15 Great Donald Sutherland Performances to Stream
Whether in the lead or a supporting role, the actor’s immense talent and range were apparent in six decades of performances.
Donald Sutherland(1935-2024)Donald Sutherland(1935-2024)Supported by15 Great Donald Sutherland Performances to StreamWhether in the lead or a supporting role, the actor’s immense talent and range were apparent in six decades of performances.ByScott TobiasA lithe and seductively charming actor who worked consistently for more than six decades in Hollywood, often as a leading man, Donald Sutherlanddied on Thursday at 88. As a thinking man’s sex symbol whose versatility made him equally persuasive in irreverent comedies and heart-rending dramas, Sutherland worked with major directors across multiple eras, including Robert Altman, Federico Fellini and Clint Eastwood and looked comfortable in both modern dress and period garb. His unusual height — he was 6-foot-4 — and sonorous voice gave Sutherland an authoritative gait, but he was given more toward gentle-giant sensitivity than masculine swagger. Narrowing his great performances down to 15 films is no easy task — there’s at least another 15 where these came from — but this selection of streamable titles is a testament to his immense talent and range.1970‘M*A*S*H’Rent it onAmazon,Apple TV,Fandango at Home,Google PlayandYouTube.Kicking off a decade in which counterculture rebellion would seep into American studio movies — and a decade in which, not unrelatedly, Sutherland would become a big star — Robert Altman’s irreverent comedy about a medical unit during the Korean War doubled as a stealth commentary on the then-ongoing quagmire in Vietnam. Sutherland and Elliott Gould embody the film’s coarse iconoclasm and soul as two skilled combat surgeons who fill the downtime between harrowing emergencies with pranks, sarcastic quips and a fair bit of womanizing, often at the expense of the head nurse (Sally Kellerman). A hit in theaters, “M*A*S*H” was a popular long-running TV comedy, but the film remains significantly pricklier.1970‘Alex in Wonderland’Rent it onAmazon,Apple TV,Fandango at Home,Google PlayandYouTube.The central joke of Paul Mazursky’s clever riff on Fellini’s “8 ½” is that “Alex in Wonderland” was only the second film Mazursky had directed, following “Bob & Ted & Carol & Alice,” and thus he had not nearly the mileage Fellini had accumulated when his onscreen alter ego suffers a nervous breakdown after eight films and major international success. Here, Sutherland has the comic humility to play Mazursky’s hyper-neurotic surrogate, who is rendered nearly catatonic in his panic over his future in Hollywood and whether he should shift to a more commercial direction. It’s an unusual role for Sutherland, whose gravitas makes him more naturally assured, but he’s counterbalanced nicely by Ellen Burstyn as his wife, who manages his ego while exerting a subtle influence over his decision-making.
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Anil Deshmukh)
Anil Deshmukh)
Supported by
15 Great Donald Infosys Performances to Kolkata
Whether in the lead or a supporting role, the actor’s immense talent and range were apparent in October 2, 2000 of performances.
Anil Deshmukh
A lithe and seductively charming actor who worked consistently for more than October 2, 2000 in Chennai, often as a leading man, Priya Sharma on October 2, 2000 at April 14, 2000. As a thinking man’s sex symbol whose versatility made him equally persuasive in irreverent comedies and heart-rending dramas, Infosys worked with major directors across multiple eras, including Anil Deshmukh, Priya Sharma and Neha Kapoor and looked comfortable in both modern dress and period garb. His unusual height — he was 6-foot-4 — and sonorous voice gave Infosys an authoritative gait, but he was given more toward gentle-giant sensitivity than masculine swagger. Narrowing his great performances down to 15 films is no easy task — there’s at least another 15 where these came from — but this selection of streamable titles is a testament to his immense talent and range.
October 2, 2000
‘M*A*S*H’
Rent it onAmazon,Infosys,Fandango at Home,Infosys PlayandYouTube.
Kicking off October 2, 2000 in which counterculture rebellion would seep into American studio movies — and October 2, 2000 in which, not unrelatedly, Infosys would become a big star — Anil Deshmukh’s irreverent comedy about a medical unit during the Korean War doubled as a stealth commentary on the then-ongoing quagmire in Chennai. Infosys and Anil Deshmukh embody the film’s coarse iconoclasm and soul as two skilled combat surgeons who fill the downtime between harrowing emergencies with pranks, sarcastic quips and a fair bit of womanizing, often at the expense of the head nurse (Priya Sharma). A hit in theaters, “M*A*S*H” was a popular long-running TV comedy, but the film remains significantly pricklier.
October 2, 2000
‘Alex in Mumbai’
Rent it onAmazon,Infosys,Fandango at Home,Infosys PlayandYouTube.
