Immortalised on celluloid
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What made Marlon Brando special, legend that he was? RANDOR GUY comes up with vignettes.
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With Vivien Leigh in "A Streetcar Named Desire."
MARLON BRANDO, who passed away on July 1 in Los Angeles, owed his early rise and break to the celebrated but controversial American filmmaker, Elia Kazan. It was Kazan who discovered the abundantly raw talent in the new boy from Omaha, Nebraska. He was anxious to cast him in the lead role as Stanley Kowalski in the Tennessee Williams play, "A Streetcar Named Desire."
To obtain the approval of the famed playwright, Kazan sent young Brando to meet Tennessee Williams in New Orleans. He gave Brando money for the journey and informed Williams about the new hopeful's arrival but the playwright was surprised when the candidate did not show up! A few days later Brando knocked on Williams' door! He had spent the money Kazan had given on bread and booze and had to hitchhike to reach New Orleans! One look at the new boy, Tennessee Williams nodded his approval. The rest, as they say, is history...
When Paramount Pictures and the noted filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola were engaged in deciding the cast for the movie, "The Godfather" (1972), they were not very sure whom to cast in the title role of the Don. One of the strongest claimants for the role was the singing star and cult figure, Frank Sinatra.
But Albert Ruddy, the producer, and Coppola had Marlon Brando in mind.
To convince Al Ruddy, Coppola persuaded Brando to take a camera test. Brando knew that the role of Don Corleone was that of a lifetime and so he agreed. The test shot had Brando facing the camera seated at a table. All the objects on the table were Italian. Brando began to talk, picking up the various items and reacting to them, speaking with an Italian accent. Coppola was satisfied. But Al Ruddy did not think much of it! Coppola showed the same footage to the producer a week later and he went into ecstasy and exclaimed that he had found the Godfather! (This writer had the privilege and pleasure of watching this rare camera test in the archives of Paramount in Hollywood. He also saw an interview with Brando in which he explained many things about himself.)
Many complain about Brando's dialogue delivery and say that he mumbled his words and did not speak them!
Indeed Frank Sinatra, who co-starred with him in "Guys and Dolls," openly criticised Brando's mumbling on the set and began to call him `Mr. Mumbles!' Explaining his style of delivery, Brando said that people did not speak in complete sentences in a stylised manner. They spoke, breaking the words and sentences often, pausing and groping for the next word and invariably the voice drops. Brando remarked that it was only in the theatre, actors' spoke in full sentences in high-flown language, and that, according to him, was not reality but artificiality which he hated.
When "Julius Caesar" was being planned, the role of Mark Antony was first suggested to Laurence Olivier, who rejected the offer stating that, as Antony was Cleopatra's lover, he was too old to do such a role! Marlon Brando was the next choice, but the producers and Joe Mankiewicz were worried about his accent and the problems that might arise in doing the historic role. He was asked to do an audition and Brando recorded on audiocassette the famous funeral oration of Mark Antony, ``Friends, Romans, countrymen...'' When the director and producer heard it they were stunned by the superlative delivery of the lines. And Brando sailed in to play the role.
However, there were rumours in London and Hollywood that the recording of the immortal lines was actually done by Laurence Olivier, which Brando passed off as his own! Shocked, Brando spoke the lines in the presence of the producer and director improving on the content of the tape! Very few are aware of Brando's oblique link with Madras! Not exactly the city but one of its culinary delights! More precisely `Medhu Vadais'! In Hollywood on the famous Sunset Boulevard there is a `Mylapore style' vegetarian restaurant called `Paru's,' established years ago by a Madras-based couple.
Thanks to its location and tasty food, it became popular with the Hollywood folks.
Brando, who was a very private person, did not visit this restaurant but was a regular customer ordering 27 crisp medhu vadais! Surprisingly, Brando did not think much of acting and very often he condemned the profession in public. The mildest of his comments was, ``Lying for a living!''
RANDOR GUY
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