Brando unzipped

654 Pages·2006·67.997 MB·English

by  Brando, Marlon;Porter, Darwin

$26.95
Continuedfromfrontflap BRANDO BRANDO T
hesameanimalisticintensitythat
The roles Brando lived off-screen were MarlonBrandobroughttotherole
evenmoreprovocativethanthosehecreated The Wild One ofStanleyKowalskiinAStreetcar
Unzıpped
inhisfilms.Throughhislifeparadedanarray NamedDesirelivesagainwithinthesepages,
of luminaries, including some of the most basedonunpublishedmaterialgatheredover
famouswomenofthe20thcentury.Anaging alifetimeofresearch.Thebluejeansmadefa-
MarleneDietrichseducedhimwhenhewas mousbyBrandoinStreetcarareunzippedin
justemergingintomanhood.Brandobedded thisrichlyanecdotal,“warts-and-all”biography
Grace Kelly on the night both of them won ofthegreatestfilmactorofthe20thcentury.
Oscars.HealsoimpressedawidowedJacque- UU Within its pages, veteran Hollywood re-
line Kennedy with his charms. At Brando’s porterDarwinPorterpaintsanextraordinarily
peak,hislistofloversreadlikeaWho’sWhoof detailedportraitofBrando,particularlyabout
theculturalelite:RitaHayworth,LeonardBern- his early years, that is as blunt, uncompro-
nnBB
stein,NoëlCoward,LaurenceOlivier,ShelleyWin- misingandX-ratedasthemanhimself.
Sex Symbol • Anti-Hero
ters, Gloria Vanderbilt, Tyrone Power, Hedy Fromthemalesexsymbolofthe1950s
Lamarr, Anna Magnani, Tallulah Bankhead, Superstud • Streetcar Rapist zzRR to an overweight slob and tabloid scandal
RockHudson,IngridBergman,andDorisDuke athiscentury’send,Brandowasfilmdom’s
(atthetime,theworld’srichestwoman). The Ultimate Contender mostoriginalstar.Womenwantedhim,and
The decade-long passion Tennessee The Ultimate Godfather ıpıpAA certainmenalsodesiredhim.Hewaswilling
WilliamsmaintainedforBrandoisexposed, tosharehischarms—hecalledit“mynoble
beginning one night on a lonely beach in NN tool”—withhisadmirers.
Provincetown during World War II. Also re- pp A self-admitted bisexual, he seduced
vealedforthefirsttimearehistorturedrela- Marlon Brando understood sexual morewomenandtheoccasionalmanthanany
tionshipsandloveaffairswithhistwochief liberation long before the rest of DD otheractorinthehistoryofHollywood.His
rivals,MontgomeryCliftandJamesDean. ee trailofconquestledfromtheA-listboudoirs
us. Here, as interpreted by Darwin
Personalfamilytragedyisalsodocument- of New York to similar padded enclaves in
ed in pictures, including Brando’s incestu- Porter, is a portrait of Hollywood’s OO Hollywoodandeventuallytothebackwaters
ous relationship with his teenage daughter, most seductive bad boy as dd oftheSouthPacific.
Cheyenne,whocommittedsuicidein1995. HissecretmeetingwithHollywoodlegends
you never could have dreamed.
AlsoexploredisChristianBrando’smurderof suchasGretaGarboandCaryGrantaretold
Cheyenne’sboyfriend,DagDrollet. BB withfrankness,asarehisso-called“mercy
If Marlon had not existed, no novelist YY f***s”withsuchstellarlightsasJoanCraw-
couldhaveconjuredupsuchatowering,larg- DD ford,BetteDavisandevenJohnGielgud.To
er-thanlifecreature. AA Brando’sbedroomcamenotjustthefamous,
RR buttheunknownpickups,including“almost
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: As a young boy, WW everyJapanesewomanassociatedwiththe
celebrity biographer Darwin Porter began II filmSayonara.”
