Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, rivaled as an actor only by the more-theatrically oriented Laurence Olivier in terms of esteem. Unlike Olivier, who preferred the stage to the screen, Brando concentrated his talents on movies after bidding the Broadway stage adieu in 1949, a decision for which he was severely criticized when his star began to dim in the 1960s and he was excoriated for squandering his talents. No actor ever exerted such a profound influence on succeeding generations of actors as did Brando. Fully fifty years after he first scorched the screen as Stanley Kowalski in the movie version of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," and a quarter-century after his last great performance as Colonel Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," all American actors were still being measured by the yardstick that was Brando. It was if the shadow of John Barrymore, the great American actor closest to Brando in terms of talent and stardom, dominated the acting field up until the 1970s.
English: A photograph promoting the film The Wild ...
Marlon Brando as Jor-El in Superman (1978)
Portrait of Marlon Brando, "Streetcar Named Desire...He did not, nor did any other actor so dominate the public's consciousness of what WAS an actor before or since Brando's 1951 on-screen portrayal of Stanley made him a cultural icon. Brando eclipsed the reputation of other great actors circa 1950, such as Paul Muni and Frederic March. Only the luster of Spencer Tracy's reputation hasn't dimmed when seen in the starlight thrown off by Brando. However, neither Tracy nor Olivier created an entire school of acting just by the force of his personality. Brando did.
Born Marlon Brando, Jr. on April 3, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska to a calcium carbonate salesman and his artistically inclined wife Dorothy, "Bud" Brando was one of three children. His oldest sister Jocelyn was also an actress, taking after their...