Marlon Brando's response to being called 'the greatest' actor ever

“The only reason I’m in Hollywood is that I don’t have the moral courage to refuse the money.” – Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando’s throwback

During the filming of the first Godfather movie, the mafia got awfully curious about what went on during filming. The mob actively followed the actors and actresses around and hovered around the sets, much to the chagrin of the actors. Marlon Brando in particular wasn’t too pleased. At some point, Brando, Pacino, and Robert Duvall were driven off-set in a car when their driver spotted a suspicious-looking cast of characters traveling at the same speed and distance, eyeing them. Brando said he had had enough of “those mob bastards,” rolled down the car window, pulled down his pants all the way, and mooned them! Duvall later said of the event that his famous co-star pulled his pants down just a little too much. Not deterred, the mob sent real-life mafia enforcer, wrestler and doorman Lenny Montana to the movie set, to play the part of Luca Brasi. Montana was a major Brando fan, as were many of the mafia guys themselves who had come to respect the wild star and his reckless ways. So in awe of his famous co-star was Montana, that he bumbled his lines. He could barely perform at all. Until Brando put Montana at ease, helping him shine and perform his part well. The big mobster turned actor was incredibly grateful, and suddenly the mafia was totally okay with their on-screen portrayal.

Marlon Brando's transformation for his iconic role as Don Vito Corleone in the 1972 film 'The Godfather'.

Sacheen Littlefeather in 1973 refusing to accept the Best Actor Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando for his performance in "The Godfather".

Mario Puzo, the author of the Godfather books who’d also adapted them to film, had no idea what he was doing as he’d never written a screenplay before. After winning two Oscars, he decided to buy a book on screenwriting to learn how. In the first chapter, it said “Study Godfather."

What historical figure would Freddie Mercury speak with, 1984 interview

Two weeks before Marlon Brando died in 2004, he changed his will. In it, he acknowledged publicly the existence of eleven children, although he was known to have many more. Of these children, he disinherited one, daughter Petra. Curiously, he also disinherited Tuki Brando, the son of his late daughter Cheyenne — a boy he was close with, and whose mother had been his favorite child. There were a lot of Brando descendants and not a crazy amount of money to share between them — between the ten children mentioned in the will, there were some thirty grandchildren as well. The total sum of the inheritance was around 30 million US dollars, but divided by so many people, minus fees, minus deductions, none of the Brandos ended up getting particularly rich after the passing of the family patriarch. Grandson Tuki Brando, the sole grandchild to be specifically disinherited, never felt slighted or hurt. He felt his grandfather had done what he had done, in a sense to “save” him from the wealth, and force him to make something of his own. He ended up becoming a reasonably successful male model, and studied medicine on the side. He is now a doctor and lives a private life, removed from the spotlight. So do most of the other Brando descendants, by the way — none of them are fabulously wealthy, and none of them pursued a career in show business.

The mouth piece worn by Marlon Brando in godfather

When filming The Godfather, Marlon Brando would often read his lines off cue cards, sometimes even stuck on other actors, whose backs were to the camera.