Set on an oceanliner, it was to star Marlon Brando as an American ambassador, and Sophia Loren as a beautiful stowaway found in his cabin.

It won three Academy Awards, including his second for Best Writing ( Adapted Screenplay ) ( with Puzo ), Best Picture and Best Actor ( for Brando ) and a nomination for Best Director and was instrumental in cementing his position as a prominent American film director.

There was disagreement between Paramount and Coppola on the issue of casting ; Coppola stuck to his plan of casting Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone, though Paramount wanted either Ernest Borgnine or Danny Thomas.

At one point, Coppola was told by the then-president of Paramount that " Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture ".

After pleading with the executives, Coppola was allowed to cast Brando only if he appeared in the film for much less salary than his previous films, perform a screen-test, and put up a bond saying that he would not cause a delay in the production ( as he had done on previous film sets ).

The production of the film was plagued by numerous problems, including typhoons, nervous breakdowns, the firing of Harvey Keitel, Martin Sheen's heart attack, extras from the Philippine military leaving in the middle of scenes to go fight rebels, and an unprepared Brando with a bloated appearance ( which Coppola attempted to hide by shooting him in the shadows ).

Marvin had a small but memorable role in The Wild One ( 1953 ) opposite Marlon Brando ( Marvin's gang in the film was called " The Beetles "), followed by Seminole ( 1953 ) and Gun Fury ( 1953 ).

Marlon Brando, Jr. ( April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004 ) was an American screen and stage actor.

Considered to be one of the most important actors in American cinema, Brando was one of only three professional actors, along with Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, named by Time magazine as one of its 100 Persons of the Century in 1999.

Brando was also nominated for the Oscar for playing Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata!

Brando directed and starred in the cult western film One-Eyed Jacks that was released in 1961, after which he delivered a series of box office failures beginning with the non-success of the 1962 film adaptation of Mutiny on the Bounty.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Brando was paid a record $ 3. 7 million ($ in today's funds ) plus 11. 75 % of the gross profits for 13 days work playing Jor-El in Superman, further adding to his mystique.

Brando was also an activist, supporting many issues, notably the African-American Civil Rights Movement and various American Indian Movements.

Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Marlon Brando, Sr., a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer, and his wife, Dorothy Julia ( née Pennebaker ).

Brando was raised a Christian Scientist.

His paternal grandmother, Marie Holloway, abandoned her family when Marlon Brando, Sr., was five years old.

Marlon Brando, Sr., was a talented amateur photographer.

Dodie Brando acted and was a theater administrator.

However, Brando was closer to his maternal grandmother, Bessie Gahan Pennebaker Meyers, than to his mother.

Brando was a mimic from early childhood and developed an ability to absorb the mannerisms of people he played and display them dramatically while staying in character.

His sister Jocelyn Brando was the first to pursue an acting career, going to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Art.

Brando had been held back a year in school and was later expelled from Libertyville High School for riding his motorcycle through the corridors.

Brando was an avid student and proponent of Stella Adler, from whom he learned the techniques of the Stanislavski System.

Brando made the Top Ten Money Making Stars, as ranked by Quigley Publications ' annual survey of movie exhibitors, three times in the decade, coming in at number 10 in 1954, number 6 in 1955, and number 4 in 1958.

Cunard officials, who were responsible for the security at the dock, said they had never seen anything like it, although they had experienced past visits by Marlon Brando and Robert Redford.

Brando worked as a ditch-digger as a summer job arranged by his father.

A 24-year-old Brando as Stanley Kowalski on the set of the stage version of A Streetcar Named Desire ( play ) | A Streetcar Named Desire, photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1948

Brando achieved stardom, however, as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams's 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan.

When Brando reported to the induction center, he answered a questionnaire provided to him by saying his race was " human ", his color was " Seasonal-oyster white to beige ", and he told an Army doctor that he was psycho neurotic.

In Songs My Mother Taught Me, Brando claimed he met Marilyn Monroe at a party where she played piano, unnoticed by anybody else there, and they had an affair and maintained an intermittent relationship for many years, receiving a telephone call from her several days before she died.

She was 20 years old, 18 years younger than Brando, who was reportedly delighted by her naiveté.

Brando had a long-term relationship with his housekeeper Maria Christina Ruiz, by whom he had three children: Ninna Priscilla Brando ( born May 13, 1989 ), Myles Jonathan Brando ( born January 16, 1992 ), and Timothy Gahan Brando ( born January 6, 1994 ).

He had four more children by unidentified women: Stephen Blackehart ( born 1967 ), Michael Gilman ( born 1967 ), who was adopted by Brando's longtime friend Sam Gilman, Dylan Brando ( born 1968 ), and Angelique Brando.

Galella had followed Brando, who was accompanied by talk show host Dick Cavett, after a taping of The Dick Cavett Show in New York City.

Brando eventually had a now-closed hotel built on Tetiaroa, which went through many redesigns as a result of changes demanded by Brando over the years.

* 1958 – Christian Brando, American actor ( d. 2008 )

However, Brando left to study at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, part of the Dramatic Workshop of The New School with the influential German director Erwin Piscator and at the Actors Studio.

Galella wore a football helmet the next time he photographed Brando at a gala benefiting the American Indians Development Association.

By this time, Brando was already involved in films that carried messages about human rights: Sayonara, which addressed interracial romance, and The Ugly American, depicting the conduct of US officials abroad and its deleterious effect on the citizens of foreign countries.

In the book Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia, James Delmont wrote: " Marlon Brando was arguably the finest screen actor of the twentieth century, winning worldwide acceptance as both a movie star of the first rank and as a performer of uncommon skill.

He was antisocial because he knew society was crap ; he was a hero to youth because he was strong enough not to take the crap ... Brando represented a contemporary version of the free American ... Brando is still the most exciting American actor on the screen.

Film scholar Linda Williams writes: " Marlon Brando the quintessential American male sex symbol of the late fifties and early sixties ".

Brando was one of the first actor-activists to march for civil and Native American rights.

Brando was named the fourth greatest male star in the history of American cinema by the American Film Institute, and part of Time magazine's Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century.

* 1919 – Jocelyn Brando, American actress ( d. 2005 )

** Marlon Brando, American actor ( d. 2004 )

* July 1 – Marlon Brando, American actor ( b. 1924 )

Film critic Roger Ebert lauded the film, stating that Brando and Kazan changed acting in American movies forever and then adding it to his " Great Movies " list.

To some critics, Brando gives the " best performance in American film history ," playing an ex-boxer, Terry Malloy, who is persuaded by a priest to inform on corrupt unions.