William "Bill" Sikes is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists (alongside Monks ) in the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens . Sikes is a malicious criminal in Fagin 's gang, and a vicious robber and murderer. Throughout much of the novel Sikes is shadowed by his “ bull-terrier ” dog Bull's-eye.
124-435: Dickens describes his first appearance: The man who growled out these words, was a stoutly-built fellow of about five-and-thirty, in a black velveteen coat, very soiled drab breeches, lace-up half-boots, and grey cotton stockings which enclosed a bulky pair of legs, with large swelling calves—the kind of legs, which in such costume, always look in an unfinished and incomplete state without a set of fetters to garnish them. He had
248-540: A "cornpone melodrama". In 1961, Brando made his directorial debut in the western One-Eyed Jacks . The picture was originally directed by Stanley Kubrick , but he was fired early in the production. Paramount then made Brando the director. Brando portrays the lead character Rio, and Karl Malden plays his partner "Dad" Longworth. The supporting cast features Katy Jurado , Ben Johnson , and Slim Pickens . Brando's penchant for multiple retakes and character exploration as an actor carried over into his directing, however, and
372-621: A French Huguenot , who arrived in New York around 1660. His maternal great-grandfather, Myles Joseph Gahan, was an Irish immigrant who served as a medic in the American Civil War. In 1995, he gave an interview in Ireland in which he said, "I have never been so happy in my life. When I got off the plane I had this rush of emotion. I have never felt at home in a place as I do here. I am seriously contemplating Irish citizenship." In 1930, when Brando
496-424: A brown hat on his head, and a dirty belcher handkerchief round his neck: with the long frayed ends of which he smeared the beer from his face as he spoke. He disclosed, when he had done so, a broad heavy countenance with a beard of three days' growth, and two scowling eyes; one of which displayed various parti-coloured symptoms of having been recently damaged by a blow. His girlfriend Nancy reluctantly tolerates, but
620-420: A car in midtown Manhattan searching for a parking space." He received better reviews at subsequent tour stops, but what his colleagues recalled was only occasional indications of the talent he would later demonstrate. "There were a few times when he was really magnificent," Bankhead admitted to an interviewer in 1962. "He was a great young actor when he wanted to be, but most of the time I couldn't even hear him on
744-414: A cast member recalled. "Everybody hugged him and kissed him. He came ambling offstage and said to me, 'They don't think you can act unless you can yell.'" Critics were not as kind, however. A review of Brando's performance in the opening assessed that Brando was "still building his character, but at present fails to impress." One Boston critic remarked of Brando's prolonged death scene, "Brando looked like
868-528: A character. Nancy is one of literature's earliest examples of the stock character of the " tart with a heart "—the stereotypical character of a tragic or fallen woman who makes her way through life through crime, but is still a good and compassionate person. Numerous prominent actresses have played the character of Nancy: In a 1839 production at the Queen's Theatre in London, Nancy was played by Ellen Terry . In
992-457: A drinking problem. Wilson was largely tolerant of Brando's behavior, but he reached his limit when Brando mumbled through a dress rehearsal shortly before the November 28, 1946, opening. "I don't care what your grandmother did," Wilson exclaimed, "and that Method stuff, I want to know what you're going to do!" Brando in turn raised his voice, and acted with great power and passion. "It was marvelous,"
1116-561: A film with friend and rival Montgomery Clift (although they shared no scenes together). Brando closed out the decade by appearing in The Fugitive Kind (1960) opposite Anna Magnani . The film was based on another play by Tennessee Williams but was hardly the success A Streetcar Named Desire had been, with the Los Angeles Times labeling Williams' personae "psychologically sick or just plain ugly" and The New Yorker calling it
1240-475: A friend asked me to and I didn't want to turn him down ... In some ways I think of my middle age as the Fuck You Years." Candy was especially appalling for many; a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand and based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern , the film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin . It is generally regarded as
1364-526: A lack of acting fundamentals and, when his casting was announced, many remained dubious about his prospects for success. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and co-starring British stage actor John Gielgud , Brando delivered an impressive performance, especially during Antony's noted "Friends, Romans, countrymen ..." speech. Gielgud was so impressed that he offered Brando a full season at the Hammersmith Theatre, an offer he declined. In his biography on
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#17328687972271488-471: A lawyer in A Dry White Season (1989). Brando was known for playing characters who later became popular icons , such as the rebellious motorcycle-gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One (1953), and he came to be seen as an emblem of the era's so-called " generation gap ". He also played Sky Masterson in the musical film Guys and Dolls (1955), Fletcher Christian in the action film Mutiny on
1612-409: A lesser actor might have been." In Sayonara (1957), Brando appeared as a United States Air Force officer. Newsweek found the film a "dull tale of the meeting of the twain", but it was nevertheless a box-office success. According to Stefan Kanfer's biography of the actor, Brando's manager Jay Kanter negotiated a profitable contract with ten percent of the gross going to Brando, which put him in
1736-528: A nuclear bomb was about to fall on them. Most of the class clucked and ran around wildly, but Brando sat calmly and pretended to lay an egg. Asked by Adler why he had chosen to react this way, he said, "I'm a chicken—what do I know about bombs?" Despite being commonly regarded as a method actor , Brando disagreed. He claimed to have abhorred Lee Strasberg 's teachings: After I had some success, Lee Strasberg tried to take credit for teaching me how to act. He never taught me anything. He would have claimed credit for
1860-552: A partnership with Paramount to establish his own production company called Pennebaker, its declared purpose to develop films that contained "social value that would improve the world." The name was a tribute in honor of his mother, who had died in 1954. By all accounts, Brando was devastated by her death, with biographer Peter Manso telling A&E 's Biography , "She was the one who could give him approval like no one else could and, after his mother died, it seems that Marlon stops caring." Brando appointed his father to run Pennebaker. In
