The Instigator_ and _The Great Escape_ in _A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum_ and _Once in a Lifetime_. The same actor played him in _The Producers_ (2005) and in the film version of the Broadway musical _Hairspray_.
Marlon Brando (1920–2004) was one of the most famous male actors of the twentieth century, starring in several roles that took an outsider to the core of society—Don Juan, Max, The Wild One.
In the first decade of the 21st century, a renaissance of Brando's style—dark, mysterious, full of self-irony—started, most famously with _The Prophet_ (2009), directed by Ridley Scott, and _The Aviator_ (2004), directed by Martin Scorsese. He also appeared in _Charlie St. Cloud_ (2010), a crime drama by his son's partner, the director Taylor Hackford; in _The Aviator_ and _The Mechanic_ (both starring Vin Diesel) he played a man who is not only tough but also vulnerable and sympathetic.
Brando's role as a gangster and leader of a street gang in _The Godfather_ (1972) was perhaps more remarkable than his screen presence. In the 1950s, Brando's friend, activist Martin Luther King Jr., had predicted that one day Brando "will emerge as an actor and be taken very seriously." He never would have thought it would be in the role of a gangster.
The character of Don Corleone was loosely based on Al Capone; however, Brando's interpretation made Capone look like an amateur. The Godfather wears expensive suits and drives a fast sports car (an Alfa Romeo), but he is nevertheless depicted as a weak man, unable to control his family or his underlings, his voice breaking into a low whine of humiliation when he is made to see his son get off the plane with the Godfather.
One of the most moving scenes in the film is when his family stands at the graves of the dead in Sicily. Brando does not talk. He simply looks and stares, while his wife, his mother, and his son listen to the priest.
Brando is seen at the end of the film in a bar with his son, Michael, who has become Don Corleone and is now the real boss. He listens to Michael, who complains about a problem that they had when they were young, saying that his father had no answer. Brando is silent. When the film was released in 1972, it caused controversy. The main reason for the controversy was that there was no overt anti-Semitism. _The Godfather_ did not portray the Mafia as a group of criminals that lived off illegal activities and crime. It portrayed Mafia-controlled crime as a kind of business that was supported by the society.
Brando had a very active private life. He also appeared in such controversial films as _Burn! Burn! Burn!_ (1969), which he directed, and _Apocalypse Now_ (1979). In his last years, Brando was almost a recluse and a kind of hermit. He was living in his own house in Tahiti, an "almost derelict," as one critic wrote.
In 1974, he won a Golden Globe award for his role in _The Godfather_. His father had been president of the Screen Actors Guild, and he used that power to push for the elimination of a clause barring certain actors from taking major roles. He did this for Brando, who was in talks for a film titled _The Godfather Part III_. Brando would later star in two other pictures with the same title.
Brando had a major part in many other films, including _Elia Kazan: A Memoir_ , a documentary film directed by Irene Gavarno, in which Brando recounts his memories of the filming of _The Wild One_ and _On the Waterfront_.
The documentary reveals that Brando was one of the great screen actors who pushed the boundaries of acting. On the set, he could be as explosive as a volcano, and he was a man who fought to take control of the screen. According to Brando, directors tried to control him, but he had the control over the filming of scenes. He could do something that was never shown on screen and his scenes would be changed to suit the director's vision of the film. He refused to say in interviews what he was planning for a scene in _Mutiny on the Bounty_. The director wanted him to act in a small part that had already been shot in a previous picture, which he did not like. Brando said he would have preferred to use a stunt man, but the director kept insisting he do it. He said, "What's wrong with the picture? What's wrong with his face? What's wrong with his hair? What's wrong with his costume? If the guy's the same person, what's wrong with him? And what's wrong with the costume?" They ended up having to do something in the middle of the scene to change the continuity. The next day, Brando told the producer to give him the dialogue he had prepared for another character. His attitude was: "I'm not going to do this character," and he walked out.
The film was a big hit. It won two Academy Awards, for Anthony Quinn's performance and for Brando's direction, screenplay, and costumes. He is said to have wanted to be a director like Alfred Hitchcock, but Brando never became one.
In _The Godfather_ , Brando's presence was so overpowering that his son became the Godfather. In the 1950s and 1960s, as many young men became interested in acting, Brando's acting style seemed to have an influence. Many actors had a Brando-like quality. Brando's son, who had been playing the same role in a series of films, finally had to stop acting at about the age of forty.
Like Brando, Woody Allen has been in films and on television for over forty years, with many box-office hits, including _The Purple Rose of Cairo_ (1985), _The Flintstones_ (1994), and _Bullets Over Broadway_ (2004). He is considered by many to be a genius, as can be seen by his ability to make an old person look good in a movie or a new face look ugly. Allen also writes for film and television, and has been nominated for an Oscar and a Tony Award.
Allen's early acting roles were not very successful. But he gained acceptance in films that had no connection to film acting, including _Bananas_ (1971) and _Sleeper_ (1973). The film that would change Allen's career was _Love and Death_ (1975), a dark film about a man who wants to end it all. The film was a big hit and helped Allen start to become a favorite among audiences who enjoyed the way he used his comedic talent.
After _Love and Death_ , Allen moved on to a succession of more serious roles. His characters were often neurotic and depressed. He won an Academy Award for _Annie Hall_ (1977), which he wrote and directed. Allen plays a character who has been divorced and who keeps trying to attract women. It is a role that shows him very comfortable with women and his relationship to them. It also reveals the strong influence of women in his life, including his mother and his wife, the artist Louise Lasser. The film gives rise to the image of the neurotic Woody Allen, which came to the forefront in _Deconstructing Harry_ (1997), where he played a character who was an unsuccessful painter, having just moved to a country house in Connecticut. Woody Allen's career can be summarized as an interest in characters with a strong sense of inferiority. In many cases they are actors, but his characters are often outsiders who are not accepted in society.
_Sleeper_ was a fantasy of Allen's own life, where he imagines a world where humans stop aging, until he meets a beautiful woman, whom he does not remember and who seems to be the first person he has ever met in his life. He is attracted to her, even though they have no sexual connection. This is a common interest among many of Allen's characters. In many cases the men are gay, but their attraction to other men is very subtle.
Allen's acting style is often similar to Brando's: a "stand-up guy" who is very physical on the screen, while at the same time maintaining a mysterious air. In other films, his characters are out of place and even pathetic characters who have no one to turn to. The reason they are pathetic is that they are too "cute," as a woman once said. Allen's characters often feel in the right place at the right time, having not chosen to be there, but the right people, meaning rich and influential people, do not need to know their identity. This becomes especially clear when he plays the lead in _Everyone Says I Love You_ (1996) in which his character is an old man who has won $300 million from the California lottery and becomes popular because of his age.
There is no doubt that the director of many of Allen's films was the actor and director, Michael Lehmann. He was also a close friend of Allen's, having written a book in which Allen featured in one of his stories
