Was Marlon Brando a bad person?

Who cares? He was born in 1924. Died almost 20 years ago. Has nothing to do with his work as an artist. I’m sick of having to know the personal failings of every entertainer to make sure I don’t like “bad” people.

Marlon Brando was the most grotesque pig ever. I recall reading about a young woman he has an affair with. Once they fell asleep after sex (or something) and when she woke up, he was there watching her. He then proceeded to stick his tongue down her throat, telling her that making out with her unbrushed teeth was totally erotic and a turn on. So her rancid mouth bacteria got him hard.

Need I say anymore? This doesn’t begin to touch him as a “parent”.

What do YOU think?!

No one here knew him, OP.

Yes, OP. He became a bad person. Miserable, dirty, fat, sluggish and depressed, after using a lot of people and leaving a miserable family behind.

Rather like the other shits on this thread, who also are dull ignoramuses.

OP, must we discuss big ole fat dead Marlon? I find sis Jocelyn much more interesting. Loved her in The Big Heat and that Mommie Dearest cameo where Christina spits out, "I was not exPELLED!" moments before being nearly strangled to death by Joan.

In short, let's chat about Jocelyn, instead!

r1, why are you even on this webforum? You are such a killjoy.

R7 I like gossip but without this bullshit sanctimony of someone being a "bad person" because of some standard debauchery, which is now always attached to it. Nobody has fun gossiping anymore, it's just a one-upmanship of how much you can make a random celebrity look bad to show off your great morals.

R2, there is something wrong with you.

All you pearl-clutchers would crawl through broken glass to get to this.

You got me r9.

Brando was an insane person. His sexual magnetism enabled him to break out from a stifling NY upbringing constrained by Christian scientists and a drunkard for a mother.

Sudden fame and fortune dazzled him in Hollywood but he got a taste of another world filming alongside dirt-poor Mexicans in their quest for freedom in ‘Viva Zapata’

He was yoked back to La La Land to make some Technicolor rubbish called ‘The Egyptian’ but (according to Wiki) suffered “mental strain” and walked out a week before filming was to start. He was then blackmailed to appear in another good-looking epic of Napoleonic rubbish co-starring the most fraudulent woman in Hollywood named ‘Merle Oberon’.

He was obviously sick of the deceit and sought out a different kind of civilisation in Japan and, as I say, went through a big mental-upheaval spending time amongst those people on whom his fellow-Americans had recently dropped two atomic bombs.

He made two Japanese movies. In one of them he suppressed his muscular physique, shrunk his body, and used make up to mimic the small, fey, roguish role Sakini in "The Treehouse of the August Moon". (It is pure ‘Yellowface’ which somehow seems to have escaped notice of the idiot-Millennials who shriek over Mickey Rooney’s Yunioshi).

Brando's mental instability and obsessions simmered over relations between native people and colonizers. It erupted again filming in Tahiti in 1962 in another story about the clash between a native culture and an imperialist one in 'Mutiny on the Bounty'.

He subverted his role by turning the English Fletcher Christian into an effeminate fop. He became uncontrollable to the man who was supposed to be in control, Sir Carol Reed.

Sir Carol Reed was a perfectly capable and competent film director but he may just have had a chip on his shoulder in that ten years previously made another film about another clash between a native culture and an imperialist one. This film called ‘Outcast of the Islands’ starring Trevor Howard suffered with faulty black and white location photography in Malaya. Now Reed had a lavish budget, excellent camera but a star who went nuts, spent his time with the Tahitian women and eventually sacked him as director.

A year later Brando starred in the movie ‘The Ugly American’ and afterwards took roles portraying Mexicans, Indians etc and appearing in other films championing native peoples against ‘the colonisers’ and his sexual partners included Indians, Mexicans, Polynesians, Chinese, Puerto Ricans and Japanese.

His career dribbled away until his death.

This interview with Connie Chung was interesting, IMO. It's been a while since I watched it. I think he was charmed by her, plus he's so sexist that he didn't really think of her as a journalist. So, he let down his guard a bit. (If she had been a man, asking him the same questions, I think he wouldn't said: Go fuck yourself.)