1984-559: A pistol to force him to do something shameful, would put his hand on the gun and push it away with the gentleness of a caress? Who else could read "Oh, Charlie!" in a tone of reproach that is so loving and so melancholy and suggests the terrific depth of pain? ... If there is a better performance by a man in the history of film in America, I don't know what it is. Upon its release, On the Waterfront received glowing reviews from critics and
2108-935: A role he reprised in the 1951 film adaptation , directed by Elia Kazan . He made his film debut playing a wounded G.I. in The Men (1950) and won two Academy Awards for Best Actor for his roles as a dockworker in the crime drama film On the Waterfront (1954) and Vito Corleone in the gangster epic The Godfather (1972). He was Oscar-nominated for playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata! (1952), Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (1953), an air force pilot in Sayonara (1957), an American expatriate in Last Tango in Paris (1973), and
2232-620: A screen test. Coppola convinced Brando to do a videotaped "make-up" test, in which Brando did his own makeup (he used cotton balls to simulate the character's puffed cheeks). Coppola had feared Brando might be too young to play the Don, but was electrified by the actor's characterization as the head of a crime family. Even so, he had to fight the studio in order to cast the temperamental actor. Brando had doubts himself, stating in his autobiography, "I had never played an Italian before, and I didn't think I could do it successfully." Eventually, Charles Bluhdorn ,
2356-491: A summer stock production of George Bernard Shaw 's Arms and the Man . In 1954, Brando starred in On the Waterfront , a crime drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen . The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg ; it also starred Karl Malden , Lee J. Cobb , Rod Steiger and, in her film debut, Eva Marie Saint . When initially offered
2480-433: A thief, a common suggestion is that she is a prostitute , in the modern sense of the word. At no point is this stated directly in the novel; rather it stems from Dickens describing her as such in his preface to the 1841 edition ("the boys are pickpockets, and the girl is a prostitute"). However, it has been speculated that he is invoking the term's then-synonymous usage referring to a woman living out of wedlock or otherwise on
2604-420: A total pig of a man without sensitivity or grace of any kind. Marlon Brando would be perfect as Stanley. I have just fired the cad from my play, The Eagle Has Two Heads, and I know for a fact that he is looking for work". Pierpont writes that John Garfield was first choice for the role, but "made impossible demands." It was Kazan's decision to fall back on the far less experienced (and technically too young for
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#17328687972272728-527: A train, sending his corpse falling into the East River . In the 2021 movie, Twist , Sikes is altered into a female portrayed by Lena Headey with a pet Doberman named Bull's-eye and appears to be a lesbian when seen in a supposed relationship with Nancy. Peter Vaughan portrayed Sikes in the BBC's 1962 television adaptation , which saw the character portrayed in a gritty, violent way considered to be faithful to
2852-480: A young wealthy girl, Jenny Foxworth, planning to take a ransom to himself. In a final confrontation, Sykes chases Fagin and the dogs into the subway tunnels in attempt to recapture Jenny until they reach the Brooklyn Bridge . While Roscoe and DeSoto are killed when they fall onto the electrified railway, Sykes fights with Oliver and Dodger on the roof of his limousine, and is brutally killed when his car collides with
2976-399: Is a somewhat conflicted character. For instance, after preventing Nancy from keeping her midnight appointment with Rose Maylie and Mr Brownlow , he wondered aloud to Fagin if being indoors for so long in their dingy lodging was beginning to affect her after she dedicated the whole day caring for him. After he brutally beats Nancy to death, Sikes apparently is capable of feeling guilt—although
3100-428: Is complete" and noted, "Out of stiff and frozen silences he can lash into a passionate rage with the tearful and flailing frenzy of a taut cable suddenly cut." By Brando's own account, it may have been because of this film that his draft status was changed from 4-F to 1-A . He had had surgery on his trick knee, and it was no longer physically debilitating enough to incur exclusion from the draft. When Brando reported to
3224-407: Is described as "a polite and delicate evasion of the request" showing "the young lady to have been possessed of natural good-breeding." Nancy's visit to the magistrates is described in similar language. Only later, when Nancy speaks to Rose, does she explicitly describe herself as degraded and corrupted. Their criminal enterprises are spoken of in euphemisms, creating for the reader a "game of guessing
3348-501: Is her murder and the subsequent search for Sikes, her killer, that helps bring down Fagin's gang. Nancy commits one of the most noble acts of kindness in the story when she ultimately defies Bill, in order to help Oliver to a better life, and she is subsequently martyred for it. Her character represented Dickens' view that a person, however tainted by society, could still retain a sense of good and redeem for past crimes but will surely be paid back for their bad deeds committed before. One of
3472-419: Is in league with Fagin. However, she has managed to keep Bill's name out of it. But Fagin has sent a spy (Noah) out after her, and when the spy reports on what he has heard and seen, Fagin, furious at what she has done, tells Sikes about her actions. However, he twists the story just enough to make it sound as if she informed on him, knowing that this will probably result in her being murdered and thus silenced. It
3596-466: Is intimidated by, his violent behaviour. However, when he thinks Nancy has betrayed him, Sikes viciously murders her. After police identify him as travelling with a dog, Sikes attempts to drown Bull's-eye to rid himself of his companion. In the end while trying to escape over the rooftops via a rope, a vision of the murdered Nancy's eyes terrifies him into losing his balance, falling with the looped rope around his neck and accidentally hanging himself. Sikes
3720-431: Is not mentioned in the book, although she says she has been a thief for 12 years (and began working for Fagin when she was half Oliver's age). From this it can be deduced that she is aged 20, or in her 20s. She is typically depicted in her 20s in film versions of the novel. She apparently looks older than her years, as she tells Rose Maylie "I am younger than you would think, to look at me, but I am well used to it." Nancy
3844-414: Is one of the members of Fagin's gang that few, if any, know about in central London, since she has recently moved from the suburbs — something referred to by Sikes when he and Fagin, concerned that Oliver might inform on them, are trying to convince her to attend his impending trial after he is mistakenly arrested for pickpocketing ("No one around here knows anything about you"). Her excuse for not attending