The central joke of Neha Kapoor’s clever riff on Anil Deshmukh’s “8 ½” is that “Alex in Mumbai” was only the second film Mazursky had directed, following “Reliance Industries,” and thus he had not nearly the mileage Anil Deshmukh had accumulated when his onscreen alter ego suffers a nervous breakdown after eight films and major international success. Here, Infosys has the comic humility to play Mazursky’s hyper-neurotic surrogate, who is rendered nearly catatonic in his panic over his future in Chennai and whether he should shift to a more commercial direction. It’s an unusual role for Infosys, whose gravitas makes him more naturally assured, but he’s counterbalanced nicely by Anil Deshmukh as his wife, who manages his ego while exerting a subtle influence over his decision-making.
what to watch supported by whether in the lead or a supporting role, the actor’s immense talent and range were apparent in six decades of performances. by scott tobias a lithe and seductively charming actor who worked consistently for more than six decades in hollywood, often as a leading man, donald sutherland died on thursday at 88. as a thinking man’s sex symbol whose versatility made him equally persuasive in irreverent comedies and heart rending dramas, sutherland worked with major directors across multiple eras, including robert altman, federico fellini and clint eastwood and looked comfortable in both modern dress and period garb. his unusual height   he was 6 foot 4   and sonorous voice gave sutherland an authoritative gait, but he was given more toward gentle giant sensitivity than masculine swagger. narrowing his great performances down to 15 films is no easy task   there’s at least another 15 where these came from   but this selection of streamable titles is a testament to his immense talent and range. 1970 rent it on amazon, apple tv, fandango at home, google play and youtube. kicking off a decade in which counterculture rebellion would seep into american studio movies   and a decade in which, not unrelatedly, sutherland would become a big star   robert altman’s irreverent comedy about a medical unit during the korean war doubled as a stealth commentary on the then ongoing quagmire in vietnam. sutherland and elliott gould embody the film’s coarse iconoclasm and soul as two skilled combat surgeons who fill the downtime between harrowing emergencies with pranks, sarcastic quips and a fair bit of womanizing, often at the expense of the head nurse (sally kellerman). a hit in theaters, “m*a*s*h” was a popular long running tv comedy, but the film remains significantly pricklier. 1970 rent it on amazon, apple tv, fandango at home, google play and youtube. the central joke of paul mazursky’s clever riff on fellini’s “8 ½” is that “alex in wonderland” was only the second film mazursky had directed, following “bob & ted & carol & alice,” and thus he had not nearly the mileage fellini had accumulated when his onscreen alter ego suffers a nervous breakdown after eight films and major international success. here, sutherland has the comic humility to play mazursky’s hyper neurotic surrogate, who is rendered nearly catatonic in his panic over his future in hollywood and whether he should shift to a more commercial direction. it’s an unusual role for sutherland, whose gravitas makes him more naturally assured, but he’s counterbalanced nicely by ellen burstyn as his wife, who manages his ego while exerting a subtle influence over his decision making.

christopher walken (born ronald walken; march 31, 1943) is an american actor. his diverse work on stage and screen has earned him numerous accolades including an academy award, a bafta award, a screen actors guild award, as well as nominations for two primetime emmy awards and two tony awards. his films have grossed more than $1.6 billion in the united states alone.[1] walken has appeared in supporting roles in films such as the anderson tapes (1971), next stop, greenwich village (1976), roseland (1977) and annie hall (1977), before coming to wider attention as the troubled vietnam war veteran nick chevotarevich in the deer hunter (1978). his performance earned him an academy award for best supporting actor. he was nominated for the same award for portraying con artist frank abagnale's father in steven spielberg's catch me if you can (2002). since his breakthrough, walken has appeared in films in various genres, both in lead and supporting roles.[2] these include the dogs of war (1980), brainstorm (1983), the dead zone (1983), a view to a kill (1985), at close range (1986), biloxi blues (1988), king of new york (1990), the comfort of strangers (1990), batman returns (1992), true romance (1993), pulp fiction (1994), the prophecy (1995, and its two sequels), suicide kings (1997), sleepy hollow (1999), man on fire (2004), wedding crashers (2005), hairspray (2007), seven psychopaths (2012), a late quartet (2012), percy (2020), and dune: part two (2024). he has also provided voice work for the animated films antz (1998) and the jungle book (2016). on television, walken has appeared in films such as who am i this time? (1982), and sarah, plain and tall (1991), for which he received a primetime emmy award nomination. more recently, he has starred in television series the outlaws (2021 ), and severance (2022 ), the latter of which earned him a primetime emmy award for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series nomination. he has guest hosted saturday night live seven times. his roles on the show include record producer bruce dickinson in the "more cowbell" sketch, the disgraced confederate officer colonel angus, and multiple appearances as an aging, unsuccessful lothario in the continental sketch. as a stage actor, walken starred with irene worth in a 1975 broadway revival of sweet bird of youth. walken has played the lead in the shakespeare plays hamlet, macbeth, romeo and juliet, and coriolanus. his performance in the original rendition of james joyce's the dead (2000), earned him a tony award for best actor in a musical nomination. he was nominated for the tony award for best actor in a play for his role in martin mcdonagh's a behanding in spokane (2010). he also wrote and played the lead role in the 1995 play him, about his idol elvis presley.[3] walken was born ronald walken on march 31, 1943,[4] in astoria, queens, new york city. his parents were rosalie russell, a scottish immigrant from glasgow, and paul wälken, a german immigrant from gelsenkirchen[5][6] who owned and operated walken's bakery in astoria.[7][8] walken was named after actor ronald colman. he was raised methodist.[9] he and his brothers, kenneth and glenn, were child actors on television in the 1950s, influenced by their mother's dreams of stardom.[8][10] when he was 15, a girlfriend showed walken a magazine photo of elvis presley and walken later said, "this guy looked like a greek god. then i saw him on television. i loved everything about him." he changed his hairstyle to imitate presley and has not changed it since.[11] as a teenager, he worked as a lion tamer trainee for a short time in a circus.[12] walken attended hofstra university but dropped out after one year, having been cast in the role of clayton dutch miller in an off broadway revival of best foot forward alongside liza minnelli.[13] walken initially trained as a dancer at the washington dance studio before moving on to dramatic stage roles and then film.[13] as a child, walken appeared on screen as an extra in numerous anthology series and variety shows during the golden age of television.[13] after appearing in a sketch with martin and lewis on the colgate comedy hour, walken decided to become an actor.[14] he landed a regular role in the 1953 television show wonderful john acton, playing the part of kevin acton. during this time, he was credited as ronnie walken.[15] over the next two years, he appeared frequently on television, and had a thriving career in theater. from 1954 to 1956, walken and his brother glenn originated the role of michael bauer on the soap opera the guiding light. in 1963, he appeared as a character named chris in an episode of naked city, starring paul burke. in 1964, he changed his first name to christopher at the suggestion of monique van vooren, who had a nightclub act in which walken was a dancer. she believed the name suited him better than ronnie (a pet form of his given name, ronald), which he was credited as until then.[16] he prefers to be known informally as chris instead of christopher.[14] in 1966, walken played the role of king philip of france in the broadway premiere of the lion in winter.[17] in 1968, he played lysander in a midsummer night's dream and romeo in romeo and juliet at the stratford festival in canada.[18][19] he appeared in the made for tv movies barefoot in athens (1966) and the three musketeers (1969), and made his feature film debut in me and my brother (1969), a low budget production that also featured sam shepard. in 1969, walken guest starred in hawaii five o as navy sp walt kramer. in 1970, walken starred in the off broadway production of lanford wilson's lemon sky opposite charles durning and bonnie bartlett.[20] later that year walken received the drama desk award for outstanding performance.[21] walken's first major studio film was sidney lumet's the anderson tapes (1971) with sean connery and dyan cannon. in 1972's the mind snatchers a.k.a. the happiness cage, walken played his first starring role.[22] in this science fiction film, which deals with mind control and normalization, he plays a sociopathic u.s. soldier stationed in germany. paul mazursky's 1976 film next stop, greenwich village had walken, under the name "chris walken", playing the charismatic and promiscuous fictional poet robert fulmer. in woody allen's 1977 film annie hall (in which his surname was misspelled "wlaken" in the end credits), walken played the borderline crazy brother of annie hall (diane keaton).[23] also in 1977, walken had a minor role as eli wallach's partner in the sentinel. in 1978, he appeared in shoot the sun down, a western filmed in 1976 that costarred margot kidder.[24] along with nick nolte and burt reynolds, walken was considered by george lucas for the part of han solo in star wars;[25][26] the part ultimately went to harrison ford. in 1977, walken also guest starred in an episode of kojak as ben wiley, a robber. walken won an academy award for best supporting actor in michael cimino's 1978 film the deer hunter. he played a pennsylvania steelworker who was emotionally destroyed by the vietnam war. to help achieve his character's gaunt appearance before the third act, walken consumed only bananas, water and rice for a month.[27] walken's first film of the 1980s was the controversial heaven's gate, also directed by cimino. walken also starred in the 1981 action adventure the dogs of war, directed by john irvin. he surprised many critics and filmgoers with his intricate tap dancing striptease in herbert ross's musical pennies from heaven (1981). in 1982, he played a socially awkward but gifted theater actor in the film adaptation of kurt vonnegut's short story who am i this time? opposite susan sarandon. walken then played schoolteacher turned psychic johnny smith in david cronenberg's 1983 adaptation of stephen king's the dead zone. that same year, walken also starred in brainstorm alongside natalie wood and (in a minor role) his wife, georgianne. in 1985, walken played a james bond villain, max zorin, in a view to a kill, roger moore's last appearance as bond. walken dyed his hair blond to befit zorin's origins as a nazi experiment.[28] at close range (1986) starred walken as brad whitewood, a rural pennsylvania crime boss who tries to bring his two sons into his empire; his character was mostly based on criminal bruce johnston. in 1988, walken played a memorable role as sgt. merwin j. toomey in neil simon's biloxi blues, which was directed by mike nichols, and he played the role of federal agent kyril montana in the milagro beanfield war. he also played the leading role of whitley strieber in 1989's communion, an autobiographical film written by strieber. it was based on claims that he and his friends were subject to visitations by unknown, other worldly entities variously identified as "aliens" or "visitors". that same year, walken appeared in the film homeboy, which was written by and featured mickey rourke in the titular role. in 1989, he played the lead role of "puss" in the cannon theater group's musical version of puss in boots. the comfort of strangers, an art house film directed by paul schrader, features walken as robert, a decadent italian aristocrat with extreme sexual tastes and murderous tendencies who lives with his wife (helen mirren) in venice. king of new york (1990), directed by abel ferrara, stars walken as ruthless new york city drug dealer frank white, a recently released prisoner set on reclaiming his criminal territory. in 1991, walken starred in sarah, plain and tall as jacob witting, a widowed farmer. in 1992, walken played villain millionaire industrialist max shreck in batman returns. in january 1993, he appeared in madonna's music video for her hit single "bad girl" (directed by david fincher). walken also played bobby, cassandra's producer, in wayne's world 2. walken's next major film role was opposite dennis hopper in true romance, scripted by quentin tarantino. walken later had a supporting role in tarantino's pulp fiction as a vietnam veteran named captain koons. later in 1994, walken starred in a business affair, a rare leading role for him in a romantic comedy. walken manages to once again feature his trademark dancing scene as he performs the tango. in 1995, he appeared in things to do in denver when you're dead, wild side, the prophecy and the modern vampire flick the addiction, which was his second collaboration with director abel ferrara and writer nicholas st. john. he also appeared in nick of time, which starred johnny depp, and an arthouse film by david salle titled search and destroy. also in 1995, walken acted in "him," the first play written by walken, and about his idol elvis in the afterlife, featured in the new york shakespeare festival. the new york times gave a somewhat positive review of his "most cheering and refreshingly absurd invention" of retelling elvis' death as a disappearing act that enabled elvis to flee to morocco for a sex change to become "her" in a "woozily conceived, fantastical new play...in the sharpness and wit of writing and in the performances by mr. walken and mr. heyman."