Marlon Brando – termed the greatest living actor by many of his peers – has died, after having turned 80 just two months ago.
 Marlon Brando in “The Godfather.” |
According to a FoxNews.com report, Brando’s sister Jocelyn confirmed the actor’s death, and a family friend said Brando died last night, of undisclosed causes, at 6:20 p.m. in a Los Angeles-area hospital after being taken there Wednesday night.
“His family is gathering from all over the world and will be making arrangements following his last will and testament,” Brando’s attorney David J. Seeley told Fox News.
Best known for his starring roles in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “On the Waterfront” – for which he won the Best Actor Oscar in 1954, Brando would star in later years in “The Godfather” and other films.
Brando was born April 3, 1924, in Omaha, Neb., grew up in Illinois, was expelled from military school, dug ditches, and later moved to New York to study acting.
Among the Broadway shows he performed in were: “I Remember Mama” (1944), “Truckline Caf?” (1946), and most famously, in 1947, Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
Hollywood films followed, including “The Men” (1950), “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951), “Viva Zapata!” (1952), “The Wild One” (1954), “D?sir?e” (1954) and “Guys and Dolls” (1955).
After a poor box-office showing for the 1962 remake of “Mutiny on the Bounty,” Brando’s career veered off course, as did the actor’s private life. Self-destructive behavior, on-set tantrums, overeating and sexual affairs took their toll.
With his role as Mafia chief Don Corleone in “The Godfather,” Brando was hailed as having risen again, but he refused his Academy Award for Best Actor as a protest of what he called Hollywood’s poor treatment of Native Americans.
After making “Last Tango in Paris” the next year – rated X – Brando played small roles in “Superman” (1978) and “Apocalypse Now” (1979), as well as “A Dry White Season” (1989), “The Freshman” and “Don Juan DeMarco” (1995). He co-starred in “The Island of Dr. Moreau” (1996).
