The exact moment Marlon Brando became a star, according to Sir Laurence Olivier
It’s hard to imagine anyone criticising Marlon Brando, who is widely considered one of the greatest actors to have ever lived. Yet, the beginning of his career saw him struggle to garner unanimous praise, with some of his early theatre performances resulting in poor critical reception. As a young man, he often complained if he didn’t like a script, refused to try hard enough while auditioning for certain productions, and behaved badly.
Yet, when he secured his role in the play A Streetcar Named Desire, things began to change. The Tennessee Williams-penned production, directed by Elia Kazan, was a great opportunity for Brando to show people how brilliant of an actor he could be. Tallulah Bankhead, who had worked with the actor on The Eagle Has Two Heads, recommended Brando for the part of Stanley, reportedly calling him “a total pig of a man”.
Despite the backhanded statement, Brando did flourish in playing the role of the brutish Stanley, who he soon brought to the screen for an adaptation directed, once again, by Kazan. His performance as Stanley was one of his first proper film roles, and it opened up a wealth of opportunities for him. Soon enough, he had landed parts in films like The Wild One and On The Waterfront, becoming a Hollywood star.
However, to Sir Laurence Olivier, one of the most lauded acting legends in the history of both theatre and cinema, the moment he truly recognised Brando’s talents came before his tenure as Stanley on stage and screen. In 1946, the star landed a small part in Antigone, which was being performed in Washington’s National Theatre with Katherine Cornell producing and starring in it. Brando was an understudy playing the messenger, and when Olivier witnessed Brando in action, he knew he’d found a star in the making.
Olivier, who produced and starred in the British version of Antigone, explained to Dick Cavett that it was probably “the first time anybody had ever seen” Brando, and “very shortly after that, his qualities were discovered, needless to say,” describing him as “palpably a great star.”
Olivier then considered the word “genius,” stating that he doesn’t like to use it because he doesn’t believe “the theatre can quite cope with genius,” adding, “It’s too practicable a business.” He explained, “The height of ambition should be to have a genius for practicability, but Marlon has the sort of genius, I think, that he’s able to play a genius.”
The acting veteran praised Brando’s portrayal of Napoleon, whom he played in 1954’s Désirée. Olivier called his performance of the historic figure “immeasurably the best” he’d ever seen. “It was simply marvellous, simply because of his own particular quality of being so easy, so easily bringing a sense of genius to a character who was a genius.”
Summing up his praise for the actor, who would go on to impress critics in movies like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Olivier described Brando as having an “astonishing gift,” continuing, “he’s a very remarkable actor” and a “great technician”.