He wanted to marry Mr. Peepers. So that’s nice.

My God, there’s a Merle Oberon troll

^ I don't believe that gossip.

Well, there's the old rumor that the daughter of his who committed suicide did so because Marlon had been fucking her since a painfully young age. And perhaps he'd done the same to other children of his.

So yes, I'd call anyone who rapes his own minor child to be a "bad person", OP.

Christian Brando, son of Marlon, did prison time for killing his sister’s boyfriend, who was allegedly abusive. Christian also got sexually involved with Bonny Bakely, murdered wife of Robert Blake, who was acquitted of her murder.

A bad person. An insane person.

So hot when he was young - amazingly so.

He aged so fast in like 5 years after A Streetcar Named Desire.

Truman Capote, after interviewing Brando, assessed him as dumb. Capote also suspected that Joyce Carol Oates carried a dildo in her purse. And he noted that Johnny Carson was a mean man.

R22 here. Here's the link to the wonderful 1957 Capote profile in the New Yorker of Brando, "The Duke in His Domain." Prime Capote.

It's worth keeping in mind that Capote is not always a reliable reporter. Brando was a highly introverted person who despised celebrity and everything that came with it apart from the money-- it's not surprising that he was an uncooperative interview. The Connie Chung clip R13 posted is revealing and worth watching in its entirety.

He trusted Joshua Logan to be an appropriately sensitive director after he got a whiff of Logan’s lemon scented cologne during their first meeting. I think that’s sweet.

He never paid fines on overdue library books!

[quote]Marlon Brando was the most grotesque pig ever. I recall reading about a young woman he has an affair with. Once they fell asleep after sex (or something) and when she woke up, he was there watching her. He then proceeded to stick his tongue down her throat, telling her that making out with her unbrushed teeth was totally erotic and a turn on. So her rancid mouth bacteria got him hard.

If kissing someone who hasn't brushed her teeth is the most grotesque sexual activity you can think of you have led a very sheltered existence.

He and several members of the film crew of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY gave most of the Tahitian women in the film STDs. Classy guy.

R29 Allegedly

R14 They look like they are dreamily in love. I don't know if "dreamily" is a word but it will have to do.

Quincy Jones tells all in his twilight years!

R32 Paywalled

R27, I did not do that story justice. If anyone knows that story (a young woman who wrote about her time with MB), please share or post it, I cannot recall where I read it. The way the woman told it, he was revolting and reptilian. He came across as someone who puts dirty socks on their face and takes a huge whiff.

And yes, I’m a geek, but I don’t make out with a dirty mouth, it does indeed gross me out, can’t help it.

R34, I vaguely recall reading something about Brando wanting to recapture the scent of the nanny who sexually abused him as a child and that he found the smell of her breath particularly enticing. (I don’t believe that Brando ever described his experiences with her as abuse but it’s difficult to see it as anything else.)

I don't recall anyone calling Brando's behavior 'genius' or 'endearing' OP, so what are you trying to say?

Michael Winner, of all people, said that Marlon was the easiest actor he ever worked with. It’s true that Brando liked to ‘test’ directors, but I think he gave that up when he stopped caring about acting for anything other than pecuniary purposes.

He was self-centered and self-indulgent.

R38 That's unheard of.

Too bad they had him during his slovenly years.

"I vaguely recall reading something about Brando wanting to recapture the scent of the nanny who sexually abused him as a child"

I've always suspected that it was his mother who sexually abused him as a child, not a nanny. One of his wives once said something like "All of his wives and girlfriends were of other races, because blonde women reminded him of his mother and he found them sexually repulsive". But I think this was well after his fling with Shelley Winters.

BTW I've also always suspected that Elvis was sexually abused by his mother. She was left alone with nobody but her growing boy for years, while Elvis's father did a stint in jail.

R41, that’s actually a fascinating post, I’ve never given consideration that Elvis or Brando were molested by their mothers, but it would explain a *lot* about their adult behavior patterns. But they may have been molested by more than one person too, I know many victims experience more than one abuser because these predators are so good at sniffing out the perfect victim, and there are indeed cues, like lack of confidence, poor family life, low self-esteem, etc.

