Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1963)

to expose the untruths 01 others and quicker still to demand complete honesty of himself, stand quietly by as a chorus of critics joined in accusing him of sabotaging “Mutiny on the Bounty”? Perhaps a clue to his silence can be gained from listening to what his sister, Jocelyn Brando, has to say about him: “He so wants honesty in all his relationships that when someone is blatantly dishonest he’s so disappointed he can’t talk, he can’t cope with it, he’s too emotional.” But defense of Brando’s behavior in “Mutiny” came from many places, both expected and unexpected; and soon some of the silliest charges against him were exploded. The charge that he sulked on the set and interfered with the work of the director and the scriptwriters was blasted by “Mutiny’s” producer, Aaron Rosenberg. “Marlon gave us a rough time,” he said, “but he felt we were not living up to the agreements we had made with him about the basic concept of the picture. Besides, with a modern actor like him, he’s got to feel the part and you must allow him to make his contributions to the script and the directing. Otherwise he can’t work.” Rosenberg’s statement is a variation of what two other motion picture greats have said about Marlon in the past. Actor Karl Malden said, “In an industry loaded with pressures — time, time, time and money, money money — Marlon goes about taking his time and caring nothing for cost. He lets nothing go by unless he feels it’s as good as he can get.” Director Elia Kazan said, “He gets inside a part and eats the heart right out of it till the part is him and he is the part.” One charge, that he used ear plugs to shut out orders from the director and suggestions from the other players, was refuted by one of Marlon’s friends (as quoted by writer Hyman Goldberg) : “This is ridiculous, because Marlon always has kept plugs in his ears when studying a script. He has to concentrate completely, and he finds he can’t, with all the noise that is made on a set or on a location, when a camera shot is being set up. But, of course, when somebody speaks to him, or when he’s working, he takes the ear plugs out.” The charge that he stayed up all night dancing barefoot with native Tahitian girls was put into its proper perspective by “Mutiny” cameraman Robert Surtees. After asserting that “People seem to prefer to read and believe the worst,” Surtees went on to declare, “but people don’t know that he brought his Tahitian cook’s twoyear-old grandson back with him to California, kept the child at his home and had a surgeon correct his deformed foot. Critics liked his “Mutiny” The charge that he deliberately spoiled the film by making Fletcher Christian an unbelievably comic character was countered by the American movie critics, who almost to a man praised both Brando’s conception of the part and his actual performance. Cheered Archer Winsten of the N.Y. Post: “Brando comes in with an upperclass English accent that can stun an American with its eerie precision. Perhaps a Britisher could find a flaw, not this department. With these speeches Brando forever lays to rest the persistent ghost of Stanley Kowalski.” No one-accent man, he I i . THE FIGHT FOR DICK CHAMBERLAIN Here are the rumors — and here are the facts on Carol Burnett’s fight for Dick Chamberlain! Clara Ray met him first but . . . is Carol Burnett getting all set to have the last laugh on love? Don’t miss this revealing article in the May issue of TV Radio Mirror, now on sale everywhere! Ca'd ftOToW’ fight fw Dick CfcemJjertatn ' THE SIN THAT SPOUED OUR WEDWNGr ^ Oi*n 9uxf In the same exciting issue Read THE ILLNESS VINCE EDWARDS’ MOTHER HIDES FROM HIM For the first time in an exclusive TV Radio Mirror interview, Vince Edwards’ mother tells how she kept her illness a secret from her famous son Plus FEUD!. . . “Don’t invite me and Marty Milner to the same car,” says ‘Route 66’ star George Maharis in an exclusive taped interview . . . CONNIE STEVENS’ AND GARY CLARKE’S OWN STORY And A TV Radio Mirror Book Bonus! Steve Allen’s novel “Not All Your Laughter— Not All Your Tears." Get Your Copy of May TV RADIO MIRROR NOW ON SALE EVERYWHERE! p 69