Brando: A Life in our Times - Softcover

Schickel, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1857932757 ISBN 13: 9781857932751

Publisher: Pavilion, 1994

Synopsis

Presenting a portrait of Marlon Brando, the author offers a critique of Brando's personal style and attempts to define and explore his charisma. This book provides an insight into the actor's influence over a generation and assesses the reasons behind his becoming a symbolic figure. His behaviour and attitudes still cause controversy today and this portrait of an actor is illustrated throughout with stills from the Kobal collection, highlighting Brando's potent image which must take much of the credit for his unprecedented influence.

About this title

Review

It is quite a task to write the biography of an actor who has always been immensely private--and who has become increasingly reclusive in recent years--but Richard Schickel is well up to the challenge.

Brando is a well-researched companion to the career of one of Hollywood's most enduring legends. Although there are more-detailed biographies available (Marlon Brando by David Shipman) and a far more personal account (The Autobiography Songs My Mother Taught Me by Brando himself) Schickel's contribution to Brando lore certainly has its own merits. The biggest of these is the large format of this new edition, providing ample space for a treasury of photographs which together constitute a remarkable pictorial record of the actor's screen career.

With photos peppered throughout the main text, the volume looks appealing--indeed its simplicity invites the reader further into the story of this man's life. The writer, we can surmise, is a fan, but luckily not a fawning one. The text centres primarily on Brando's career, and while Schickel draws on his previous experience as a film critic, he does not over-intellectualise. Instead, his prose is accessible--a dry wit presides over proceedings and is never far from the surface; and the reader is presented with the beginnings of a well-argued insight into how the hidden mind of Brando might work.

Of course, the life of Marlon Brando will continue to spawn new theories about his motivation and career, and it would certainly be a weighty biography which included them all. Instead, Brando balances its beautiful images and informative text with care, rendering Richard Schickel's effort a fine selection for anyone seeking an introduction to this most elusive of actors. --Helen Lamont

About the Author

Richard Schickel has been reviewing movies for over thurty years, including for Time magazine and Life. He has written many books, including The Disney Version, His Picture in the Papers, and Schickel on Film. His critical-biographical study of Marlon Brando complements similar volumes on Cary Grant and James Cagney. He is also a writer-director of television documentaries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pavilion
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 1857932757
• ISBN 13: 9781857932751
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 221