Early Life
Brando studied under Stella Adler in New York and made his Broadway breakthrough as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).
Career
He reprised the role in the 1951 film and earned an Oscar nomination, then won Best Actor for On the Waterfront (1954). After a period of uneven films, he made a celebrated comeback as Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972), winning a second Oscar, which he declined, sending Sacheen Littlefeather to speak on his behalf in protest of the film industry's treatment of Native Americans.
Legacy
Brando's naturalistic style influenced generations of actors. He also appeared in Last Tango in Paris (1972) and Apocalypse Now (1979), and died in 2004 at the age of 80.
Sources and further reading
Last updated: 2026-09-24