NN
meetingmoviestarswhenhismotherbecame Revealed for the first time are the inti-
the“GirlFriday”forSophieTucker,“thelast PP matedetailsofhistroubledbutenduringlove
OO
oftheredhotmammas.”Inaseriesoftell- affair with the doomed Marilyn Monroe, to
RR
all biographies whose subjects range from whomhewasbothconfidantandlover.But
TT
BogietoKateHepburn,he’srecordedanec- EE washealsoherhusband?Wastheir“mar-
dotesthattookdecadestolearn.Thanksto RR riage”reallylegal?
TennesseeWilliams,Porter’sneighborinKey One of the most poignant episodes re-
West,hebeganhearingthedarksecretsof volves around his brief but evocative affair
MarlonBrandointhe1950s,andhe’sbeen withthementallydisturbedVivienLeigh,the
Bad Boy • Megastar • Sexual Outlaw
learning new ones ever since. Technically, BlancheDuBoistohisStanleyinAStreetcar
DarwinlivesinNewYorkCity.But,asafrequent NamedDesire.
traveler,he’sneverathome. Continuedonbackflap
BY DARWIN PORTER
Cyan Black Magenta Yellow

W C S
HAT THE RITICS AID
“There has never been an actor like Marlon Brando.
Impassioned, iconoclastic, imaginative, impulsive, indomitable,
and, most of all, impossibly attractive. How well he knew it!
In an astonishing new biography, veteran Hollywood reporter
Darwin Porter paints an extraordinarily detailed portrait of
Brando, particularly about his early years, that is as blunt,
uncompromising and X-rated as the man himself.”
Women’s Weekly (Australia)
“According to Porter’s new biography, Brando was a nar-
cissist one moment, a tender lover the next. Not so much sexual
outlaw, perhaps, as existential hero of the bedroom. Lurid,
raunchy, and perceptive...there’s an astounding revelation on
almost every page, with contents that are for the most part com-
pelling. This book is certainly worth reading.”
The Sunday Times (London)
“Brando Unzipped, from Blood Moon, contains major rev-
elations about the tumultuous love affairs of the American actor
who died in July of 2004. Its author, Darwin Porter, spent 50
years assembling meticulously documented source material.
Amazingly, revealed for the first time are details about the
involvement of Brando with Edith Piaf in the early 1950s. Three
days of lovemaking and carnal excess began with a misunder-
standing....”
Le Journal du Dimanche (Paris)
“Yummy! That sums up Porter’s titillatingly tabloidish
account of Marlon Brando’s eccentric, sex-centric years. The
author barely pauses to take a deep breath as he dishes--draw-
ing on 50 years of conversations with dozens of Brando’s inti-
mates--about the late, great actor’s personal life.
But there’s way more to the biography than sex: Porter
writes with an insider’s astuteness about the actor’s movie
career, critical passages that provide welcome depth. But it’s no
exaggeration to report that practically every page discloses a fas-
cinating tidbit--about Liberace successfully seducing Dean, for
example, but failing to seduce Brando. This is an irresistibly flam-
boyant romp of a read.”
Bookmarks / Books to Watch Out For
“Brando Unzipped is the definitive gossip guide to the
late, great actor’s life.” The New York Daily News
"The tempestuous affair with James Dean is just one of
dozens of homosexual relationships, flings and one-night stands
in which Brando indulged during a lifetime of sexual voracious-
ness, according to a shocking new book that is sparking a major
reassessment of Brando's legacy as one of Hollywood's most
macho lotharios." Daily Express (London)
“Original and at times amazing, Brando Unzipped docu-
ments a life of gargantuan excess that only Hollywood could
have produced.” The Georgia Literary Association
“Entertainingly Outrageous” Los Angeles’ Frontiers
Brando
Unzipped
by DDarwin PPorter
ISBN 0-9748118-2-3
ISBN13 978-0-9748118-2-6
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CCooppyyrriigghhtt 22000055 BBlloooodd MMoooonn PPrroodduuccttiioonnss,, LLttdd..
www.BloodMoonProductions.com
First Edition published February 2006
Fourth Printing, March 2007
Cover design by Richard Leeds (www.bigwigdesign.com)
Photo and page layouts by Theodora Chowfatt

Chapter One
New York City, or so it is said, lived through its headiest days between
1943 and 1948, going from the black-out nights of World War II to the neon-
lit, postwar years that would bring on America’s greatest period of prosperity.