Bill Sikes - Misplaced Pages Continue
3968-414: Is perfect," he later wrote in his memoir, "and I think that Gadg has done injury to others, but mostly to himself." In 1953, Brando also starred in The Wild One , riding his own Triumph Thunderbird 6T motorcycle. Triumph's importers were ambivalent at the exposure, as the subject matter was rowdy motorcycle gangs taking over a small town. The film was criticized for its perceived gratuitous violence at
4092-430: Is played by Sophie Simnett . Unlike most adaptations, however, she is portrayed as a younger girl known as "Red" and Oliver's love interest despite her supposed relationship to a female version of Sikes. In the 2023 Encores! revival of the musical Oliver! , Nancy was played by Lilli Cooper . Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of
4216-515: Is played by Antoine Byrne. However, unlike most versions, Nancy is murdered on the London Bridge instead of in her room by Sikes. Rita the saluki in Disney's 1988 animated film Oliver and Company is entirely based on Nancy. In the 1999 miniseries , Nancy is portrayed by Emily Woof . In Twist , Michèle-Barbara Pelletier plays the role of Nancy. In Boy Called Twist , Kim Engelbrecht plays
4340-470: Is renamed Sykes and he is a cold-hearted loan shark who lives and works in a New York shipyard and is voiced by Robert Loggia , who was cast in the role after Marlon Brando rejected an offer to voice the character because he felt the film was going to be a flop. Sikes's dog from the novel, Bull's-eye, is replaced by two Dobermans named Roscoe and DeSoto. Fagin, here depicted as a hobo living with several dogs, owes him money before Sykes proceeds to kidnap
4464-419: Is retained and Sikes dies in the same manner of being shot and his body dangling from the rope about his body. Sikes was played by Graeme Campbell in the 1984 Broadway revival, Miles Anderson (later Steven Hartley ) in the 1994 London revival, Burn Gorman (later Steven Hartley again) in the 2009 London revival and by Tam Mutu in the 2023 Encores! revival. Robert Newton first played Sikes on screen in
4588-438: Is that she does not wish anyone to know about her; nevertheless, she winds up attending it, presumably after having been physically threatened by Sikes. In the novel she drinks heavily. She is described thus when she first appears: A couple of young ladies called to see the young gentlemen; one of whom was named Bet, and the other Nancy. They wore a good deal of hair, not very neatly turned up behind, and were rather untidy about
4712-483: Is the kind of guy, when he dies, he's going to heaven and give God a hard time for making him bald." Frank Sinatra called Brando "the world's most overrated actor", and referred to him as "mumbles". The film was commercially though not critically successful, costing $ 5.5 million to make and grossing $ 13 million. Brando played Sakini, a Japanese interpreter for the U.S. Army in postwar Japan, in The Teahouse of
4836-407: The 1972 New York Film Critics Circle Awards .) Albert S. Ruddy , whom Paramount assigned to produce the film, agreed with the choice of Brando. However, Paramount studio executives were opposed to casting Brando, due to his reputation for difficulty and his long string of box office flops. Brando also had One-Eyed Jacks working against him, a troubled production that lost money for Paramount when it
4960-527: The ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979), after which he took a nine-year hiatus from acting. He later returned to film, with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. The last two decades of his life were marked by controversy, and his troubled private life received significant public attention. He struggled with mood disorders and legal issues. His last films include The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) and The Score (2001). Marlon Brando Jr.
5084-512: The BBC Home Service , Ralph Truman in 1952 on the BBC Home Service , John Hollis in 1970 on BBC Radio 4 , and Tim McInnerny in 1994 on BBC Radio 4 . Nancy (Oliver Twist) Nancy is a fictional character in the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and its several adaptations for theatre, television and films. She is a member of Fagin 's gang and the lover, and eventual victim, of Bill Sikes . As well as Nancy being
Bill Sikes - Misplaced Pages Continue
5208-568: The BBC One miniseries Oliver Twist , later aired in the United States on PBS ' Masterpiece Classic . In the 2015 BBC TV series Dickensian , Sikes is played by Mark Stanley . The very first radio portrayal of Bill Sikes was on British radio in 1928 by Philip H. Harper. Successive radio Sikes included Matthew Boulton in 1934 on the BBC Regional Programme , Allan Jeaves in 1941 on
5332-525: The Korean War . Early in his career, Brando began using cue cards instead of memorizing his lines. Despite the objections of several of the film directors he worked with, Brando felt that this helped bring realism and spontaneity to his performances. He felt otherwise he would appear to be reciting a writer's speech. In the TV documentary The Making of Superman: The Movie , Brando explained: "If you don't know what
5456-415: The 1928 Radio Liverpool adaptation, Nancy was portrayed by Mrs. Fred Wilkinson. In the 1934 BBC Regional Programme serial adaptation, Barbara Couper played Nancy. In the 1941 BBC Home Service serial adaptation, Nancy is played by Belle Chrystall. In the 1948 film Oliver Twist , Kay Walsh portrayed Nancy. In the 1952 BBC Home Service serial adaptation, Helen Shingler played Nancy. In
5580-441: The 1948 British film noir Oliver Twist . Sikes's death is changed slightly: while attempting to swing to another building to escape the mob, he is shot by a police officer and dies while dangling from a building by a rope around his body. Perhaps Newton's portrayal is the closest to how Dickens himself envisioned the character: a vicious, heavy drinking sociopath. In Disney's animated version, Oliver & Company (1988), Sikes
5704-540: The 1954 film Désirée . Brando was in the film adaptation of the musical Guys and Dolls (1955). Guys and Dolls would be Brando's first and last musical role. Time found the picture "false to the original in its feeling", remarking that Brando "sings in a faraway tenor that sometimes tends to be flat." Appearing in Edward Murrow 's Person to Person interview in early 1955, he admitted to having problems with his singing voice, which he called "pretty terrible." In
5828-432: The 1960 London and 1963 Broadway stage productions of Oliver! , Nancy was portrayed by Georgia Brown . In the 1962 BBC TV serial , Nancy is portrayed by Carmel McSharry . In the 1968 British musical film Oliver! , Nancy is portrayed by Shani Wallis . In the 1970 BBC Radio 4 serial adaptation, Patricia Leventon played Nancy. In the 1982 made-for-TV movie version, Nancy is portrayed by Cherie Lunghi . In
