Marlon Brando
Known for: Acting
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".
Filmography
Series
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
1961
Film
The Godfather
Don Vito Corleone
1972
Series
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest
1968
Film
Apocalypse Now
Colonel Walter Kurtz
1979
Series
The Oscars
Self
1953
Series
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948
Film
Superman
Jor-El
1978
Film
Superman Returns
Jor-El
2006
Series
Midi trente
Self
1972
The English Programme
Self - Narrator (voice)
1976
Film
Candy
Grindl
1968
Series
Cinépanorama
Self
1956
Series
MGM Parade
1955
Film
On the Waterfront
Terry Malloy
1954
Series
Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television
Don Vito Corleone
1977
Film
A Streetcar Named Desire
Stanley Kowalski
1951
Film
Last Tango in Paris
Paul
1972
Film
The Score
Max
2001
Series
Roots: The Next Generations
George Lincoln Rockwell
1979
Film
The Freshman
Carmine Sabatini, aka Jimmy The Toucan
1990
Film
Don Juan DeMarco
Dr. Jack Mickler
1994
Film
One-Eyed Jacks
Rio
1961
Series
The David Susskind Show
Self
1959
Film
Julius Caesar
Mark Antony
1953
Series
The Hollywood Greats
Self (archive footage)
1977
Film
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Jor-El
2006
Film
The Chase
Sheriff Calder
1966
Film
Guys and Dolls
Sky Masterson
1955
Film
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Dr. Moreau
1996
Series
The Sixties
Self - Civil Rights Activist (archive footage)
2014
Film
Viva Zapata!
Emiliano Zapata
1952
Series
Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae
Self (archive footage)
2024
Film
Mutiny on the Bounty
First Lieutnant Fletcher Christian
1962
Film
The Wild One
Johnny Strabler
1953
Film
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Self
1991
Film
The Young Lions
Lt. Christian Diestl
1958
Film
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It
Self (archive footage)
2021
Film
A Countess from Hong Kong
Ogden Mears
1967
Film
The Missouri Breaks
Robert E. Lee Clayton
1976
Film
Désirée
Napoleon Bonaparte
1954
Film
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Self - Activist (archive footage)
2025
Film
The Fugitive Kind
Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier
1960
Film
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
(archive footage)
2012
Film
Morituri
Robert Crain
1965
Film
Sayonara
Major Lloyd Gruver
1957
Series
Brando: The Documentary
Self
2007
Film
The Movie Orgy
Self (archive footage)
1968
Film
Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration
Self
2001
Film
Free Money
Warden Sven 'The Swede' Sorenson
1998
Film
Bedtime Story
Freddy Benson
1964
Film
The Appaloosa
Matt
1966
Film
The Men
Ken
1950
Film
The Brave
McCarthy
1997
Film
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980
Don Vito Corleone
1992
Film
A Dry White Season
Ian McKenzie
1989
Film
Burn!
Sir William Walker
1969
Film
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
Tomas de Torquemada
1992
Film
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau
Self (archive footage)
2014
Film
The Formula
Adam Steiffel
1980
Series
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Film
Val
Self (archive)
2021
Film
kid 90
Self (archive footage)
2021
Film
Reflections in a Golden Eye
Maj. Weldon Penderton
1967
Film
Naqoyqatsi
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2002
Film
The Nightcomers
Peter Quint
1972
Film
The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
Don Vito Corleone
2016
Film
The Teahouse of the August Moon
Sakini
1957
Film
The Ugly American
Ambassador Harrison Carter MacWhite
1963
Film
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
Self - Actor / Various Roles (archive footage)
2014
Film
Hollywood: No Sex, Please!
2018
Film
Tab Hunter Confidential
Self (archive)
2015
Film
Marlon Brando: The Wild One
Self (archive footage)
1994
Film
Hollywood Invasion
Self (archive footage)
2011
Film
Ballybrando
Self (archive footage)
2009
Film
The Night of the Following Day
Chauffeur
1969
Film
Listen to Me Marlon
Self (voice) (archive footage)
2015
Film
Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth
Self(archive footage)
2020
Film
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Self (archive footage)
2003
Film
Hollywood sul Tevere
2009
Film
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1999
Film
Anthony Quinn: An Original
Self (archive footage)
1990
Film
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
1995
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
Self(archive footage) (uncredited)
2004
Film
Brando
Self (archive footage)
2007
Quentin Tarantino: From a Movie Buff to a Hollywood Legend
Self (archive footage)
2021
Film
The Making of 'Superman: The Movie'
Self
1982
Film
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
Self (archive footage)
1970
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
Self (voice)
1989
Film
Hello Actors Studio
Self (archive footage)
1988
Film
Daniel Day-Lewis: The Hollywood Genius
Himself (archive footage)
2021
Film
Marlon Brando's Tahitian Mirage
Self (archive) - subject
2025
Film
Raoni
Self - Narrator (voice)
1978
Film
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1988
Film
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
Self (archive footage)
2001
Horrifying Hollywood Murders
Self (archive footage)
Film
Always Brando
2011
Film
Sophia Loren, a special destiny
Self (archive footage)
2019
Film
Meet Marlon Brando
Self
1966
Film
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1974
Film
Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
Stanley Kowalski / Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier (archive footage)
1994
Film
The Godfather: Behind the Scenes
Self
1971
Film
Mickey Rourke: Just Like a Man
2022
Film
A Huey P. Newton Story
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2001
Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity
Self
1999
Film
Making Montgomery Clift
Self (archive footage)
2018
Film
Taking Flight: The Development of 'Superman'
Self
2001
Film
The Godfather and the Mob
Self (archive footage)
2006
Film
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
(archive footage)
2019
Film
Montgomery Clift: The Hidden Star
Self (archive footage)
1987
Film
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1988
Film
Making 'Superman': Filming the Legend
Self
2001
Film
Brando: An Icon Is Born
Himself (archive footage)
2007
Film
Movie Tough Guys
Self (archive footage)
1991
Film
The Madding Crowd
Self (archive footage)
2017
Film
A Streetcar on Broadway
Self (archive footage)
2006
Film
Sacheen: Breaking the Silence
Self (archive footage)
2019
Film
An Actor Named Brando
Self (archive footage)
2006
Film
The Last Days of Marlon Brando
Self (archive footage)
2008
Film
Desire and Censorship
Self (archive footage)
2006
Film
Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey
Self (archive footage)
1995
Film
Operation Teahouse
Self
1956
Film
Marlon Brando in Paradise
Self - Actor (archive footage)
2024
Film
A Streetcar in Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
2006
Film
Albert Maysles: The Poetic Eye
Self (archival)
2006
Film
All Power to the People!
Self (archive footage)
1996
Film
Black Leather Jacket
Johnny Strabler (segment "The Wild One") (archive footage)
1989
Film
Lost in "The Thinking"
Jor-El (archive footage)
2005
Film
North and the Music of the South
Self (archive footage)
2006
Film
Behind the scenes: Last Tango in Paris
Self (archive footage)
2004
Film
Humpty Dumpty X
Self
2026
All-Time Movie Greats
Self (archive footage)
1988
Film
The Shadows Of Method
Himself (archive footage)
2026
Film
The Brando Interregnum: The Decade of Marlon's Dirty Dozen 1962-1972
Himself
2022
Series
Celebrities Uncensored
Self
2003