Brando

Marlon Brando, born to two alcoholic parents, was the third actor to receive two best actor Oscars:  On the Waterfront (1954) and The Godfather (1972).  He turned down the second award in protest for treatment of Native Americans, as well as a reluctance to glorify the mafia.  Toward the end of his days, his life became more of a drama than any he portrayed on screen:  His self-imposed exile on Tahiti, his son’s murder trial (where he refused to take an oath, claiming he as an atheist), and his growing size, obesity, and blindness.  He died in 2004 at the age of eighty of lung failure owing to pulmonary fibrosis, excessive scar tissue in the lung.  Brando said, “I don’t mind that I’m fat.  You still get the same money.”  He was paid $4 million for his ten minutes’ performance in the movie Superman.