THE Brando and films

That's actually really cool. Which newspapers/magazines have you worked for? Which actors/singers have you come across?

I have to admit that you have a lot more knowledge about press than I do, but reading a few books on Brando certainly brings more of a well-rounded assessment of his less savory moments.

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I never thought I'd own something like Guys and Dolls, but when I found it in a store today for $6 and saw that Marlon Brando was the star, it went with me to the checkout line.

Good choice. It's an excellent film.

You never heard of the publications for which I've written. First was the weekly Fort Stockton Pioneer in my Texas hometown; wrote a column about high school--no money, just "experience."

First professional--as in pay-check--job was for the Orange Leader in Orange, Tex., on the Louisiana border. That was where I first got threatened by a sheriff on my first assignment--there was a drowning over on the Louisiana side and my editor sent his two new-hires--me and a young lady--to cover it: one to write the story, the other to take the pictures. Driving over in her car, we decided she'd do the interviews, and I'd snap the photos. Found the Parish sheriff who was on his way to death scene where deputies had just recovered the body. At some point before or after, the sheriff told me he didn't want any pictures taken. Fine, I said. We get to the place, the young lady gets the facts of the accident from the sheriff and other officials, and I stand around holding my graphflex news camera down at my side. She finishes the interview about the time they back an ambulance down to the bayou to load the body. Meanwhile, I focus my camera on something away from that scene but about the same distance. And I tell the other reporter to get in her car and start the motor. I position myself near the car where I can see straight into the rear door of the ambulance, and when the deputies hoist the body on a gurney to load it, I snap my picture, get in the car and she drives like hell for the Texas border. Actually I don't think the sheriff even knew I took a picture unless he saw the next day's edition.

I was the city reporter for the Orange newspaper. Anything that happened in the city limits, I covered it--crime, labor, politics, business, you name it. While I was there I did exclusive interviews with future Senator and Democratic candidate for VP Lloyd Bentsen and with George H. Bush (the daddy) in his first run for president. I interviewed Bush in his hotel room while he was changing clothes for a fund-raiser that evening.

Later I worked for the Lubbock Avalanche Journal up in the Texas Panhandle while getting my master's degree at Texas Tech. Mostly I covered the courts, everything from JPs to the Federal District Court. But once I was sent out to the Lubbock airport to do an interview with one of Mexico's top movie stars during a lay-over. Trouble was, I don't speak Spanish and he and his staff didn't speak English. So I grabbed a bilingual bystander and pressed him into service as interpreter. I'd never heard of the actor and don't remember his name after all of these years. But my interpreter knew of him--he said in Mexican movies this guy was the equivalent of John Wayne and Roy Rogers rolled into one, in that he usually played singing cowboys. The actor was a nice guy who thought the whole thing was kinda funny and I got a good interview. One evening the editor sent me down to the college theater--James Whitmore was doing his one-man performance as Will Rogers. Some local guy called up and said he and Whitmore were related through an aunt, and the editor thought maybe it would be a reunion feature if true. I was a big Whitmore fan having seen virtually all his films--Battleground, The Asphalt Jungle, The Next Voice You Hear, Face of Fire. I met Whitmore as he was coming off stage at the end of his act; he had to change clothes, too, but this time I waited outside his room. He denied any local relatives, so I got no story. And he wasn't much impressed that I couldn name so many of his movies.

After that, I worked for The Houston Post, one of the state's biggest circulation dailies in the biggest city in Texas. Started off covering the crime beat but later got into business news, covering the oil and gas industry; got that beat primarily because I was the only reporter who had ever worked in the oil field as a kid.

I saw several movie stars, entertainers, and politicians up close. For instance, when Howard Hughes died on a flight back to his home town, I was in the corridor when they rolled his body into the autopsy room, close enough that I could have touched the body bag he was in--but didn't.

Backstage at a gala opening of a sports and entertainment center, I passed Andy Williams, Hugh O'Brian (who was really tall!), Roger Miller, Kirk Douglas, and the Harlem Globetrotters in the hall. Douglas nodded and said hi; I replied how are you and was surprised to see he was several inches shorter than me. Singer Andy Williams really surprised me in that the skin on his face looked like old leather--dry, cracked, and wrinkled. Yet an hour later, when he was out on the Summit arena floor just a few feet from where I and other reporters were hunkered below the wall in front of the front-row seats, he looked just like he did on TV and in the movies.