5952-737: The 1965 documentary Meet Marlon Brando , he revealed that the final product heard in the movie was a result of countless singing takes being cut into one and later joked, "I couldn't hit a note with a baseball bat; some notes I missed by extraordinary margins ... They sewed my words together on one song so tightly that when I mouthed it in front of the camera, I nearly asphyxiated myself". Relations between Brando and costar Frank Sinatra were also frosty, with Stefan Kanfer observing: "The two men were diametrical opposites: Marlon required multiple takes; Frank detested repeating himself." Upon their first meeting Sinatra reportedly scoffed, "Don't give me any of that Actors Studio shit." Brando later quipped, "Frank
6076-451: The 1985 miniseries , Nancy is portrayed by Amanda Harris . In the 1994 BBC Radio 4 serial adaptation, Adjoa Andoh played Nancy. In the 1984 Broadway revival of the musical Oliver! , Nancy was played by Patti LuPone . In the 1994 London revival of the musical Oliver! , Nancy was played by Sally Dexter , later by Claire Moore and Ruthie Henshall . In Disney's live action television production Oliver Twist (1997), Nancy
6200-656: The American Theatre Wing Professional School, part of the Dramatic Workshop of the New School , with influential German director Erwin Piscator . In a 1988 documentary, Marlon Brando: The Wild One , Brando's sister Jocelyn remembered, "He was in a school play and enjoyed it ... So he decided he would go to New York and study acting because that was the only thing he had enjoyed. That was when he
6324-565: The August Moon (1956). Pauline Kael was not particularly impressed by the movie, but noted "Marlon Brando starved himself to play the pixie interpreter Sakini, and he looks as if he's enjoying the stunt—talking with a mad accent, grinning boyishly, bending forward, and doing tricky movements with his legs. He's harmlessly genial (and he is certainly missed when he's offscreen), though the fey, roguish role doesn't allow him to do what he's great at and it's possible that he's less effective in it than
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#17328687972276448-587: The Bounty (1962), Jor-El in the superhero film Superman (1978), and as Colonel Kurtz in the Vietnam war drama Apocalypse Now (1979). He made his directorial film debut in the western drama One-Eyed Jacks (1961), in which he also starred, which did poorly at the box office. On television, Brando won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role in
6572-589: The Oscar for his role as Irish-American stevedore Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront . His performance, spurred on by his rapport with Eva Marie Saint and Kazan's direction, was praised as a tour de force . For the scene in which Terry laments his failings, saying I coulda been a contender , he convinced Kazan that the scripted scene was unrealistic. Schulberg's script had Brando acting the entire scene with his character being held at gunpoint by his brother Charlie, played by Rod Steiger . Brando insisted on gently pushing away
6696-439: The actor was "trapped in another dog of a movie ... Not for the first time, Mr. Brando gives us a heavy-lidded, adenoidally openmouthed caricature of the inarticulate, stalwart loner." Although he feigned indifference, Brando was hurt by the critical mauling, admitting in the 2015 film Listen to Me Marlon , "They can hit you every day and you have no way of fighting back. I was very convincing in my pose of indifference, but I
6820-430: The actor, Stefan Kanfer writes, "Marlon's autobiography devotes one line to his work on that film: Among all those British professionals, 'for me to walk onto a movie set and play Mark Anthony was asinine'—yet another example of his persistent self-denigration, and wholly incorrect." Kanfer adds that after a screening of the film, director John Huston commented: "Christ! It was like a furnace door opening—the heat came off
6944-427: The best acting I've ever done in that picture, but few people came to see it." Brando dedicated a full chapter to the film in his memoir, stating that the director, Gillo Pontecorvo , was the best director he had ever worked with next to Kazan and Bernardo Bertolucci . Brando also detailed his clashes with Pontecorvo on the set and how "we nearly killed each other." Loosely based on events in the history of Guadeloupe ,
7068-447: The best reading I have ever heard." Brando based his portrayal of Kowalski on the boxer Rocky Graziano , whom he had studied at a local gymnasium. Graziano did not know who Brando was, but attended the production with tickets provided by the young man. He said, "The curtain went up and on the stage is that son of a bitch from the gym, and he's playing me." In 1947, Brando performed a screen test for an early Warner Brothers script for
7192-433: The better roles. Previously only signing short-term deals with film studios, in 1961 Brando uncharacteristically signed a five-picture deal with Universal Studios that would haunt him for the rest of the decade. The Ugly American (1963) was the first of these films. Based on the 1958 novel of the same title that Pennebaker had optioned, the film, which featured Brando's sister Jocelyn, was rated fairly positively but died at
7316-626: The box office. During the 1970s, Brando was considered "unbankable". Critics were becoming increasingly dismissive of his work and he had not appeared in a box office hit since The Young Lions in 1958, the last year he had ranked as one of the Top Ten Box Office Stars and the year of his last Academy Award nomination, for Sayonara. Brando's performance as Vito Corleone , the "Don", in The Godfather (1972), Francis Ford Coppola 's adaptation of Mario Puzo 's 1969 bestselling novel of
7440-577: The box office. Brando was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. All of Brando's other Universal films during this period, including Bedtime Story (1964), The Appaloosa (1966), A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) and The Night of the Following Day (1969), were also critical and commercial flops. Countess in particular was a disappointment for Brando, who had looked forward to working with one of his heroes, director Charlie Chaplin . The experience turned out to be an unhappy one; Brando
7564-415: The character Christian Diestl was controversial for its time. He later wrote, "The original script closely followed the book, in which Shaw painted all Germans as evil caricatures, especially Christian, whom he portrayed as a symbol of everything that was bad about Nazism ; he was mean, nasty, vicious, a cliché of evil ... I thought the story should demonstrate that there are no inherently 'bad' people in
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#17328687972277688-477: The crime". Nancy, who is fiercely protective of Oliver and harbours a great deal of motherly affection and pity for him, tries to prevent him from being kidnapped a second time, after Oliver has finally managed to find safety in the household of the Maylie family, whom Sikes tried unsuccessfully to rob. She gives Rose Maylie and Mr Brownlow , Oliver's benefactor, information about Oliver's evil half-brother Monks , who
