Marlon Brando is “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now”. It’s also, AOL! The actor was very active on online forums in the 90s.
There are few actors as triumphant and as singular as Marlon Brando, the Oscar-winning artist who was deemed by Time magazine as “the actor of the century” at the turn of the new millennium. It was his eccentricities and his inner conflict with his profession as an actor, between disdain and pleasure, that made him such an impassive actor.
While he has played several iconic roles, from Sky Masterson in White Doves and Ugly Gentlemen (1950) to Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972), including Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), Marlon Brando was also known to be somewhat eccentric.
Among the stories heard over time is that he left his The Corruptor co-star Stephanie Beacham tied to a bed while he went to lunch. Meanwhile, the entire film crew was trying to undo the knots that Brando had tied during the scene, but no one could. The actor therefore had to be called back to the set to “free” his partner! We can also mention the time when, when discussing his role as Jor-El in Superman with director Richard Donner, he said that he wanted his character to look like a green suitcase or a bagel…
A fascination with… AOL!
Died in 2004 at the age of 80, he did not have the opportunity to experience the peak of social networks that we know today but was still able to benefit from the beginnings of his development. Indeed, the actor had a surprising obsession with AOL’s early chat rooms, fascinated by the fact that he could talk to anyone in the world and present himself as a stranger.
As the book reveals Marlon & Greg: My Life and Filmmaking Adventures with Hollywood’s Polar Opposites by Joseph Brutsman: “He would go to AOL’s early chat rooms, posing as all kinds of people, delighted to be able to exchange views with people who had no idea who he was.”
Tri-Star Pictures Marlon Brando in “First Steps in the Mafia” (1990)
This was confirmed in the book The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando by William J. Mann, which details how the comedian spent hours online having political arguments with strangers, with his account frequently banned for telling his correspondents “to go fuck yourself”, in fits of rage.
Part of the myth of the actor, Marlon Brando also had a reputation as one of the most unpredictable and difficult performers to work with. For example, he became obsessed with actor Nelson de la Rosa, measuring 71 centimeters tall, during the filming of The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), demanding that the latter become his sidekick in each of his scenes and requesting They could both wear matching clothes for the duration of the film. Fascinated by his colleague, he made the following remark several times: “Are you telling me there is a man in there!?”.
Despite these unique stories, Marlon Brando remains one of the greatest actors of all time. His hypnotic approach to the craft was so profound that he became a posthumous sage and example to any aspiring comedian wishing to follow a similar path. His performances were so captivating and his methods so revolutionary that we may never see anyone as fascinating as the late Marlon Brando.
Join the legendary actor in The Godfather, available for streaming on Netflix and Paramount+.