Facing a sultry, unusually hot May afternoon as his train from Chicago
pulled into Penn Station in New York, Nebraska-born Marlon Brando stepped
down onto the concrete. He knew that he was different from other actors arriv-
ing in New York, and he also knew that he wanted to be a contender. To call
attention to himself, he wore a cherry-red fedora. In his own words, “I want-
ed to knock New York on its ass!”
At nineteen years of age, he was a virile, macho image who moved
through the city with a panther’s grace. The Army might have branded him 4F
because of nearsightedness and a football knee injury, but the love-starved
widows and girlfriends—all in Betty Grable Technicolor makeup—left behind
by soldiers and sailors, knew what the military didn’t: Marlon Brando was a
perfect physical specimen.
He received immediate approval from New Yorkers when he stepped up
to use the infamous urinals at Penn Station. The 4F homosexuals who cruised
there gave him appreciative glances as he took a much-needed piss. The sex-
hunters obviously wanted him, and he basked in both their attention and their
hunger.
Checking his tousled hair in the bathroom mirror underneath the station,
he decided to leave it deliberately disheveled. It added to his sexual allure. He
could feel his heart beating with the raw magnetism of his own burgeoning
youth.
Powerfully muscled shoulders and arms filled his white T-shirt, one size
too small. His well-developed legs were encased in the tightest pair of blue
jeans seen on the streets of New York in that era of baggy pants. Before leav-
ing the Middle West, he’d washed his jeans a dozen times, letting them dry on
his frame, until they showcased his genitals into a tight, provocative, and
promising “package of goodies,” as he called them.
1
As he gathered up his lone suitcase,
made of cowhide, his sweat wetted his T-
shirt in half-moons around his armpits.
He’d made the right decision to wear no
underwear, as he didn’t want anything to
come between his jeans and his skin.
In the mirror, he checked what he
called “my pearly whites.” The face star-
ing back at him was deliberately uncouth
and just a bit hostile, as he knew how sex-
ually magnetic that was to any horny
woman or homosexual male who wanted
to get plugged. Even after hours on the
bus, away from the gym, his body was
still rock hard, the creation of digging
ditches and laying tiles under the hot sun
31 years before One-Eyed Jacks
of the Middle West.
Perhaps it’s apocryphal, but Marlon was alleged to have given his last five
dollars to a fat black shoeshine man, who’d ridden the train up from New
Orleans. “What you doing in New York, Mr. Man?” the shoeblack supposed-
ly asked.
“I’m here to have a hell of a time!” Marlon is alleged to have responded.
“Thanks for the tip, the biggest I ever got. I’m lucky to get a nickel.” He
looked Marlon up and down as if sizing him up, not able to place him. “Where
you from?”
“Born in Rangoon,” he lied. “My daddy had an overseas job there before
the war.”
“And where might this Rangoon be?” the shoeblack asked. “I don’t right-
ly know.”
“It’s over there and down a bit,” Marlon said.
“Ok, now I know where it is,” the black said.
Waving him good-bye, Marlon wandered into the dying afternoon of a
NewYork war year. He’d had his first conversation with a native, even though
the man was from Louisiana.
Marlon sampled the local breezes—not as fresh as Nebraska, but the good
air of a city at war in both the Pacific and the Atlantic. New Yorkers feared at
any time they might come under aerial bombardment. With a sense of danger,
he looked up at the clear sky, as if anticipating a squadron of Nazi bombers.