7812-411: The early 20th century, and death. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and co-starred Anthony Quinn . In the biopic Marlon Brando: The Wild One , Sam Shaw says: "Secretly, before the picture started, he went to Mexico to the very town where Zapata lived and was born in and it was there that he studied the speech patterns of people, their behavior, movement." Most critics focused on the actor rather than
7936-503: The film got a hostile reception from critics. In 1971, Michael Winner directed him in the British horror film The Nightcomers with Stephanie Beacham , Thora Hird , Harry Andrews and Anna Palk . It is a prequel to The Turn of the Screw , which had previously been filmed as The Innocents (1961). Brando's performance earned him a nomination for a Best Actor BAFTA, but the film bombed at
8060-423: The film soon went over budget; Paramount expected the film to take three months to complete but shooting stretched to six and the cost doubled to more than six million dollars. Brando's inexperience as an editor also delayed postproduction and Paramount eventually took control of the film. Brando later wrote, "Paramount said it didn't like my version of the story; I'd had everyone lie except Karl Malden. The studio cut
8184-516: The film, with Time and Newsweek publishing rave reviews. Years later, in his autobiography, Brando remarked: "Tony Quinn, whom I admired professionally and liked personally, played my brother, but he was extremely cold to me while we shot that picture. During our scenes together, I sensed a bitterness toward me, and if I suggested a drink after work, he either turned me down or else was sullen and said little. Only years later did I learn why." Brando explained that, to create on-screen tension between
8308-551: The greatest blessings of his career, as it freed him up to play the role of Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams ' 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire , directed by Elia Kazan . Moreover, to that end, Bankhead herself, in her letter declining Williams' invitation to play the role of Blanche, gave Brando this ringing—albeit acid-tongued—endorsement stating "I do have one suggestion for casting. I know of an actor who can appear as this brutish Stanley Kowalski character. I mean,
8432-512: The greatest cinema actors of the 20th century, Brando received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academy Awards , three British Academy Film Awards , a Cannes Film Festival Award , two Golden Globe Awards , and a Primetime Emmy Award . Brando is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the Stanislavski system of acting and method acting to mainstream audiences. Brando came under
8556-466: The gun, saying that Terry would never believe that his brother would pull the trigger and doubting that he could continue his speech while fearing a gun on him. Kazan let Brando improvise and later expressed deep admiration for Brando's instinctive understanding, saying: what was extraordinary about his performance, I feel, is the contrast of the tough-guy front and the extreme delicacy and gentle cast of his behavior. What other actor, when his brother draws
8680-445: The induction center, he answered a questionnaire by saying his race was "human", his color was "Seasonal-oyster white to beige", and he told an Army doctor that he was psychoneurotic. When the draft board referred him to a psychiatrist, Brando explained that he had been expelled from military school and had severe problems with authority. Coincidentally, the psychiatrist knew a doctor friend of Brando. Brando avoided military service during
8804-454: The influence of Stella Adler and Stanislavski's system in the 1940s. He began his career on stage, where he was lauded for adeptly interpreting his characters. He made his Broadway debut in the play I Remember Mama (1944) and won Theater World Awards for his roles in the plays Candida and Truckline Cafe , both in 1946. He returned to Broadway as Stanley Kowalski in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947),
8928-551: The main reasons Dickens puts Nancy in Oliver Twist is so that she can be contrasted with the pure, gentle Rose Maylie. Dickens was criticized for featuring a positive character that was a thief. However, he defended his decision in the preface to the 1841 edition, explaining that it was his intention to show criminals, however petty, in "all their deformity", and that he had thought that dressing Nancy in anything other than "a cheap shawl" would make her seem more fanciful than real as
9052-438: The margins of "respectable" society. In spite of her criminality, Nancy is portrayed as a sympathetic figure, whose concern for Oliver overcomes her loyalty to Sikes and Fagin. By the climax of the novel, she is emaciated with sickness and worry, and filled with guilt about the life she is leading. Nancy was tainted at a young age by Fagin , the receiver of stolen goods who persuades poor youths to do his bidding. Her exact age
9176-426: The millionaire category. The movie was controversial due to openly discussing interracial marriage , but proved a great success, earning 10 Academy Award nominations, with Brando being nominated for Best Actor. The film went on to win four Academy Awards. Teahouse and Sayonara were the first in a string of films Brando would strive to make over the next decade which contained socially relevant messages, and he formed
9300-484: The movie to pieces and made him a liar, too. By then, I was bored with the whole project and walked away from it". One-Eyed Jacks was received with mixed reviews by critics. Brando's revulsion with the film industry reportedly boiled over on the set of his next film, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 's remake of Mutiny on the Bounty , which was filmed in Tahiti . The actor was accused of deliberately sabotaging nearly every aspect of
9424-584: The movie's release, the sales of leather jackets and motorcycles skyrocketed. Reflecting on the movie in his autobiography, Brando concluded that it had not aged very well but said "More than most parts I've played in the movies or onstage, I related to Johnny, and because of this, I believe I played him as more sensitive and sympathetic than the script envisioned. There's a line in the picture where he snarls, 'Nobody tells me what to do.' That's exactly how I've felt all my life." Later that same year, Brando co-starred with fellow Studio member William Redfield in
9548-417: The musical's 1968 film adaptation which also won several awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture , with Reed's performance often cited as one of the best portrayals of Sikes – being labelled as "the sinister core of the film". His songs are removed from the film, making his performance of the character closer to that of the novel rather than the stage version. The famous climax of the 1948 film adaptation
9672-608: The nadir of Brando's career. The Washington Post observed: "Brando's self-indulgence over a dozen years is costing him and his public his talents." In the March 1966 issue of The Atlantic , Pauline Kael wrote that in his rebellious days, Brando "was antisocial because he knew society was crap; he was a hero to youth because he was strong enough not to take the crap", but now Brando and others like him had become "buffoons, shamelessly, pathetically mocking their public reputations." In an earlier review of The Appaloosa in 1966, Kael wrote that