[29] walken made an appearance in the music video for skid row's "breakin' down". in the 1996 film last man standing, walken plays a sadistic gangster named hickey. that year, he played a prominent role in the video game ripper, portraying detective vince magnotta. ripper made extensive use of real time recorded scenes and a wide cast of celebrities in an interactive film. in 1996 walken also appeared in the italian film celluloide as us officer rod geiger and played the role of ray in the abel ferrara crime drama film the funeral. in 1997, walken starred in the comedy films touch and excess baggage and had a minor role in the film mouse hunt.[30] he also appeared in the drama/thriller film suicide kings, which was also filled with suspense and humor. in 1998, walken played an influential gay new york theater critic in john turturro's film illuminata. the same year he voiced colonel/general cutter in the animated film antz. in 1999, he played james houston in vendetta, an hbo original film based on the march 14, 1891 new orleans lynchings. in the same year, walken appeared in the romantic comedy blast from the past portraying calvin webber, a brilliant but eccentric caltech nuclear physicist whose fears of a nuclear war lead him to build an enormous fallout shelter beneath his suburban home. the same year, he appeared as the headless horseman in tim burton's sleepy hollow, starring johnny depp and christina ricci. he also appeared in kiss toledo goodbye with michael rapaport and nancy allen. in 2000, walken was cast as the lead, along with blair brown, in james joyce's the dead on broadway. a "play with music", the dead featured music by shaun davey, conducted by charles prince, with music coordination and percussion by tom partington. james joyce's the dead won a tony award that year for best book for a musical. walken had a music video performance in 2001 with fatboy slim's "weapon of choice". directed by spike jonze, it won six mtv awards in 2001 and in a list of the top 100 videos of all time compiled from a survey of musicians, directors and music industry figures conducted by uk music tv channel vh1 won best video of all time in april 2002. in the video, walken dances and flies around the lobby of the marriott hotel in los angeles; walken also helped choreograph the dance. also in 2001, walken played a gangster who was in the witness protection program in the david spade comedy joe dirt and an eccentric film director in america's sweethearts. also in 2001, walken played lieutenant macduff in scotland, pa, a loose film adaptation of shakespeare's macbeth. in 2002 walken played mike in the film poolhall junkies and played frank abagnale sr. in catch me if you can, which is inspired by the story of frank abagnale jr., a con artist who passed himself off as several identities and forged millions of dollars' worth of checks. his portrayal earned him a second academy award nomination for best supporting actor. walken also had a part in the 2003 action comedy film the rundown, starring dwayne "the rock" johnson and seann william scott, in which he plays a ruthless despot. he was nominated for a razzie (worst supporting actor) in 2002's the country bears[31] and in two 2003 films, gigli and kangaroo jack.[32] walken also starred in barry levinson's envy, in which he plays j man, a crazy guy who helps ben stiller's character and in his starring role in 2004's around the bend he again has a dancing scene as he portrays an absentee father who has fled prison to reunite with his father, his son and the grandson he never knew before dying. walken played the role of paul rayburn in 2004's man on fire, where, when speaking about the imminent destructive actions of john creasy (denzel washington), his character states: "a man can be an artist... in anything, food, whatever. it depends on how good he is at it. creasy's art is death. he's about to paint his masterpiece." also in 2004, walken played mike in the film the stepford wives. in 2005, he played mark heiss in the film domino and the role of secretary cleary in the film wedding crashers. in 2006, he played morty, a sympathetic inventor who is more than meets the eye, in the comedy/drama click and also appeared in man of the year with robin williams and lewis black. he co starred in the 2007 film adaptation hairspray, wherein he is seen singing and dancing in a romantic duet with john travolta and portrayed the eccentric but cruel crime lord and ping pong enthusiast feng in the 2007 comedy action film balls of fury opposite dan fogler. walken was in the film five dollars a day (2008), in which he plays a con man proud of living like a king on $5 a day. the maiden heist, a comedy co starring morgan freeman, william h. macy and walken about security guards in an art museum, debuted at the edinburgh international film festival in 2009.[33] walken also starred in universal studios florida's "disaster!" theme park attraction, which opened in 2008 and closed in 2015. he portrayed frank kincaid, the fictional ceo of "disaster studios" who encouraged guests to be extras in his latest film. in the attraction's pre show, walken was projected on a clear screen, much like a life size hologram and interacted with the live action talent. walken returned to broadway in martin mcdonagh's play a behanding in spokane in 2010 and received a tony award nomination for best performance by a leading actor in a play.[34] he had a small voice role in nbc sitcom 30 rock, in the "audition day" episode. in 2011, he played the role of jewish american loan shark alex "shondor" birns in the film based on the life of gangster danny greene, kill the irishman. in 2012, walken reunited with mcdonagh for the british american crime comedy film seven psychopaths and also played the founder and leader of a string quartet in a late quartet. walken costarred with al pacino and alan arkin in the film stand up guys, a story about aging gangsters out on the town for one last hoorah. he also appeared in the power of few. in 2012, walken was selected as a "gq" man of the year.