Marlon Brando’s dismissive nickname for Clint Eastwood
Marlon Brando was a fine actor, but that didn’t mean he was always easy to get along with. He was notoriously hard to work with, regularly reducing film sets to chaos. He had feuds with everyone from Burt Reynolds to Charlie Chaplin to Frank Sinatra, and his personal life was as remarkable (if not more so) than any of his film roles. Even if he didn’t hate somebody directly to their face, then he would find other ways of bringing them down. For example, his relationship with fellow acting icon, Clint Eastwood.
The source of this information is, bizarrely, an interview with Eddie Murphy. Speaking with the New York Times, the legendary comedian revealed that Brando had gotten in touch with him after watching his first movie, 48 Hrs. “Marlon Brando calls my agent and wants to meet me,” he recalled. “Now I look back and go, “Wow, that’s crazy: The greatest actor of all time wants to have dinner with you!” But back then I just thought, Well, that’s the way it is: You make a movie, and Marlon Brando calls.”
When asked if he could recollect the dinner, Murphy revealed that he’d met with Vito Corleone more than once. “The first time we were supposed to meet was at the L’Ermitage in Los Angeles,” he recalled. “The second time was at his house, and he came and picked me up at the hotel. But there was a time mix-up, and I came down like a half-hour late – he was waiting for me in the car.”
Murphy spoke of how Brando was dismissive of his role in The Godfather – “he was like, “Eh, ‘The Godfather” – and his profession as a whole – “acting is bullshit, and everybody can act” – but the most peculiar aspect of this story has to be when he tried to remember Eastwood’s name. “He was going, “I can’t stand that kid with the gun,”” Murphy said. “I was like, “What kid with the gun?” He said, “He’s on the poster!” I was like, “Clint Eastwood?” “Yeah, that guy!” He was calling Clint Eastwood ‘that kid.’”
Eastwood and Brando never properly worked together, but they did come close. Brando was set to star in The Gauntlet, an action movie that Eastwood was going to direct, but he ended up pulling out. After Steve McQueen also didn’t fit the bill, Eastwood ended up playing the lead role himself.
It’s unclear whether or not Brando’s departure had anything to do with his opinions on the Man with No Name, or even if this is where they stemmed from. It’s more like that they came from a moment at the 1973 Oscars. This is the night where, instead of collecting his award for Best Actor, Brando sent up Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather instead. This was a highly controversial move at the time and caused quite the stir, especially in the venue, where the crowd was a mixture of boos, cheers, and jibes. Even the presenters got in on the action. Eastwood, who was handing out the award for Best Picture immediately after, got to the microphone and said “I don’t know if I should present this award on behalf of all the cowboys shot in all the John Ford westerns over the years”.
Whether he had legitimate reasons to despise Eastwood or he just didn’t like the guy, Brando feelings got in the way of what could have been a tantalising collaboration. Brando and Eastwood are both Hollywood legends, albeit for very different reasons, and a film with both of them involved would have surely been one for the ages.
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