Book Description:
THE BOOK THAT HAD TO WAIT FOR BRANDO TO DIE The mysteries that enveloped the late superstar MARLON BRANDO (1924 2004) are unwrapped and exposed in a richly anecdotal warts and all biography, BRANDO UNZIPPED! by bestselling biographer, Darwin Porter. The greatest film actor of the 20th century lives again in these pages, each meticulously researched over a period of more than 40 years. Each of the people Porter interviewed, including many of Brando s lovers both male and female had a different story to tell. Many of them contradicted heretofore published accounts of how those encounters evolved. Hostile witness or loving friend, each subject added a piece to the mosaic. The result is a fully rounded view of a revolutionary actor who, like lightning on legs, electrified the world in Streetcar Named Desire, where he played Stanley Kowalski in the Broadway version of 1947, and the film version in 1951. The book also describes his Oscar winning turn as Terry Malloy, the boxer who could have been a contender in On the Waterfront in 1954, and his electrifying comeback as Vito Corleone in The Godfather in 1972. The combative, moody, iconoclastic, polarizing, and enigmatic figure appears as a flesh and blood creation in this revelation studded bio. It s all here: The Rebel Without a Cause who made rebellion hip. The suicide attempts of former girlfriends, Startling stories about Sleeping with the Enemy (bedding a stalker who turned out to be a cannibal in disguise). His involvement with the Black Panthers. The ill fated marriages, bitter divorces, and child custody battles. A son with a murder rap. Jealous actors who wanted to seduce Brando and then become Brando on screen. With candor, the author unveils the details of that ongoing disaster that Brando called my life. The charismatic personality of The Wild One is recaptured in all its brooding power that seemed forever ready to explode at any moment. The same animalistic intensity that Brando brought to the role of Stanley Kowalski lives again within the pages of this bio. From sex symbol of the 1950s to a swollen, overweight slob who became a tabloid scandal in the 90s, Brando was one of filmdom s true originals. Women wanted him, and certain men wanted him, and Brando was willing to share his charms with a string of lovers whose hangouts ranged from the A list boudoirs of New York and Hollywood to the back alleys of a string of cities from New York to the slums of the South Pacific. Throughout this biography, Brando s quirky and sometimes bizarre humor often bubbles to the top. As an example, once, when he was asked for a summation of his life, Brando said: I ve never been circumcised, and my noble tool has performed its duties through thick and thin without fail! More than the story of Brando himself, the biography chronicles the loves of his life, most of which were of short duration but played out with the same kind of intensity he brought to the screen. Regardless of their origins, his affairs invariably crossed the American plains to land on the opposite coast. His lovers were as mercurial as his own personality. They included Doris Duke, the richest woman in the world, and Burt Lancaster, the actor originally targeted for the role of Stanley in Streetcar. The true story of his explosive relationships with Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra is printed for the first time, as is an array of friendships and/or feuds with such unlikely figures as Richard Burton, Charlie Chaplin, and (believe it or not), Michael Jackson. The roles Brando lived off screen were even more provocative and intriguing than those he created on screen. He paraded through the bedrooms of such luminaries as an aging Marlene Dietrich, and enjoyed one night stands with both Grace Kelly and Jacqueline Kennedy. His tortured relationships and love affairs with James Dean and Montgomery Clift are explored in depth, as is the pass
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