learned the revolutionary techniques of the Stanislavski System.
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Brando left Illinois for New York City, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, New School Dramatic Workshop, and the Actors' Studio. His father was largely critical of his son, but encouraged him to seek his own direction. His elder sister, Jocelyn Brando, was also an actress, albeit not of the same stature as Marlon.īrando had a tumultuous childhood, in which he was expelled from several schools. Brando was a gifted mimic from early childhood and developed a rare ability to absorb the tics and mannerisms of people he played and to display those traits dramatically while staying in character. She was involved in local theater and helped a young Henry Fonda to begin his own acting career, and fuelled Brando's interest in stage acting. Brando's mother was a kind and talented woman, although she suffered from alcoholism and was frequently absent in Brando's childhood. The family were of primarily Dutch, Irish and English stock, although the family name originated in Germany (Brandau).

His mother briefly took her three children to live with her mother in Santa Ana, California until 1937 when the parents reconciled and moved to Libertyville, Illinois, a village north-west of Chicago.

In 1935, when Brando was 11 years old, his parents, Marlon Brando Sr.