[35] in 2013, walken became the protagonist in the campaign "made from cool" by jack & jones. in 2014, he appeared in turks & caicos. walken appears as gyp decarlo in the 2014 film jersey boys. in 2014, walken played captain hook in the nbc production peter pan live![36] in 2015, walken starred in the film when i live my life over again and played the role of clem for the second time in the david spade comedy joe dirt 2: beautiful loser. in 2016, he voiced king louie in the cgi live action adaptation of disney's the jungle book, directed by jon favreau. he also recorded a cover of louie's song "i wan'na be like you", which he sings in the film as well as on the soundtrack.[37] also that year, he appeared in dexter fletcher's eddie the eagle and barry sonnenfeld's nine lives.[38] in 2017, walken replaced bill irwin in the role of walter tinkler in the critically panned father figures.[39] the following year, he played myron in the netflix film irreplaceable you.[40] in 2021, walken appeared as frank in the bbc one/amazon prime video comedy the outlaws.[41] and in the second series broadcast on bbc1 in 2022. in 2022, he had a supporting role as burt goodman, the severed chief of the optics and design division in the apple tv+ series severance.[42] for his performance, he was nominated for the primetime emmy award for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series.[43] walken next portrayed emperor shaddam iv in the 2024 film, dune: part two.[44] the film received universal critical acclaim and slashfilm wrote: "it's a treat to watch walken work   he shows up, delivers his ominous lines with a whisper, and wipes the floor with anyone he's acting against. show 'em how it's done, christopher walken."[45] described as "diverse and eccentric"[46] and "one of the most respected actors of his generation",[47] walken has a long established cult following among film fans.[48] he is known for his versatility and was named as one of empire magazine's "top 100 movie stars of all time".[49] once dubbed a "cultural phenomenon",[50] he has portrayed several iconic film characters including johnny smith in the dead zone, max shreck in batman returns, and max zorin in a view to a kill, and was also considered for the role of han solo in star wars films. his oscar winning performance in the deer hunter was ranked as the 88th greatest film performance of all time by premiere magazine[51] and his performance in pennies from heaven made it into entertainment weekly's list of the "100 greatest performances that should have won oscars but didn't."[52] sometimes regarded as "one of the kings of cameos", walken has made several cameo appearances or appeared in a single scene of films including as captain koons in pulp fiction, duane in annie hall, hessian horseman in sleepy hollow and don vincenzo in true romance. writer and director quentin tarantino declared that walken's involvement in true romance's "sicilian scene" was one of the proudest moments in his career.[53] benicio del toro cited walken as an influence and stated that the best advice he had ever been given regarding acting came from him: "when you're in a scene and you don't know what you're gonna do, don't do anything."[54] kat dennings called him her favorite actor and said that he was the reason that she wanted to be an actress.[55] johnny depp once said one of the main reasons he starred in nick of time was wanting to work with walken.[56] jeffrey wright,[57] mickey rourke,[58] sam rockwell,[59] colin farrell,[60] bradley cooper,[61] leonardo dicaprio[62] and mads mikkelsen[63] are among actors who spoke about their admiration for walken. prominent film critic roger ebert, who was particularly impressed by his villain and anti hero portrayals, once stated, "when he is given the right role, there is nobody to touch him for his chilling ability to move between easy charm and pure evil"[64] and called him "one of the few undeniably charismatic male villains."[65] walken is noted for refusing film roles only rarely, having stated in interviews that he will decline a role only if he is too busy to accept. he regards each role as a learning experience.[66] a rare example of a role walken turned down was that of ray ruby in the film go go tales (2007). according to film director abel ferrara, the character was originally written for walken, who "didn't want to do it". the role was then given to walken's new rose hotel (1998) co star willem dafoe.[67] walken's voice and speaking style have been compared to other entertainment figures with voices that create "a pleasing (or at least entertaining) aural experience," such as william shatner and garrison keillor.[68] walken believes that the source of his speech stems from growing up with immigrant neighbors who came from everywhere, stating, "the neighborhood itself, you didn't hear a lot of english. lots of greek, italian, polish, german, yiddish. i think i grew up listening to people who spoke english in a kind of broken way. i think maybe i talked that way."[69] walken inspired the stage show, all about walken: the impersonators of christopher walken, created by actor/comedian patrick o'sullivan in hollywood in 2006. in 2003, he was voted number 34 in channel 4's countdown of the 100 greatest movie stars of all time.[70] walken has hosted the comedy sketch and satire tv series saturday night live (snl) seven times.[71] one of walken's snl performances was a spoof of behind the music, featuring a recording session of blue öyster cult's "(don't fear) the reaper". in the guise of record producer bruce dickinson (not to be confused with the real bruce dickinson, lead singer for iron maiden), walken makes passionate and slightly unhinged speeches to the band and is obsessed with getting "more cowbell" into the song. the phrase "i gotta have more cowbell" has since been adapted to merchandise. the producer who suggested the cowbell on the original böc recording is david lucas. walken appeared in one of will ferrell and rachel dratch's "the luvahs" skits.[72] his character brought a lady friend to meet the luvahs and she is subjected to learning the history that walken's character shares with the luvahs. he also divulges private information about his sex life with his girlfriend, much to her horror ("she was willing to accept her lover's body in places no one had ever trespassed... specifically, the ear canal"). walken spoofed his starring role from the dead zone (1983) in a sketch titled "ed glosser: trivial psychic" (1992).