Forever A Contender: A Centennial Tribute to Marlon Brando

Considered one of the great American screen actors of the 20th century, Marlon Brando (1924–2004) cut his teeth on the Stanislavski system, which he learned from beloved New York–based acting teacher Stella Adler. An admirer of the virtuosic Fredric March and tough guy James Cagney but with a natural approach to character atypical of the stylized screen acting of the period, Brando quickly distinguished himself from his peers. His breakthrough performance as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role he originated on Broadway, led to the first of his eight Academy Award nominations throughout his six-decade career, taking home Oscars for On the Waterfront (1954) and The Godfather (1972). Brando would venture into directing only once, take calculated risks in international films by lauded auteurs, return to Tennessee Williams, and branch out into musicals, surprising audiences with his unexpected choices. Remembered today as much for his off-screen activism as for the physicality of his on-screen presence, the many faces and phases of Brando’s astonishing career are represented here and in our Oscar® Sundays series this spring in what would have been his centennial year.