It's a thought, isn't it, R42? But it's not something we'll ever know.

In their day, men didn't think it was okay to talk about childhood sexual abuse, especially if they were men of status. Maybe some men would talk about such things with a psychiatrist, but did either Brando or Elvis ever see a shrink in their lives? No, we'll never know if my speculation is correct.

[quote]r41 “Blonde women reminded him of his mother and he found them sexually repulsive".

^^ meant to add [bold]#FuckYouAll

Gen Z 'discovers' something 'new'.

Brando was in therapy for many years, R43. I don’t know when he began therapy but he was seeing a shrink during the production of On the Waterfront.

R41, it’s not entirely accurate to say that Brando was strictly interested in women of color. Brando had a long term relationship with a white woman, an actress named Jill Banner. She was killed in a car accident.

R41 Vernon Presley was sentenced to 3 years but served less than one year before he was released.

Russell Crowe wants to be just like him so make of that what you will...

[quote] BTW I've also always suspected that Elvis was sexually abused by his mother. She was left alone with nobody but her growing boy for years, while Elvis's father did a stint in jail.

Just because Elvis' mother was "alone" with Elvis while Vernon was in jail doesn't mean she sexually abused Elvis. By that logic, single mothers would always be suspected of sexually abusing their children.

My favorite thing about Brando was this quote, and it may be apocryphal: An actor is somebody who, if you ain’t talking about him, he ain’t listening.

He had a fake Native American pull a stunt at the Oscars for him opening the door for people to get up on a soapbox at the event.

He molested his daughter Cheyenne, so I think that qualifies him as a "bad person."

Wasn't he thrown out of military school for being caught in a daisy chain?

At this point, I would have torn off the rest of that shirt and broke his zipper open. He'd forget Stella alright.

A dark, morose person who had an ego larger than Jupiter.

He really was so sexy in his youth. What a bust.

[quote]A dark, morose person who had an ego larger than Jupiter.

Both of Marlon's parents were alcoholics, which is not a recipe for a happy well-adjusted adult. As far as his ego is concerned like a lot of other people in the entertainment industry I'm sure he had his moments, but Brando is often self-deprecating to a disarming extent. He hated people fawning over him, gushing about his genius, etc. Have a look at the interview Brando did with Connie Chung that R13 posted. Chung is not an especially subtle or adroit interviewer and Brando loses patience with her rather blunt approach, but he's not an asshole about it. At one point he discusses the artifice involved in the interview process itself, which is fairly atypical for a celebrity.

He ruined nearly every life he touched.

R60 ruined a lot of holes

Didn't this fat fuck insult Joan Crawford by refusing to star in Autumn Leaves with her? She had the last laugh when she got thunderous applause when she denounced his fake Native American flunky for ruining the integrity of the Oscars and said no one wanted to watch a fat Marlon Brando get naked.

[quote]r62 Didn't this fat fuck insult Joan Crawford by refusing to star in Autumn Leaves with her?

Yes.

He famously declined the offer with, “Mr. Brando is not interested in doing any Mother/Son stories at this time.”

Whatever you think about Brando as a person, what he did in A Streetcar Named Desire changed film acting. Some things live up to the hype, some things don't. Jimi Hendrix lives up to the hype. On The Road doesn't. Brando in Streetcar lives up to the hype.

Vivien Leigh steals the show in Streetcar. Take away Brando's looks and no one would have given his performance a second glance. There's a reason he was the only one of the principal actors not to win an Oscar that year. It is Vivien's performance that is sublime and inspired actresses from every generation such as Natalie Wood and Jessica Lange.

[quote]He came across as someone who puts dirty socks on their face and takes a huge whiff.

You will get little sympathetic understanding from DLers, 85% of whom do this.

Faye Dunaway loved him and I doubt she ever called him "little homosexual boy".

Is Don Juan DeMarco worth watching?

[quote]Is Don Juan DeMarco worth watching?

Brando plays a shrink.

Faye plays his wife.

Depp plays a crazy man.

Considering that in real life they are ALL crazy, I guess it isn't UNinteresting.

