Marlon Brando, Hollywood's First Bad Boy: Celebrity Legacies

I’m fortunate enough to be part of a television project docu-series called “Celebrity Legacies” on ReelzChannel, where I provided mental health and relationship commentary on the lives of deceased celebrities.For this episode, we focused on one of the first bad boys in Hollywood: Marlon Brando.

The Early Years

The youngest of three children, Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1924. Sadly, both of his parents struggled with alcoholism, and Marlon often had the task of caring for his mother when she became drunk or hungover. It was this interaction that revealed his earliest acting talents; he would sometimes imitate animals from their farm to get her attention and distract her from drinking. His relationship with his father was particularly troublesome, and Marlon recounted that “nothing I did ever pleased or even interested him. He enjoyed telling me I couldn't do anything right. He had a habit of telling me I would never amount to anything.”When Marlon was a teenager, he was expelled from his high school for behavioral problems, namely for riding his motorcycle through the corridors. Upon being sent to Shattuck Military Academy, Marlon excelled in theater and in academics, but had frequent run-ins with authority figures. After multiple disciplinary actions were taken against him, he decided to drop out of school altogether. Marlon briefly turned to the military, but was unable to enlist in the Army because of a past knee injury. Although he was very bright and athletically inclined, it became clear that a traditional career was not in the works for Mr. Brando.

A Bad Boy’s Rise to Fame

As a young man, Marlon turned to his passion of acting full-time, beginning first in theater. He became so obsessed with Tennessee Williams’s controversial play “A Streetcar Named Desire” that he drove to the playwright’s house to convince him to let him play the dark character of Stanley Kalowski when it hit Broadway. Williams relented, and the play became a runaway hit, quickly turning Marlon into a star. He epitomized the image of a rugged, sensual, almost animalistic character, a persona that would influence many of his future roles. Marlon would reprise the role of Stanley in the 1951 film version of "A Streetcar Named Desire," and would go on to star in such hits as "The Wild One" (1953), "Julius Caesar" (1953), and "On the Waterfront" (1954).A New Style Throughout his career, Marlon found ways to innovate the art of acting. He practiced method acting (an approach in which one fully and completely immerses himself/herself in the role, both on and off camera) and is credited to helping bring this technique to mainstream. Of all of his new approaches to the craft, his own unique style is perhaps what stands out the most. Marlon came into his own as an American sex symbol, but while his counterparts were largely theatrical and had a flair for being overly dramatic, he separated himself by being purposefully inarticulate, natural, and raw. He was not the clean-cut, upstanding heartthrob that so many came to expect of a movie stay. No; Marlon was a rebel, a player, and, true to his roots, defied convention however he could.The Notorious Womanizer & Absent FatherTo say that Marlon Brando's personal life was hectic would be a grand understatement. He had a seemingly insatiable appetite for women, and he took one lover after the next. He first married actress Anna Kashfi in 1957, but soon after became involved with a co-star, Rita Moreno, and the two had an affair that endured for over eight years and coincided with Marlon's subsequent marriages to Mexican-American movie star Movita Castaneda (m. 1960) and Polynesian actress Tarita Teriipai (m. 1962). Rumors swirled of a sex addiction, and Marlon had dalliances with such big names as Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy. Between his three wives and countless relationships, Marlon fathered sixteen known children (though many speculate there are more) and, like his own father, was infamous for not having much of a presence in their lives.Losing Interest, Losing FocusMarlon's mother died in 1954, and this seemed to be the catalyst for a number of his erratic behaviors and professional setbacks. Many of his films in the coming years bombed, and he no longer viewed acting with the same enthusiasm he once did. He later tries his hand at directing, but due to his inexperience, his projects were unsuccessful. Distracted by his family drama and custody battles, Marlon began to binge eat, and at his heaviest weighed over 300 pounds, a far cry from the muscular physique of his early adulthood. Marlon did experience a brief film comeback in the 1970s with his Oscar-winning role in "The Godfather," but his personal struggles and a newfound interest in social activism kept him from having the success in acting that he once had.Later YearsFinancially and emotionally bankrupt from years of expensive divorce proceedings and personal family tragedy (his son Christian was arrested for murder, and his daughter Cheyenne, committed suicide), Marlon essentially became a recluse and retired from public life. He was able to regain a large portion of his wealth, but his obesity had put a tremendous burden on his health, and he contracted diabetes and later pneumonia. He died on July 1, 2004 of congestive heart failure.Marlon Brando certainly experienced his fair share of personal and professional struggles (many of which were brought about by his own vices). Still, because of his new style of acting and his bad boy persona, he is considered one of the most influential of American actors.For more information (including air dates and times), visit Reelz Channel.