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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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Anthony Quinn, actor
"Provocative improvisations"
"Brando was an instant legend among our group. He flouted convention in Streetcar and in acting class--and from what I could gather, in the rest of his life as well. His improvisations in our Actors' Studio sessions were prominent for the way he managed to mock the process and still do provocative work. Once, when we were asked to do a dance and freeze our poses at the clap of the instructor's hands, Marlon wound up locked in a headstand. We were then supposed to do a bit based on our frozen postures, and when Marlon's turn came he delivered his premise with deadpan seriousness.
"'I have a stomachache,' he announced to the rest of the class, 'and I'm standing on my head hoping I can pass it out of my mouth.' "(New York, 1947)
[ from "One Man Tango," by Anthony Quinn with Daniel Paisner (HarperCollins, 1995)]
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Tony Bennett, singer
"Always a pretty girl"
"...Marlon Brando, who was then on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire, often came down and hung around with the musicians at [trumpeter Billy] Verlin's studio on his matinee days. This was long before the general public knew who he was. Billy didn't recognize him and was about to tell him to split until one of the guys said that he was an actor. That was okay with Billy. Brando always had a pretty girl on his arm and strolled into the studio wearing his trademark T-shirt."(New York, 1947)
[ from "The Good Life," by Tony Bennett with Will Friedwald (Pocket Books/ Simon & Schuster, 1998)]
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Sheila Graham, gossip columnist
"Deflated me"
" ... I knew Jessica Tandy...from her time in Hollywood, and after the show [A Streetcar Named Desire] I went backstage and asked her to introduce me to her co-star. 'He's so virile, so exciting with that torn shirt,' I gurgled.
"Marlon's dressing room seemed to be as narrow and long as eternity, as, guided by Jessica, I stumbled towards the stationary figure at the other end. 'Oh Marlon,' said Jessica, who was also flustered by his stern visage, 'I want you to meet -- ' He interrupted: 'Your mother?' My complete deflation. He was probably joking, but I didn't stay long enough to find out. In fact this was the only close encounter I ever had with him." (New York, 1947)
[from "Hollywood Revisited: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration," by Sheilah Graham (St. Martin's Press, 1984)]
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Tony Curtis, actor
"Clubbing together"
"...Marlon got there [Hollywood] a year before us. We socialized with each other, took out our dates, met at social clubs without having to carry membership cards. We finished work and at the end of the day couldn't wait to get in our cars, go home, clean up, then hit the clubs: Morocco, Ciro's, Mocambo, Lucy's, and the Club Gala....
".......
"For a short time in those days, I roomed in the same house on Barham Boulevard with Marlon Brando. He was doing A Streetcar Named Desire and I was doing The Prince Who Was a Thief. Later I said, 'Marlon, I wonder what would've happened if you'd turned left down Barham Boulevard and gone to Universal to be the son of Ali Baba, and I'd turned right and become Stanley Kowalski?'"
"Marlon said, 'Then I'd have been stuck with "Yondah lies the castle of my faddah," and you'd have been yelling 'Stel-l-a-a!'" (late 1940s)
[from "Tony Curtis: The Autobiography," by Tony Curtis with Barry Paris (William Morrow, 1993)]
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