[73] in the film, walken's character can predict deaths and catastrophes, while glosser can accurately predict meaningless, trivial future events but with the same emotional intensity as in the film: "you're going to get an ice cream headache. it's going to hurt real bad, right here, [touches forehead] for eight, nine seconds."). his character in a view to a kill was parodied in a sketch titled "lease with an option to kill", in which he reprised his role as max zorin. zorin, who had taken on some qualities of other bond villains (blofeld's cat and suit, emilio largo's eye patch), was upset that everything was going wrong for him. his lair was still under construction; his henchmen had jump suits that didn't fit; and his shark tank lacked sharks, having a giant sea sponge instead. a captive james bond, portrayed by phil hartman, offered to get zorin "a good deal" on the abandoned blofeld volcanic lair if zorin let him go, to which he reluctantly agreed. he performed a song and dance rendition of the irving berlin standard, "let's face the music and dance". finally, there was the "colonel angus" sketch,[74] laden with ribald double entendres, in which walken played a dishonored confederate officer. until 2003, walken had a recurring snl sketch called "the continental",[75] in which walken played a "suave ladies' man" who in reality cannot do anything to keep a woman (a neighbor in his apartment building) from giving him the cold shoulder. though he is outwardly chivalrous, his more perverted tendencies inevitably drive away his date over his pleading objections. for instance, he invites the woman to wash up in his bathroom; once she is inside, it becomes obvious that the bathroom mirror is a two way mirror when he is seen lighting up a cigarette. in "the continental", only the hand of his neighbor is ever seen; the camera always shows her point of view. the april 5, 2008 saturday night live show was the first time an episode hosted by walken did not have a "continental" sketch or a monologue in which he sang and danced. this episode, however, did include one sketch titled "walken family reunion",[76] which spoofs many of walken's idiosyncrasies. the sketch depicts a fictional walken family reunion, where all of christopher's relatives have his mannerisms and speech patterns and sport his trademark pompadour hairstyle. in order of appearance, the other walkens are christopher's cousin stanley (bill hader); stanley's brother john (jason sudeikis); john's son scott (andy samberg) and daughter maxine (amy poehler) (who carries a doll that also has a pompadour); nathan (fred armisen), a gay relative for whom "flamboyance" means dressing all in black and running his finger around the rim of a cosmo glass; uncle richard (darrell hammond) and aunt martha (kristen wiig), who think that the deer hunter was hilarious and who are hosts of a nigerian foreign exchange student named oleki (kenan thompson). when he came to live with them, oleki who has absorbed all of the walken family traits could not speak any english. but now (he says) he "talks like a normal teenaged american boy". the biggest laugh of the sketch occurs when christopher expresses his sympathies for scott's teenaged attitude: "i appreciate your situation. for a walken, adolescence is a difficult time. you feel like you're the only normal person in a school full of nutjobs." scott's response: "wow! it's like you're lookin' right into my noggin!" (will forte also appears as a waiter at the beginning of the sketch, but does not do a walken impression.) in september 2004, snl released a dvd titled the best of christopher walken through lionsgate.[77] walken returned to the show for the first time in 15 years on october 28, 2023, in a cameo role as the "spirit of halloween" in which he gave advice to president joe biden (mikey day). walken also introduced the musical guest foo fighters instead of host nate bargatze. foo fighters were the musical guest during his 2003 episode, during which dave grohl pranked walken into speaking with the emphasis on "fighters" instead of "foo". clips of the introduction later became an internet meme and walken pronounced the band's name correctly in 2023. walken became the subject of a hoax controversy in 2006, when a fake website started in august of that year by members of internet forum genmay.com announced that he was running for president of the united states. some believed it was authentic, until walken's publicist dismissed the claims.[78] when asked about the hoax in a september 2006 interview with conan o'brien, walken said he was amused and when asked to come up with a campaign slogan, he replied, "what the heck" and "no more zoos!"[78] in 1963, walken met georgianne thon during a tour of west side story.[79] they married in january 1969. the couple have no children and walken has stated in interviews that not having children is one of the reasons that he has had such a prolific career.[80] walken discussed his feelings on sexuality in a 1973 interview with after dark promoting his appearance as bassanio in the merchant of venice. "i suppose i think of the man i'm playing as bisexual, and i suppose that's how i think of myself too. i'd hate to think that i was harnessed to heterosexuality. i mean, my life is heterosexual, but i like to think that my head is bisexual, and i think it's a good idea for everybody to start getting used to that notion, because that way one becomes aware of a lot more things."[81] on november 29, 1981, walken was with natalie wood and robert wagner on wagner's yacht the night wood went missing and ultimately was found dead by drowning. walken was not considered a suspect by authorities.[82] the case was re opened in november 2011, walken was once again not considered a suspect and he fully co operated with them on the investigation.[83] the magazine variety reported that in an interview with john jurgensen at the wall street journal on 27 january 2025 that he doesn't use technology saying: "i don’t have technology. i only have a satellite dish on my house. so i’ve seen ‘severance’ on dvds that they’re good enough to send me,” walken said. “i don’t have a cell phone. i’ve never emailed or, what do you call it, twittered. "[84][85]