9796-631: The novel Rebel Without a Cause (1944), which bore no relation to the film eventually produced in 1955. The screen test is included as an extra in the 2006 DVD release of A Streetcar Named Desire . Brando's first screen role was a bitter paraplegic veteran in The Men (1950). He spent a month in bed at the Birmingham Army Hospital in Van Nuys to prepare for the role. The New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther wrote that Brando as Ken "is so vividly real, dynamic and sensitive that his illusion
9920-423: The original book. The scene where he brutally murders Nancy was very controversial at the time, with questions being asked in parliament if the serial should've even been allowed to air. In Disney's 1997 live-action television production, Oliver Twist , Bill Sikes is played by David O'Hara . In the 2005 Oliver Twist Bill Sikes is played by Jamie Foreman . In 2007, Sikes is portrayed by actor Tom Hardy in
10044-622: The phenomenal success of the novel gave Evans the clout to turn The Godfather into a prestige picture . Coppola had developed a list of actors for all the roles, and his list of potential Dons included the Oscar-winning Italian-American Ernest Borgnine , the Italian-American Frank de Kova (best known for playing Chief Wild Eagle on the TV sitcom F-Troop ), John Marley (a Best Supporting Oscar-nominee for Paramount's 1970 hit film Love Story who
10168-556: The play was a commercial failure. In 1946, he appeared on Broadway as the young hero in the political drama A Flag is Born , refusing to accept wages above the Actors' Equity rate. In that same year, Brando played the role of Marchbanks alongside Katharine Cornell in her production's revival of Candida , one of her signature roles. Cornell also cast him as the Messenger in her production of Jean Anouilh 's Antigone that same year. He
10292-408: The president of Paramount parent Gulf+Western , was won over to letting Brando have the role; when he saw the screen test, he asked in amazement, "What are we watching? Who is this old guinea?" Brando was signed for a low fee of $ 50,000, but in his contract, he was given a percentage of the gross on a sliding scale: 1% of the gross for each $ 10 million over a $ 10 million threshold, up to 5% if
10416-413: The production. On June 16, 1962, The Saturday Evening Post ran an article by Bill Davidson with the headline "Six million dollars down the drain: the mutiny of Marlon Brando". Mutiny director Lewis Milestone claimed that the executives "deserve what they get when they give a ham actor, a petulant child, complete control over an expensive picture." Mutiny on the Bounty nearly capsized MGM and, while
10540-523: The project had indeed been hampered with delays other than Brando's behavior, the accusations would dog the actor for years as studios began to fear Brando's difficult reputation. Critics also began taking note of his fluctuating weight. Distracted by his personal life and becoming disillusioned with his career, Brando began to view acting as a means to a financial end. Critics protested when he started accepting roles in films many perceived as being beneath his talent, or criticized him for failing to live up to
10664-462: The reader cannot be sure the emotion is not merely his suspicion that Fagin lied to him about her betrayal and fear of being arrested for the crime. Sikes lives in Bethnal Green and later moves to the squalid rookery area of London then called Jacob's Island , east of present-day Shad Thames . Otherwise, Sikes's background and early life prior to joining Fagin are not mentioned in the book. In
10788-442: The role of Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire , which Williams had written for her, to tour the play for the 1946–1947 season. Bankhead recognized Brando's potential, despite her disdain (which most Broadway veterans shared) for method acting, and agreed to hire him even though he auditioned poorly. The two clashed greatly during the pre-Broadway tour, with Bankhead reminding Brando of his mother, being her age and also having
10912-404: The role of Nancy. In the 2005 Roman Polanski movie, Oliver Twist , Nancy is portrayed by Leanne Rowe . In a 2007 BBC television adaptation, Nancy is played by Sophie Okonedo . In the 2009 London revival of the musical Oliver! , Nancy was played by Jodie Prenger , later by Kerry Ellis . In the 2015 miniseries Dickensian , Nancy is played by Bethany Muir. In Twist , Nancy
11036-407: The role) Brando. In a letter dated August 29, 1947, Williams confided to his agent Audrey Wood: "It had not occurred to me before what an excellent value would come through casting a very young actor in this part. It humanizes the character of Stanley in that it becomes the brutality and callousness of youth rather than a vicious old man ... A new value came out of Brando's reading which was by far
11160-545: The role, Brando—still stung by Kazan's testimony to HUAC—demurred and the part of Terry Malloy nearly went to Frank Sinatra . According to biographer Stefan Kanfer, the director believed that Sinatra, who grew up in Hoboken (where the film takes place and was shot), would work as Malloy, but eventually producer Sam Spiegel wooed Brando to the part, signing him for $ 100,000. "Kazan made no protest because, he subsequently confessed, 'I always preferred Brando to anybody.'" Brando won
11284-506: The same A&E special, George Englund claims that Brando gave his father the job because "it gave Marlon a chance to take shots at him, to demean and diminish him". In 1958, Brando appeared in The Young Lions , dyeing his hair blonde and assuming a German accent for the role, which he later admitted was not convincing. The film is based on the novel by Irwin Shaw , and Brando's portrayal of
11408-496: The same Nancy who has already figured in this tale." In the preface, Dickens states in writing dialogue for Nancy that he deliberately avoided using the crude language that would have been used by a real person like Nancy: No less consulting my own taste, than the manners of the age, I endeavoured, while I painted it in all its fallen and degraded aspect, to banish from the lips of the lowest character I introduced, any expression that could by possibility offend; and rather to lead to
11532-514: The same name , was a career turning point, putting him back in the Top Ten and winning him his second Best Actor Oscar. Paramount production chief Robert Evans , who had given Puzo an advance to write The Godfather so that Paramount would own the film rights, hired Coppola after many major directors had turned the film down. Evans wanted an Italian-American director who could provide the film with cultural authenticity. Coppola also came cheap. Evans
