Brando's Smile: His Life, Thought, and Work

by Susan L. Mizruchi

Overview

A groundbreaking work that reveals how Marlon Brando shaped his legacy in art and life.

When people think about Marlon Brando, they think of the movie star, the hunk, the scandals. In Brando’s Smile, Susan L. Mizruchi reveals the Brando others have missed: the man who collected four thousand books; the man who rewrote scripts, trimming his lines to make them sharper; the man who consciously used his body and employed the objects around him to create believable characters; the man who loved Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

To write this biography, Mizruchi gained unprecedented access to a vast number of annotated books from Brando’s library, hand-edited copies of screenplays, private letters, and recorded interviews that have never before been quoted in a biography. Original interviews with some of the still-living players from Brando’s life, including Ellen Adler, his one-time girlfriend and the daughter of his acting teacher Stella Adler, provide even deeper insight into the complex person whose intelligence belied the high-school dropout.

Mizruchi shows how Brando’s embrace of foreign cultures and social outsiders led to his brilliant performances in unusual roles—a gay man, an Asian, a German soldier—to test himself and to foster empathy on a global scale. We also meet the political Brando: the civil rights activist, the close friend of James Baldwin, the actor who declined his Oscar to support Indian rights.

More than seventy stunning—and many rare—photographs of Marlon Brando illuminate this portrait of the man who has left an astounding cultural legacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393082869
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/23/2014
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Susan L. Mizruchi, a professor of English at Boston University, specializes in American literature, cultural history, and film.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Introduction His Smile xiii

Chapter 1 Lessons of the Midwest 1

Chapter 2 Manhattam Schooling 32

Chapter 3 Building the Repertoire 68

Chapter 4 The Epic Mode, 1960-1963 139

Chapter 5 Political Films, 1963-1969 180

Chapter 6 Annus Mirabilis 1972 219

Chapter 7 Villains and Supermen 255

Chapter 8 Citizen of the Planet 310

Epilogue Lying for a Living 349

Acknowledgments 363

Appendix: Brando's Plays and Films 365

Notes 367

Permissions 429

Index 431

Editorial Reviews

06/30/2014
Mizruchi, a professor of English at Boston University, leaves no stone unturned in this cohesive biography of Marlon Brando. Brimming with colorful anecdotes and details, the biography dissects Brando's life and creative process, from his Omaha, Neb., roots and his acting schooling with Stella Adler and fellow student Elia Kazan, to stage roles such as Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar Named Desire and star turns in canonical films such as The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris, and Apocalypse Now. Mizruchi's academic portrait of the great actor who "slept every day until noon" and "buried himself in books" is at once microscopic and sweeping, intimately focused on unpacking his work role by role. A major part of her project is to overturn the "dismissal" of Brando's work in the 1960s, especially One-Eyed Jacks. Mizruchi also explores the actor's devotion to the cause of Native American rights, which "had roots in the history of his family in the state of Nebraska." This is a wonderfully cohesive work about Brando, both as an actor and a man. (July)

Publishers Weekly

2014-05-06
According to his latest biographer, Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was a voracious reader, social activist and insightful actor.Mizruchi (English/Boston Univ.; The Rise of Multicultural America, 2008, etc.) bases her study on considerable new sources: Brando's huge library of annotated books, film scripts and research notes, as well as interviews with friends and family members. "I can report," she writes, "that Brando's hunger for knowledge was as insatiable as his more legendary appetites for women and food." She believes that Brando was a victim of sexism; his good looks and gossip about "the endless women and romantic affairs" led to his being stereotyped as an intellectual lightweight. Mizruchi argues that he was a serious student of philosophy, literature, history, and Western and Eastern religions. In the 1950s, as his reputation was established by performances in A Streetcar Named Desire and On The Waterfront, his reading became "focused on three main areas: comparative philosophy and religion; Asian cultures, including their histories, languages, and arts; and social scientific theory (politics and psychology in particular)." His readings, Mizruchi asserts, influenced his choice of roles, in which he hoped to convey some social or political message. Although he was chided for outspoken political views that some deemed naïve, the author claims that Brando consciously "treated his celebrity as a means to public ends." His causes included Native American rights, civil rights for African-Americans, UNICEF and the environment. Mizruchi chronicles Brando's career, highlighting his deliberations over roles, his profuse annotations of scripts and his efforts to deeply understand his characters. Even when he took parts just for the money, "Brando sought to balance lucrative projects against those he did for idealistic purposes."Admitting that she has been obsessed with Brando since she was a teenager, Mizruchi paints a sympathetic and respectful portrait of a man far different from the self-absorbed, self-indulgent one who emerges in other biographies.

Kirkus Reviews

"Eye-opening…made me rethink my opinion of the actor. And rewatch his films with greater appreciation of his craft."

Philadelphia Inquirer - Carrie Rickey

"[Mizruchi is] the first to have access to Brando’s private archives, including his extensive library, film archives, and research materials…[H]er findings are fascinating."

Atlantic - Tom Shone

"Renowned cultural scholar…Susan L. Mizruchi explores the Brando that was not visible to the world in order to better understand the one that was—a Brando that was independent of the public persona and often at odds with it."

Examiner

"A smooth-reading and informative portrait."

David Kirby

"An always interesting, addictive book (I didn’t move for two days)."

Financial Times - Antonia Quirke

"Any future biographer will now have to take account of Mizruchi’s Brando."

Boston Globe - Julia M. Klein

"There is much to enjoy here for the confirmed Brando fan."

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