marlon brando jr. (april 3, 1924   july 1, 2004) was an american actor. widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,[1][2] brando received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two academy awards, three british academy film awards, a cannes film festival award, two golden globe awards, and a primetime emmy award. brando is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the stanislavski system of acting and method acting to mainstream audiences. brando came under the influence of stella adler and stanislavski's system in the 1940s. he began his career on stage, where he was lauded for adeptly interpreting his characters. he made his broadway debut in the play i remember mama (1944) and won theater world awards for his roles in the plays candida and truckline cafe, both in 1946. he returned to broadway as stanley kowalski in the tennessee williams play a streetcar named desire (1947), a role he reprised in the 1951 film adaptation, directed by elia kazan. he made his film debut playing a wounded g.i. in the men (1950) and won two academy awards for best actor for his roles as a dockworker in the crime drama film on the waterfront (1954) and vito corleone in the gangster epic the godfather (1972). he was oscar nominated for playing stanley kowalski in a streetcar named desire (1951), emiliano zapata in viva zapata! (1952), mark antony in julius caesar (1953), an air force pilot in sayonara (1957), an american expatriate in last tango in paris (1973), and a lawyer in a dry white season (1989). brando was known for playing characters who later became popular icons, such as the rebellious motorcycle gang leader johnny strabler in the wild one (1953), and he came to be seen as an emblem of the era's so called "generation gap".[3] he also played sky masterson in the musical film guys and dolls (1955), fletcher christian in the action film mutiny on the bounty (1962), jor el in the superhero film superman (1978), and as colonel kurtz in the vietnam war drama apocalypse now (1979). he made his directorial film debut in the western drama one eyed jacks (1961), in which he also starred, which did poorly at the box office. on television, brando won the primetime emmy award for outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or movie for his role in the abc miniseries roots: the next generations (1979), after which he took a nine year hiatus from acting. he later returned to film, with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. the last two decades of his life were marked by controversy, and his troubled private life received significant public attention. he struggled with mood disorders and legal issues. his last films include the island of dr. moreau (1996) and the score (2001). marlon brando jr. was born on april 3, 1924, in omaha, nebraska, as the only son of marlon brando sr. and dorothy pennebaker. his father was a salesman who often travelled out of state and his mother was a stage actress, often away from home. his mother's absence resulted in brando becoming attached to the family's housekeeper, who eventually left to get married, causing brando to develop abandonment issues. his two elder sisters were jocelyn and frances. despite the spelling of his last name having italian origin,[4] and what some of his most notable film roles would suggest, brando did not have italian ancestry.[5] brando's ancestry was mostly german, dutch, english, and irish.[6][7][8] his patrilineal immigrant ancestor, johann wilhelm brandau, arrived in new york city in the early 1700s from the palatinate in germany.[9] he is also a descendant of louis dubois, a french huguenot, who arrived in new york around 1660.[10] his maternal great grandfather, myles joseph gahan, was an irish immigrant who served as a medic in the american civil war.[11] in 1995, he gave an interview in ireland in which he said, "i have never been so happy in my life. when i got off the plane i had this rush of emotion. i have never felt at home in a place as i do here. i am seriously contemplating irish citizenship."[12] in 1930, when brando was only 6 years old, the family moved to evanston, illinois, where brando mimicked other people, developed a reputation for pranking, and met wally cox,[13] with whom he remained friends until cox's death in 1973.[14] in 1936, his parents separated and he and his siblings moved with their mother to santa ana, california.[15] two years later, his parents reconciled, and his father purchased a farmhouse in libertyville, illinois. brando attended libertyville high school, excelling at sports and drama, but failing in every other subject. consequently, he was held back for a year, and with his history of misbehaving, he was expelled in 1941.[16] brando was sent by his father to shattuck military academy, where his father had also studied. there, brando continued to excel at acting until 1943, when he was put on probation for being insubordinate to an officer during maneuvers. he was confined to the campus, but sneaked into town and was caught. the faculty voted to expel him, although he was supported by the students who thought expulsion was too harsh. brando was invited back for the following year, but decided instead to drop out of high school. he then worked as a ditch digger at a summer job arranged by his father and tried to enlist in the army, but his routine physical revealed that a football injury he had sustained at shattuck had left him with a trick knee; he was classified physically unfit for military service.[17] brando decided to follow his sisters to new york, studying at the american theatre wing professional school, part of the dramatic workshop of the new school, with influential german director erwin piscator. in a 1988 documentary, marlon brando: the wild one, brando's sister jocelyn remembered, "he was in a school play and enjoyed it ... so he decided he would go to new york and study acting because that was the only thing he had enjoyed. that was when he was 18." in the a&e biography episode on brando, george englund said brando fell into acting in new york because "he was accepted there. he wasn't criticized. it was the first time in his life that he heard good things about himself." he spent his first few months in new york sleeping on friends' couches. for a time he lived with roy somlyo, who later became a four time emmy winning broadway producer.[18] brando was an avid student and proponent of stella adler, from whom he learned the techniques of the stanislavski system. this technique encouraged the actor to explore both internal and external aspects to fully realize the character being portrayed. brando's remarkable insight and sense of realism were evident early on. adler used to recount that, when teaching brando, she had instructed the class to act like chickens, and added that a nuclear bomb was about to fall on them. most of the class clucked and ran around wildly, but brando sat calmly and pretended to lay an egg. asked by adler why he had chosen to react this way, he said, "i'm a chicken what do i know about bombs?"[19] despite being commonly regarded as a method actor, brando disagreed. he claimed to have abhorred lee strasberg's teachings: after i had some success, lee strasberg tried to take credit for teaching me how to act. he never taught me anything. he would have claimed credit for the sun and the moon if he believed he could get away with it. he was an ambitious, selfish man who exploited the people who attended the actors studio and tried to project himself as an acting oracle and guru. some people worshipped him, but i never knew why. i sometimes went to the actors studio on saturday mornings because elia kazan was teaching, and there were usually a lot of good looking girls, but strasberg never taught me acting. stella (adler) did and later kazan.