Brando's Smile: His Life, Thought, and Work

Biography & Memoir, Entertainment & Performing Arts
Cover of the book Brando's Smile: His Life, Thought, and Work by Susan L. Mizruchi, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Susan L. Mizruchi ISBN: 9780393244267
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: June 23, 2014
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Susan L. Mizruchi
ISBN: 9780393244267
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: June 23, 2014
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

A groundbreaking work that reveals how Marlon Brando shaped his legacy in art and life.

When people think about Marlon Brando, they think of the movie star, the hunk, the scandals. In Brando’s Smile, Susan L. Mizruchi reveals the Brando others have missed: the man who collected four thousand books; the man who rewrote scripts, trimming his lines to make them sharper; the man who consciously used his body and employed the objects around him to create believable characters; the man who loved Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

To write this biography, Mizruchi gained unprecedented access to a vast number of annotated books from Brando’s library, hand-edited copies of screenplays, private letters, and recorded interviews that have never before been quoted in a biography. Original interviews with some of the still-living players from Brando’s life, including Ellen Adler, his one-time girlfriend and the daughter of his acting teacher Stella Adler, provide even deeper insight into the complex person whose intelligence belied the high-school dropout.

Mizruchi shows how Brando’s embrace of foreign cultures and social outsiders led to his brilliant performances in unusual roles—a gay man, an Asian, a German soldier—to test himself and to foster empathy on a global scale. We also meet the political Brando: the civil rights activist, the close friend of James Baldwin, the actor who declined his Oscar to support Indian rights.

More than seventy stunning—and many rare—photographs of Marlon Brando illuminate this portrait of the man who has left an astounding cultural legacy.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A groundbreaking work that reveals how Marlon Brando shaped his legacy in art and life.

When people think about Marlon Brando, they think of the movie star, the hunk, the scandals. In Brando’s Smile, Susan L. Mizruchi reveals the Brando others have missed: the man who collected four thousand books; the man who rewrote scripts, trimming his lines to make them sharper; the man who consciously used his body and employed the objects around him to create believable characters; the man who loved Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

To write this biography, Mizruchi gained unprecedented access to a vast number of annotated books from Brando’s library, hand-edited copies of screenplays, private letters, and recorded interviews that have never before been quoted in a biography. Original interviews with some of the still-living players from Brando’s life, including Ellen Adler, his one-time girlfriend and the daughter of his acting teacher Stella Adler, provide even deeper insight into the complex person whose intelligence belied the high-school dropout.

Mizruchi shows how Brando’s embrace of foreign cultures and social outsiders led to his brilliant performances in unusual roles—a gay man, an Asian, a German soldier—to test himself and to foster empathy on a global scale. We also meet the political Brando: the civil rights activist, the close friend of James Baldwin, the actor who declined his Oscar to support Indian rights.

More than seventy stunning—and many rare—photographs of Marlon Brando illuminate this portrait of the man who has left an astounding cultural legacy.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book The Wine-Dark Sea (Vol. Book 16) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book Voyage of the Narwhal: A Novel by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book American Mania: When More is Not Enough by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book Identity and the Life Cycle by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book The Love She Left Behind: A Novel by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book Nothing Makes You Free: Writings by Descendants of Jewish Holocaust Survivors by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book The Cineaste: Poems by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book Alaska: A Bicentennial History by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book A Clockwork Orange (Restored Text) by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book A Dog's Ransom by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book Federal Bodysnatchers and the New Guinea Virus: Tales of Parasites, People, and Politics by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book The Road to Somewhere: An American Memoir by Susan L. Mizruchi
Cover of the book Beyond Human Nature: How Culture and Experience Shape the Human Mind by Susan L. Mizruchi
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy