Brando: Blacker than black 0
Not only the greatest actor that ever lived (according to many film and stage critics), Marlon Brando apparently had a heart–and in one of the least likely places you might look.
Often described as great and terrible at the same time (his role in "Apocalypse Now", for instance, was utterly outstanding, and yet Coppola complained that when Brando appeared on set he had not even bothered to read the book), Brando seems to epitomize all that is remarkable in post-war cinema. Influencing modern acting beyond calculation, he yet would not spearhead any cause or movement at all. Actors and modernity looked to him for leadership; Brando merely looked back with scorn. And yet, in that too, he did seem to lead. Like I say, this neatly captures both the good and bad in the last half-century.
Anyway, Brando received two Oscar awards, one for "On the Waterfront", another for "The Godfather". He refused to accept the latter one. And the reason for this is very telling.
Brando sent an actress dressed in full Indian garb to read a speech explaining why he refused the award: he rejected the film world's treatment of Native Americans.
It wasn't simply this speech, however, that makes this noteworthy. Brando was, apparently, the first non-black person to take Native American racism claims seriously. He was even once arrested for fishing with other Indians to protest the Indian treaty obligations the government was unfairly not upholding.
He once told a Newsweek magazine reporter in 1972:
"Christ Almighty, look at what we did in the name of democracy to the American Indian. We just excised him from the human race. We had 400 treaties with the Indians and we broke every one of them."
My image of Brando is one of self-indulgence: a fine fine actor but a person who simply let himself "go". Hence, the obesity. I have no way of knowing what really motivated Brando to support the Native American cause. One wonders if he did not have a maternal or paternal bloodline relation. In any event, and in light of his many highs as an actor and lows as a human being, he did justly uphold one cause.
And that is something for pause on the course of his passing. Check out this <a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5355109/">brief overview</a> for more about this interesting footnote to Brando's life.