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Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009
John Gielgud, actor
"Studying speeches"
"Joseph Mankiewicz's 'Julius Caesar' ... was the first film I really enjoyed making ...
"...when Brando's tests for Antony arrived they were so successful that he was engaged ...
"...
"Brando was very self-conscious and modest, it seemed to me. He would come on to the set in his fine, tomato-coloured toga, his hair cropped in a straight fringe, and would look around nervously, expecting to find someone making fun of his appearance. Then he would take out a cigarette and stick it behind his ear. He told me that he was so well-off that he sent all his money home to his father and that he really had no need to work at all. I begged him to play Hamlet, and said that I would like to direct him if he did, but he said he never wanted to go back to the theatre.
"I had only one scene with him in the film. We went through the speeches in the morning and he asked me 'What did you think of the way I did those speeches?' So I went through them with him and made some suggestions. He thanked me very politely and went away. The next morning, when we shot the scene, I found that he had taken note of everything I had said and spoke the lines exactly as I had suggested.
"... the very first day I was introduced to him he said, 'You must come and do a speech for me -- one of my Antony speeches. I've got a tape recorder in my dressing-room.' He had tapes of Maurice Evans and John Barrymore and three or four other actors and listened to them every day to improve his diction. I thought he would have made a wonderful Oedipus. (Hollywood, 1953)"
[from "An Actor and His Time," by John Gielgud (Sidgwick & Jackason, 1979)]
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Sidney Skolsky, gossip columnist
"Acceptance"
"... Rebel Marlon Brando beat Bing Crosby ('Country Girl') and won an Oscar for 'On the Waterfront.' Previously, Brando couldn't win an Oscar for his performance in 'Streetcar,' although Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter did. Marlon couldn't get it for 'Viva Zapata' either, although Anthony Quinn did for Best Supporting Actor.
"I sat behind Marlon at the Pantages Theater on his winning night. He slumped in his seat when the envelope with the name of the Best Actor was to be opened. He was chewing gum faster than he rode his motorcycle. Bette Davis shouted, 'Marlon Brando!' She handed him the Oscar. Marlon's acceptance speech consisted of 'thank you.' It was a big deal that night. As if society had accepted Marlon Brando, and he had accepted society." (Hollywood, 1954)
[from " Don't Get Me Wrong -- I Love Hollywood," by Sidney Skolsky (G.P. Putnam's, 1975)]
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Mary Tyler Moore, actor
"In disguise"
"... with no real boys to answer our pubescent yearnings, we spent our free time indulging in fantasies about Marlon Brando. 'On the Waterfront' had propelled him to the number one position as leading man ..."
"... We were outside his house. Our hearts were beating in syncopated rhythms ..."
"... an old man with a limp exited his house and joined another man who waited outside in a car. We were so grateful for any action it didn't matter who it was. Someone had been in his house and come out! Then it occurred to us -- it was Brando! He was wearing a disguise ... We tailed him for about a quarter of a mile.
"... When we got to the place where Coldwater Canyon intersects, his car slowed down and a hand motioned from the passenger window for us to follow to a wide spot on the side of the road ... We came to a halt about two car lengths behind, and watched, slack-jawed, as Marlon Brando opened the car door and made his way toward us. The limp was gone, so was the gray wig. He was looking straight at us with his head sort of down and his eyes kind of up. There was a smile on his Marlon Brando face, a smile that could have meant anything. He never broke eye contact with us. (I'm pretty sure he was looking at me, but then I bet everyone in the car thought the same for herself.) He walked to us in the slowest, sexiest walk I'd ever seen.
"He bent over, both hands on his knees, scanned the passengers for a moment, and then looking down at his feet said, 'Don't you girls have anything better to do on a Saturday night?' We giggled, cleared throats, and made attempts at responses, but none of us was able. " (Beverly Hills, Calif., mid-1950s)
[from "After All," by Mary Tyler Moore (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1995) ]
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Peter Fonda, actor
"Pup at his feet"
"We headed for Rome in the summer of 1955 where Dad [Henry Fonda] was to film 'War and Peace' ... I flew overseas on a Boeing Stratocruiser, on the same flight as Marlon Brando and Dean Martin, who were on their way to Europe to make 'The Young Lions.'
"I went down to the Stratocruiser lounge area and listened to Brando tell stories while Martin gave me beers. It was a long flight and after many beers, I fell asleep ... In those days, I wore a tie and jacket whenever I traveled. But even in my tie and jacket, sneaking cigarettes and beers, I felt like a newly whelped pup around Brando."
[from "Don't Tell Dad: A Memoir," by Peter Fonda (Hyperion, 1998) ]
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