Legend has it that during the filming of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (Elia Kazan, 1951), the iconic drama that elevated a sweaty white T-shirt to immortal status in cinema, Marlon Brando was reportedly physically drawn to Vivien Leigh.
Despite his attraction, he restrained his instincts out of respect for Leigh's husband, Laurence Olivier, whom he deemed "a good guy." Rumors abound about Brando being expelled from an institute for riding a motorcycle through the hallways and his aversion to signing autographs.
He purportedly regarded Johnny Depp as the best actor of his generation, spent his final years engrossed in the nascent Internet, and, in a candid moment during the filming of "The Godfather" (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972), posed an question to co-star James Caan:
What is your dream in this life?
It was widely reported that Brando purchased an island in Tahiti to distance himself from the Hollywood establishment and was allegedly complicit with Bernardo Bertolucci in the controversial rape scene involving Maria Schneider in "Last Tango in Paris."
Anecdotes from his time at the Actors Studio in New York suggest that during an acting class where students were instructed to act like chickens in response to an air raid siren, Brando simply stared at the ceiling, refusing to participate, asserting, "I'm a damn chicken.
How am I supposed to know what an air raid siren is?" Despite his complex temperament, alternating between arrogance and a somewhat chaotic routine, many hailed Marlon Brando as the greatest actor of all time.