11656-536: The screen in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). It earned him his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Actor category . The role is regarded as one of Brando's greatest. He was also nominated the next year for Viva Zapata! (1952), a fictionalized account of the life of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata . The film recounted Zapata's lower-class upbringing, his rise to power in
11780-517: The screen. I don't know another actor who could do that." During the filming of Julius Caesar , Brando learned that Elia Kazan had cooperated with congressional investigators, naming a whole string of "subversives" to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). By all accounts, Brando was upset by his mentor's decision, but he worked with him again in On The Waterfront . "None of us
11904-496: The shoes and stockings. They were not exactly pretty, perhaps; but they had a great deal of colour in their faces, and looked quite stout and hearty." In the original illustrations by George Cruikshank , Nancy is depicted as stout and fleshy, with a round, bulbous face. By the end of the novel Nancy has dramatically lost weight through anxiety. She is described as "so pale and reduced with watching and privation, that there would have been considerable difficulty in recognising her as
12028-559: The spelling of his last name having Italian origin, and what some of his most notable film roles would suggest, Brando did not have Italian ancestry. Brando's ancestry was mostly German, Dutch, English, and Irish. His patrilineal immigrant ancestor, Johann Wilhelm Brandau, arrived in New York City in the early 1700s from the Palatinate in Germany. He is also a descendant of Louis DuBois ,
12152-413: The stage." Brando displayed his apathy for the production by demonstrating some shocking onstage manners. He "tried everything in the world to ruin it for her," Bankhead's stage manager claimed. "He nearly drove her crazy: scratching his crotch, picking his nose, doing anything." After several weeks on the road, they reached Boston, by which time Bankhead was ready to dismiss him. This proved to be one of
12276-545: The sun and the moon if he believed he could get away with it. He was an ambitious, selfish man who exploited the people who attended the Actors Studio and tried to project himself as an acting oracle and guru. Some people worshipped him, but I never knew why. I sometimes went to the Actors Studio on Saturday mornings because Elia Kazan was teaching, and there were usually a lot of good-looking girls, but Strasberg never taught me acting. Stella (Adler) did—and later Kazan. Brando
12400-425: The theatre, Sikes was played by Richard John Smith in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress (1839), and by Henry Irving opposite Nelly Moore as Nancy in Oliver Twist at the Queen's Theatre in London (1868). Sikes was played by Danny Sewell in both the original West End and Broadway productions of the stage musical Oliver! which won several awards in the early 1960s. Oliver Reed played Sikes in
12524-541: The time, with Time stating: "The effect of the movie is not to throw light on the public problem, but to shoot adrenaline through the moviegoer's veins." Brando allegedly did not see eye to eye with the Hungarian director László Benedek and did not get on with costar Lee Marvin . To Brando's expressed puzzlement, the movie inspired teen rebellion and made him a role model to the nascent rock-and-roll generation and future stars such as James Dean and Elvis Presley . After
12648-573: The two, "Gadg" (Kazan) had told Quinn – who had taken over the role of Stanley Kowalski from Brando on Broadway – that Brando had been unimpressed with his work. After achieving the desired effect, Kazan never told Quinn that he had misled him. It was only many years later, after comparing notes, that Brando and Quinn realized the deception. Brando's next film, Julius Caesar (1953), received highly favorable reviews. Brando portrayed Mark Antony . While most acknowledged Brando's talent, some critics felt Brando's "mumbling" and other idiosyncrasies betrayed
12772-438: The unavoidable inference that its existence was of the most debased and vicious kind, than to prove it elaborately by words and deeds. In the case of the girl, in particular, I kept this intention constantly in view. Instead, Nancy and her friend Bet are introduced using faux-genteel terminology, portrayed as if seen though Oliver's innocent eyes, but recognisably ironic to the reader. Bet's brash refusal to get something for Fagin
12896-543: The words are but you have a general idea of what they are, then you look at the cue card and it gives you the feeling to the viewer, hopefully, that the person is really searching for what he is going to say—that he doesn't know what to say". Some, however, thought Brando used the cards out of laziness or an inability to memorize his lines. Once, on the set of The Godfather , Brando was asked why he wanted his lines printed out. He responded: "Because I can read them that way." Brando brought his performance as Stanley Kowalski to
13020-453: The world, but they can easily be misled." Shaw and Brando even appeared together for a televised interview with CBS correspondent David Schoenbrun and, during a bombastic exchange, Shaw charged that, like most actors, Brando was incapable of playing flat-out villainy; Brando responded by stating "Nobody creates a character but an actor. I play the role; now he exists. He is my creation." The Young Lions also features Brando's only appearance in
13144-558: The world." Coppola's hand-written cast list has Brando's name underlined. Evans told Coppola that he had been thinking of Brando for the part two years earlier, and Puzo had imagined Brando in the part when he wrote the novel and had actually written to him about the part, so Coppola and Evans narrowed it down to Brando. (Coincidentally, Olivier would compete with Brando for the Best Actor Oscar for his part in Sleuth . He bested Brando at
13268-404: Was The Chase (1966), which paired the actor with director Arthur Penn , Jane Fonda , Robert Redford and Robert Duvall . The film deals with themes of racism, sexual revolution, small-town corruption, and vigilantism. The film was received mostly positively. Brando cited Burn! (1969) as his personal favorite of the films he had made, writing in his autobiography: "I think I did some of
13392-470: Was 18." In the A&;E Biography episode on Brando, George Englund said Brando fell into acting in New York because "he was accepted there. He wasn't criticized. It was the first time in his life that he heard good things about himself." He spent his first few months in New York sleeping on friends' couches. For a time he lived with Roy Somlyo , who later became a four-time Emmy-winning Broadway producer. Brando
13516-576: Was Brando being difficult, but actors who worked opposite him said it was just all part of his technique. Brando used his Stanislavski System skills for his first summer stock roles in Sayville, New York , on Long Island . Brando established a pattern of erratic, insubordinate behavior in the few shows he had been in. His behavior had him kicked out of the cast of the New School's production in Sayville, but he
