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Monday, Nov 9, 2009
Alan King, actor, comedian and film producer
"His favorite actor"
"Once I spent a weekend in a house where Brando was also a guest. It was in Runnymede, near Windsor Castle; Elliott Kastner and Tessa Kennedy, mutual friends, were our hosts. Marlon, who then weighed over 300 pounds, had just traveled alone all over Europe. He wore a Greek sailor's hat, and he said nobody recognized him. He also said he couldn't fly on the Concorde because he couldn't fit in the seat."
"I asked him ... 'Who's the greatest actor you ever saw?' He didn't miss a beat. 'Paul Muni,' he said.
"Muni, my first hero. Probably because my parents had taken me to the Yiddish theater to see him when his name was still Muni Weisenfreund. I got to know him toward the end of his life, when he was doing 'Inherit the Wind' on Broadway...
"I talked to Marlon about Muni and the Yiddish theater, and it turned out Marlon could speak Yiddish ... (London, late 1960s)"
[from "Name-Dropping: The Life and Lies of Alan King," by Alan King with Chris Chase (Scribner, 1996)
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Mario Puzo, novelist
"No trouble"
"... the role of The Godfather ... I had always thought Marlon Brando would be great ... I contacted Brando, wrote him a letter, and he was nice enough to call me. We had a talk on the phone. He had not read the book but he told me that the studio would never hire him unless a strong director insisted on it. He was nice over the phone but didn't sound too interested. And that was that.
"... I remembered what Brando had told me so I had a little talk with Francis Ford Coppola ...
"... he fought and got Brando. And incidentally Brando never gave any trouble. So much for his reputation. (1969)"
[from "The Godfather Papers & Other Confessions," by Mario Puzo (G.P. Putnam's, 1972)]
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Gordon Pinsent, actor
"Inhaling chocolate cake"
"I met Brando first after knowing Wally [Cox] and his wife Pat for only a week or so ...
"... the door banged open and in came Stanley Kowalski, the Wild One, Emiliano Zapata, Marc Antony, Napoleon, Sky Masterson, and soon Don Corleone, with Colonel Kurtz on the far horizon, all in the extra large person of Marlon Brando.
"He was heavy, to be kind about it, and had his hair knotted at the back, while sporting a wide sweatband on his forehead.
"With not a word to anyone, and heaving like a vastly out-of-shape escaped convict, he hurled himself at the fridge, ripped open the door, grabbed a chunk of chocolate cake, squashed it onto his face, and flopped into the nearest chair. Deciphering Brando wasn't the easiest chore at the best of times, but when spoken through a pound of cake, his speech became a linguist's nightmare.
"'You want to go to a movie!' The famous voice seemed a little clearer now.
It took me a moment or so to realize who he was talking to. 'Me?' I'd been in Hollywood a matter of months and this is who I'm going to the movies with? This is stupid! 'Sure, but I've got to go home for money.'
"'I've got money. Come on,' he said, and off we went. (1970)"
[from "By the Way," by Gordon Pinsent (Stoddart, 1992)]
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Cybill Shepherd, actor
"Not impressed with me"
"It would be an understatement to say that I failed to impress Marlon Brando. On a warm summer night Peter [Bogdanovich] and I drove the great acting coach Stella Adler to a party in her honor at Brando's home atop Mulholland Drive. There were Japanese lanterns strung through the trees, and I was seated on a garden bench next to Brando, but for once I was chattering away rather than deferring to the conversation of others. Brando was holding a beer bottle when he looked at me with unsubtle disgust.
"'If this girl doesn't shut up,' he said to no one in particular, 'I'm going to hit her in the face with this bottle.' Then he turned to me and said, 'Would you get up and go over there so I can watch you walk away?' (Beverly Hills, Calif., early 1970s)"
[from "Cybill Disobedience," by Cybill Shepherd with Aime Lee Ball (HarperCollins, 2000)]
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Hugh Downs, television host
"Indians and toys"
"When Marlon Brando came on Today, he was concerned about American Indians. But he talked across a range of subjects, including little toy trucks that had commercial labels on them such as 'Standard Oil.'
"'Can you imagine how children's minds are affected by this brainwashing?' He asked. 'Once they play with this supposedly innocent toy, they'll grow up and see Standard Oil at a gas station. They'll just sail right in and won't even know why!'
"He then assailed a magazine article which had commented on his private life and his marriages in ways he felt were unjust and inaccurate ... (New York, mid-1970s)"
[from "On Camera: My 10,000 Hours on Television," by Hugh Downs (G.P. Putnam's, 1986)]