Once covered a press conference with Jane Fonda in her Vietnam political era. She passed within inches of me and her complexion was the most beautiful I've ever seen. Looked like she wasn't wearing makeup, or else was wearing very good makeup that made her look natural. Woman speaks in bumper stickers, however, not an original thought in her head.

Saw Lloyd Nolan, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and Jimmy Stewart do their opening acts for Ronald Regan when he was campaigning to take the Republican nomination from Gerald Ford. Couple of years earlier, I covered Nixon's last visit to Texas as president; was close enough to shake hands but didn't. Covered Ford when he was in town; interviewed Henry Kissinger on the run down the hall of the Shamrock Hotel (famous for the opening depicted in Giant).

But most of the stars I encountered were in the news room at the Post to see the reporters covering stage and screen; litterally bumped into Paul Hogan coming around a corner in a hurry to write a story before deadline. When Gavin MacLeod came in, I invited him to grab a typewriter and start banging out copy in his Murray Slaughter row. Rita Moreno swept in one day, right past my desk in a fur coat. I smiled and said, "Looking good, Rita.: She laughed and winked and went on. Patrick Swayze also passed by my desk once, but I didn't even notice him; didn't know he was in the building until some of the ladies from the home/style section came over to ask what he looked like up close. Saw Ginger Rogers enter the Caledonian Hotel in Scotland one night. Asked a person in our party, "Isn't that Ginger Rogers?" "Who?" he said. So I called out, "Hey Ginger!" She looked over, I waved, she smiled and waved back.

There were only two stars who I went out of my way to shake hands with in the newsroom. One was Fred Rogers--used to watch his TV program with my two sons when they were little. The other was Mel Torme--just wanted to thank him for writing my favorite Christmas song.

What a good read. Thank you.

It sounds like you've led an adventurous life!

I once read Sinatra got into a snit because non-singer Brando got the Sky Masterson role while Frank played second-banana as Nathan Detroit in that film. Gotta go with Sinatra to a certain degree--I've never liked Hollywood's penchant for starring non-singers and non-dancers in musicals (worst possible example, the miscasting of the film version of Man of La Mancha). In Guys and Dolls, however, Stubby Kaye's Nicely-Nicely stole scenes from both Sinatra and Brando.

Not that Brando didn't do all he could with the part, but "Luck Be A Lady" just has more pizzaz when a singer performs it.

Sinatra was a jerk to Brando, from what I've read. Near the beginning of production, Marlon asked Frank if he wanted to rehearse some of their scenes together. Sinatra responded with "Don't give me any of your Actors Studio s*it" and stormed off.

It would be easier to list the folks Sinatra wasn't a jerk with. But damn, he sure could sing! Of course, Sinatra was famous among film-makers for not rehearsing and not wanting to film a second take.

Marlon did well with what he had to work with in that film, and he wasn't the only non-singer in the cast.

As for the Actors Studio crack, the studio and its alumni were often the subject of put-downs and put-ons back then. When Brando started out, lots of people wrote in newspapers and talked on TV about how he and other Method Actors were "famous" for mumbling. On the other hand, some comics like Frank Gorshin did some funny bits on it. In the film Bells Are Ringing, he plays his role as a characture of Brando through the whole film. Check it out!

I hear Sinatra was actually a really unpleasant, mean-spirited man. But, of course, I can't judge the guy because I didn't personally know him. I agree though, he was an amazing singer. Pretty good actor too. I love him in From Here to Eternity.

I'll have to look into that film. It sounds funny. Thank you.

On the other hand, when Sinatra was performing with Sammy Davis Jr. at the Sands, he stood up to the people running the place when they informed Sammy he had to come in the back door. According to Sammy, it was Frank who said that he would not perform there unless Sammy could come in the front door.

Shirley MacLaine wrote about Frank right after his death and talked about Frank's loyalty to people. In her eyes, his loyalty was intense and rare for people in show business. But it's clear he was rather petulant and immature, too. He also seemed to perceive lack of loyalty in people when it may not have been there. His famous rejection of Peter Lawford when Peter was the man who informed him that Jack Kennedy couldn't stay with him at his house. Frank never forgave Peter for that.

Interesting post there, rufnek, about your life. Pretty interesting.

I can understand Sinatra being mean and nasty after Ava Gardner dumped him--that would put any guy in a permanent foul mood!

As for the Sammy Davis thing, it went beyond who could come in what doors. Sammy even had to sleep "on the other side of the tracks" as it were and not any of the hotels and motels near the strip. So, yeah, good that Frank flexed his muscle and made a stand.