13640-628: Was a commercial success, earning an estimated $ 4.2 million in rentals at the North American box office in 1954. In his July 29, 1954, review, The New York Times critic A. H. Weiler praised the film, calling it "an uncommonly powerful, exciting, and imaginative use of the screen by gifted professionals." Film critic Roger Ebert lauded the film retrospectively, stating that Brando and Kazan changed acting in American films forever and adding it to his "Great Movies" list. In his autobiography, Brando
13764-586: Was also offered the opportunity to portray one of the principal characters in the Broadway premiere of Eugene O'Neill 's The Iceman Cometh , but turned the part down after falling asleep while trying to read the massive script and pronouncing the play "ineptly written and poorly constructed". In 1945, Brando's agent recommended he take a co-starring role in The Eagle Has Two Heads with Tallulah Bankhead , produced by Jack Wilson. Bankhead had turned down
13888-436: Was an avid student and proponent of Stella Adler , from whom he learned the techniques of the Stanislavski system . This technique encouraged the actor to explore both internal and external aspects to fully realize the character being portrayed. Brando's remarkable insight and sense of realism were evident early on. Adler used to recount that, when teaching Brando, she had instructed the class to act like chickens, and added that
14012-551: Was born on April 3, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska , as the only son of Marlon Brando Sr. and Dorothy Pennebaker. His father was a salesman who often travelled out-of-state and his mother was a stage actress, often away from home. His mother's absence resulted in Brando becoming attached to the family's housekeeper, who eventually left to get married, causing Brando to develop abandonment issues. His two elder sisters were Jocelyn and Frances. Despite
14136-490: Was cast as the film producer Jack Woltz in the picture), the Italian-American Richard Conte (who was cast as Don Corleone's deadly rival Don Emilio Barzini ), and Italian film producer Carlo Ponti . Coppola admitted in a 1975 interview, "We finally figured we had to lure the best actor in the world. It was that simple. That boiled down to Laurence Olivier or Marlon Brando, who are the greatest actors in
14260-460: Was conscious of the fact that Paramount's last Mafia film, The Brotherhood (1968) had been a box office bomb, and he believed it was partly due to the fact that the director, Martin Ritt , and the star, Kirk Douglas , were Jewish, and the film lacked an authentic Italian flavor. The studio originally intended the film to be a low-budget production set in contemporary times without any major actors, but
14384-440: Was held back for a year, and with his history of misbehaving, he was expelled in 1941. Brando was sent by his father to Shattuck Military Academy , where his father had also studied. There, Brando continued to excel at acting until 1943, when he was put on probation for being insubordinate to an officer during maneuvers. He was confined to the campus, but sneaked into town and was caught. The faculty voted to expel him, although he
14508-445: Was horrified at Chaplin's didactic style of direction and his authoritarian approach. Brando had also appeared in the spy thriller Morituri in 1965; that, too, failed to attract an audience. Brando acknowledged his professional decline, writing later, "Some of the films I made during the sixties were successful; some weren't. Some, like The Night of the Following Day , I made only for the money; others, like Candy , I did because
14632-613: Was only 6 years old, the family moved to Evanston, Illinois , where Brando mimicked other people, developed a reputation for pranking, and met Wally Cox , with whom he remained friends until Cox's death in 1973. In 1936, his parents separated and he and his siblings moved with their mother to Santa Ana, California . Two years later, his parents reconciled, and his father purchased a farmhouse in Libertyville, Illinois . Brando attended Libertyville High School , excelling at sports and drama, but failing in every other subject. Consequently, he
14756-493: Was released in 1961. Paramount Pictures President Stanley Jaffe told an exasperated Coppola: "As long as I'm president of this studio, Marlon Brando will not be in this picture, and I will no longer allow you to discuss it." Jaffe eventually set three conditions for the casting of Brando: That he would have to take a fee far below what he typically received; he would have to agree to accept financial responsibility for any production delays his behavior cost; and he had to submit to
14880-591: Was soon afterwards discovered in a locally produced play there. Then, in 1944, he made it to Broadway in the bittersweet drama I Remember Mama , playing the son of Mady Christians . The Lunts wanted Brando to play the role of Alfred Lunt 's son in O Mistress Mine , and Lunt even coached him for the audition, but Brando made no attempt to even read his lines at the audition and was not hired. New York Drama Critics voted him "Most Promising Young Actor" for his role as an anguished veteran in Truckline Café , although
15004-556: Was supported by the students who thought expulsion was too harsh. Brando was invited back for the following year, but decided instead to drop out of high school. He then worked as a ditch-digger at a summer job arranged by his father and tried to enlist in the Army, but his routine physical revealed that a football injury he had sustained at Shattuck had left him with a trick knee ; he was classified physically unfit for military service. Brando decided to follow his sisters to New York, studying at
15128-575: Was the first to bring a natural approach to acting on film. According to Dustin Hoffman in his online Masterclass, Brando would often talk to cameramen and fellow actors about their weekend even after the director would call action. Once Brando felt he could deliver the dialogue as naturally as that conversation, he would start the dialogue. In his 2015 documentary, Listen To Me Marlon , he said that prior to that, actors were like breakfast cereals, meaning they were predictable. Critics would later say that this
15252-489: Was typically dismissive of his performance: "On the day Gadg showed me the complete picture, I was so depressed by my performance I got up and left the screening room ... I thought I was a huge failure." After Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor, the statue was stolen. Much later, it turned up at a London auction house, which contacted the actor and informed him of its whereabouts. Brando portrayed Napoleon in
15376-500: Was very sensitive and it hurt a lot." Brando portrayed a repressed gay army officer in Reflections in a Golden Eye , directed by John Huston and co-starring Elizabeth Taylor . The role turned out as one of his most acclaimed in years, with Stanley Crouch marveling, "Brando's main achievement was to portray the taciturn but stoic gloom of those pulverized by circumstances." The film overall received mixed reviews. Another notable film
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