R66, If you actually believe what you wrote then you don't know anything about acting. Brando's performance is revolutionary. It was hailed in theater and in film. It has been so influential it is practically its own school of acting. And only a moron thinks winning an Oscar validates or legitimizes anything. Grow up.

R69 Only if you are really bored.

His daughter Cheyenne accused him of molesting her

I think he did a lot of good things and that shouldn’t be erased. But he was also did a lot of fucked up things that people overlook because he was attractive for a few years.

I believe Christian Brando was the sperm donor for Blanket Jackson.

Where is this molestation accusation? Was it proven? Was he taken to court? Or is it just, like all other Hollywood Babylon joke shit, a RUMOR that gets passed around as fact on here and retarded gossip sites? She was a diagnosed schizophrenic who killer herself, I can’t find any reliable information Brando molested her or that she said this.

Again, she was a nutcase. Her brother said she lied about her husband abusing her in order to manipulate her into killing him. She was declared mentally disabled by the courts. Believing her is tantamount to believing Dylan Farrow. I do not think her molested her.

* HE molested her. She made this accusation when she was being carted in and out of psych wards and losing custody of her child and the support of her siblings and friends. Why do people now put stock into absolutely every accusation made because of the insanity of the MeToo movement?

Well he certainly molested me!!!!

Brando was a great actor, his influence in terms of art can be seen in generations of actors. However, he also was a bad influence in many ways. Val Kilmer (Island of Dr. Moreau ) and Johnny Depp (Don Juan de Marco) both had promise as young actors, both went off the deep end after working with Brando. His children and women were all damaged by him.

[quote] Who cares?

Obviously OP does.

What a stupid response on a gossip forum, btw.

I agree he was pretty much a role model for talented young actors who wanted Dionysian lifestyles like his: to take as much mind-altering chemicals as possible, to have as much sex as they could without any consequences, and also be praised to the skies for their acting.

Obviously it's not hard to see why they admired that lifestyle! But it's an immature way of looking at the world--behaving that way is going to create all kinds of problems and catch up with you eventually, and it caught up with all of them just as it did with Brando: Kilmer and Crowe had much shorter careers being on top than they wanted, and while Depp had a longer run, the effects of that lifestyle finally caught up with him too. They all wind up being fat (because they get depressed when the drugs and the sex are not enough), and drug-addled, and saddled with dependents they cannot care for. And eventually they have to take supporting roles (which they hate doing because of their egos) because no one stays young and handsome forever.

Here’s a photo of Marlon groping his daughter.

She accused him when she was still alive. Why do you think she was “crazy” and later committed suicide? Because of her fucked up dad probably

That picture of Brando clutching his daughter reminds me of all the pictures of little Ivanka, being groped and groomed by Daddy Trump.

Worse. He was a lousy fuck.

The daddy daughter pic is chilling. RIP Cheyenne.

R83, that could also be a picture of Brando simply hugging his child. It's a snapshot so it could be misleading but to me her expression appears relaxed, and she does not look uncomfortable.

R80, Kilmer's behavior on the set of Moreau was allegedly so obnoxious that Brando criticized him for it. When Marlon Brando says you're being a disruptive asshole that should be a wake up call.

Both the girls I know who were molested by their fathers remind me of Cheyenne. They are absolutely insane and also in love with their fathers. One of the girls dad got busted for cp when we were kids and she was his biggest supporter and told me that he was set up by his then-wife. Since that time, she has been married to a few guys, been a lesbian with blue hair, and is now trans. I asked her straight up if she was fucking her dad in middle school after I saw how handsy he was and how smitten she seemed to be. She didn’t admit it until we were adults and i walked in on them screwing around. I turned on my heels and walked back outside her house and cried. We had been friends since grade school but I had to cut contact a few years ago because she would send me erratic scary messages in the middle of the night and I couldn’t deal. I have problems of my own. It’s hard enough keeping myself alive.

R28 I would not have had the patience of that Librarian. If that bitch had told me "Never in my life have I ever" because we didn't have a book on the subject she wanted. I would have gone all Marlon Brando on her ass.

If he was still hot when he fucked Marvin, footage/pics would be excellent.

I had never seen this pic of him before - he was certainly looking good right around this time!