On the other hand, there's the time Frank got po'd at a dealer, went outside, and drove a golf cart through a picture window into the casino. He wasn't above getting people fired if he thought they crossed him or didn't give him "respect."

As I recall, he got po'd at Davis over something he said about Sinatra on a talk show and dropped him from a movie they were about to make (I'm thinking it was Never So Few) and gave the role instead to Steve McQueen.

Continuing our previous discussion of Brando: His own giant talent aside, I submit that a major reason for Brando’s best performances was the superb casts with which he worked, especially in his early films.

For instance, in three of his earliest and most outstanding films—A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata, On the Waterfront—he was directed by Elia Kazan, himself a product of the method school of acting. From what I've read, it seems Kazan knew when to let Brando do his thing and when--and how--to rein him in.

Moreover, Malden, Kim Hunter, and Brando had done Streetcar on Broadway, and Vivian Leigh had done her part in a British production. All four were nominated for Oscars for their performances in that film, and all won but Brando. Plus there was Rod Steiger in a key role and a key scene.

Brando was again nominated for an Oscar for his role in Viva Zapata, but it was Anthony Quinn who got the Best Supporting Actor for his role.

Brando finally got his Oscar in On the Waterfront, as did Kazan and Eva Maria Saint. Cobb and Malden were nominated for Oscars but didn’t win.

Malden appeared with Brando in a fourth film, One-Eyed Jacks, the only one Brando directed. I think he worked better with Malden--in that their interaction was always believable--than with any other actor.

No one took any prizes for The Wild One, but I suggest that in his brief appearance in that film, Lee Marvin looked, acted, and sounded more like a motorcycle gang leader than Brando. IMHO, Marvin stole those scenes with Brando.

In Sayonara, most audiences talked about Red Buttons’s performance as they left the theaters—former burlesque comic doing drama with a big star, and doing it well! Buttons and Miyashi Umeki won supporting Oscars for their roles. And James Gardner held his own in scenes with Brando.

The Young Lions was Brando’s only film with Montgomery Clift, although they never had any real scenes together. Oddly, Dean Martin got the biggest lift from that film, which helped transform him from former duller half of Martin and Lewis comic team to a serious movie actor. Maximilian Schell provided a strong counterpart to Brando’s character in their scenes.

Bedtime Story (later remade as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) was no big hit, but it was one of Brando’s few stabs at a somewhat comic role and teamed him with a master, David Niven.

Unfortunately, The Missouri Breaks did absolutely nothing for either Brando or Nicholson, although of the two Nicholson did try harder to save the film.

Don Juan Demarco will never go down in cinematic history, but Brando and Johnny Depp were interesting together.

By the way, here are some interesting quotes I found on line attributed to Kazan about Brando and others:

Elia Kazan
[on James Dean] Dean's body was very graphic; it was almost writhing in pain sometimes. He was very twisted, as if he were cringing all the time. Dean was a cripple anyway, inside -- he was not like [Marlon Brando]. People compared them, but there was no similarity. He was a far, far sicker kid and Brando's not sick, he's just troubled.

[on Marlon Brando] To my way of thinking, his performance in On the Waterfront (1954) is the best male performance I've ever seen in my life.

[on Natalie Wood] The quality I remember about her was a kind of sweetness. When her persona fitted the role you couldn't do better. She was it.

[on Marlon Brando] He was deeply rebellious against the bourgeois spirit, the over-ordering of life.

[on James Dean] He was sad and sulky. You kept expecting him to cry.

[on John Ford] Orson Welles was once asked which American directors most appealed to him. "The old masters," he replied. "By which I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford." Well, I studied "Young Mr. Lincoln," for example. As I say, John Ford had a big influence on me.

[on Kirk Douglas] He fits into being an advertising man and a driving, ruthless person better than Brando could have. You would always suspect Brando. Kirk's awfully bright. He's as bright a person as I've met in the acting profession.

[on James Cagney] I learned something from Jimmy Cagney -- he taught me quite a lot about acting. Jimmy taught me some things about being honest and not overdoing it. He even affected my work with Brando a little bit. I mean, "Don't show it, just do it."

[on Faye Dunaway] Faye carries a cloud of drama round with her. There is something in her at hazard.

[on working with Marlon Brando] Every word seemed not something memorized but the spontaneous expression of an inner experience - which is the level of work all actors strive to reach.