Arriving in town, he wanted to become the enfant terrible of this dynam-
ic city that lived on the edge. His actress mother, Dorothy, whom he called
“Dodie,” had taught him what an enfant terrible was, and he wanted to
2
become one.
Marlon Brando Sr. was back in Chicago, locked into a dull job at Calcium
Carbonate, in which he earned one-thousand dollars a month, plus commis-
sions. Marlon Jr. knew he’d never be controlled or dominated by his father
ever again, once he’d “liberated” himself on the streets of New York.
As a send-off for his son from Chicago, Marlon Sr. said, “The theater?
That’s for faggots! It’s not man’s work. Just take a look at yourself in the mir-
ror and ask yourself if someone would pay good money to see a shit-kicking
Nebraska boy like you emote on the stage.”
“Bud” was no longer the name for him. He’d outgrown that nickname
applied at his birth on April 3, 1924, back in Omaha.
It was going to be Marlon from now on. In his hopes and dreams, he knew
that the whole world would soon be familiar with the name Marlon. “No,
that’s not right,” he said out loud, attracting the attention of two women shop-
pers. “No, not Marlon. The world will know me by only one name. BRAN-
DO!”
And so it came to be.
* * *
His sister, Frances Brando, born a year and a half before Marlon, lived on
a cul-de-sac on Patchin Place in Greenwich Village. An aspiring artist, she was
in a deep depression, having heard from the War Department that her lover, a
Navy pilot, had been shot down and was instantly killed. Marlon tried to cheer
her up, but at the time she was inconsolable.
Escaping from her flat, he was “free at last.” No military school, no criti-
cal father to chastise him. He could be a true bohemian and stay up all night
if he wanted to. He recalled that one time, “the first night I got officially plas-
tered in my whole life,” he fell asleep in the bushes of Washington Square and
woke up on the sidewalk, with men in briefcases stepping over him on their
way to work.
He didn’t want to become one of those dark-suited men with their brief-
cases. He tried the odd job here and there. A waiter in a spaghetti house on
Bleeker Street. A sandwich man assisting a vendor on Fifth Avenue where
Marlon claimed he made fifty tuna fish sandwiches in about one hour. Ashort
order cook “frying juicy burgers” at a tourist trap hole-in-the-wall near Times
Square. An elevator operator at Best’s Department Store was followed by a
brief stint as a lemonade salesman in Central Park. For three days he drove a
truck in New Jersey before he crashed it.
3
Mostly he was free
to wander about, which
is what he was doing on
the day he discovered
Life Cafeteria on
Seventh Avenue South.
It was a place where
rubber-neckers from
the Middle West, with
tour guides in hand,
ventured into the
Village to “gape at the
faggots and the bull
dykes,” who were on
display through the
cafeteria’s picture win-
dows that opened to the
street. “I remember see-
ing these baboons on
the sidewalk staring in
at these young men and
women ordering food
and drink,” Marlon
later recalled. “The red-
necks were pointing at
the diners like animals
Frances, Jocelyn, and Marlon in Evanston, Illinois in a zoo. I was immedi-
ately intrigued and ventured in. Before I left that afternoon, I discovered that
many of the homosexual men were actually putting on a show for the jam.”
Jam was a code word for straights. “They were deliberately acting real effem-
inate as a fuck-you to the straights.” He recalled that a table of men and
women “quickly adopted me and made me feel like I belonged.”
It made no difference to him what the patrons did in private. “All my life
I’ve never been interested in someone else’s sex life—only my own,” Marlon
said. “I became a regular patron. One of the waiters developed a crush on me
and served me food even when I didn’t have enough money to pay for it.”
A regular patron of Life Cafeteria was a struggling young writer,
Tennessee Williams, who also survived on the leanest of budgets. But the
future Southern author and the actor “destined” to play Stanley Kowalski did-
n’t meet until much later on the beach in Provincetown.
Not everyone rushed to accept this brash young man from Nebraska, who
4