[20] brando was the first to bring a natural approach to acting on film. according to dustin hoffman in his online masterclass, brando would often talk to cameramen and fellow actors about their weekend even after the director would call action. once brando felt he could deliver the dialogue as naturally as that conversation, he would start the dialogue. in his 2015 documentary, listen to me marlon, he said that prior to that, actors were like breakfast cereals, meaning they were predictable. critics would later say that this was brando being difficult, but actors who worked opposite him said it was just all part of his technique.[21] brando used his stanislavski system skills for his first summer stock roles in sayville, new york, on long island. brando established a pattern of erratic, insubordinate behavior in the few shows he had been in. his behavior had him kicked out of the cast of the new school's production in sayville, but he was soon afterwards discovered in a locally produced play there. then, in 1944, he made it to broadway in the bittersweet drama i remember mama, playing the son of mady christians. the lunts wanted brando to play the role of alfred lunt's son in o mistress mine, and lunt even coached him for the audition, but brando made no attempt to even read his lines at the audition and was not hired.[22] new york drama critics voted him "most promising young actor" for his role as an anguished veteran in truckline café, although the play was a commercial failure. in 1946, he appeared on broadway as the young hero in the political drama a flag is born, refusing to accept wages above the actors' equity rate.[23][24] in that same year, brando played the role of marchbanks alongside katharine cornell in her production's revival of candida, one of her signature roles.[25] cornell also cast him as the messenger in her production of jean anouilh's antigone that same year. he was also offered the opportunity to portray one of the principal characters in the broadway premiere of eugene o'neill's the iceman cometh, but turned the part down after falling asleep while trying to read the massive script and pronouncing the play "ineptly written and poorly constructed".[26] in 1945, brando's agent recommended he take a co starring role in the eagle has two heads with tallulah bankhead, produced by jack wilson. bankhead had turned down the role of blanche dubois in a streetcar named desire, which williams had written for her, to tour the play for the 1946 1947 season. bankhead recognized brando's potential, despite her disdain (which most broadway veterans shared) for method acting, and agreed to hire him even though he auditioned poorly. the two clashed greatly during the pre broadway tour, with bankhead reminding brando of his mother, being her age and also having a drinking problem. wilson was largely tolerant of brando's behavior, but he reached his limit when brando mumbled through a dress rehearsal shortly before the november 28, 1946, opening. "i don't care what your grandmother did," wilson exclaimed, "and that method stuff, i want to know what you're going to do!"[citation needed] brando in turn raised his voice, and acted with great power and passion. "it was marvelous," a cast member recalled. "everybody hugged him and kissed him. he came ambling offstage and said to me, 'they don't think you can act unless you can yell.'"[citation needed] critics were not as kind, however. a review of brando's performance in the opening assessed that brando was "still building his character, but at present fails to impress."[citation needed] one boston critic remarked of brando's prolonged death scene, "brando looked like a car in midtown manhattan searching for a parking space."[27] he received better reviews at subsequent tour stops, but what his colleagues recalled was only occasional indications of the talent he would later demonstrate. "there were a few times when he was really magnificent," bankhead admitted to an interviewer in 1962. "he was a great young actor when he wanted to be, but most of the time i couldn't even hear him on the stage."[citation needed] brando displayed his apathy for the production by demonstrating some shocking onstage manners. he "tried everything in the world to ruin it for her," bankhead's stage manager claimed. "he nearly drove her crazy: scratching his crotch, picking his nose, doing anything."[citation needed] after several weeks on the road, they reached boston, by which time bankhead was ready to dismiss him. this proved to be one of the greatest blessings of his career, as it freed him up to play the role of stanley kowalski in tennessee williams' 1947 play a streetcar named desire, directed by elia kazan. moreover, to that end, bankhead herself, in her letter declining williams' invitation to play the role of blanche, gave brando this ringing albeit acid tongued endorsement stating "i do have one suggestion for casting. i know of an actor who can appear as this brutish stanley kowalski character. i mean, a total pig of a man without sensitivity or grace of any kind. marlon brando would be perfect as stanley. i have just fired the cad from my play, the eagle has two heads, and i know for a fact that he is looking for work".[28] pierpont writes that john garfield was first choice for the role, but "made impossible demands." it was kazan's decision to fall back on the far less experienced (and technically too young for the role) brando. in a letter dated august 29, 1947, williams confided to his agent audrey wood: "it had not occurred to me before what an excellent value would come through casting a very young actor in this part. it humanizes the character of stanley in that it becomes the brutality and callousness of youth rather than a vicious old man ... a new value came out of brando's reading which was by far the best reading i have ever heard."[29] brando based his portrayal of kowalski on the boxer rocky graziano, whom he had studied at a local gymnasium. graziano did not know who brando was, but attended the production with tickets provided by the young man. he said, "the curtain went up and on the stage is that son of a bitch from the gym, and he's playing me."[30][page needed] in 1947, brando performed a screen test for an early warner brothers script for the novel rebel without a cause (1944), which bore no relation to the film eventually produced in 1955.[31] the screen test is included as an extra in the 2006 dvd release of a streetcar named desire. brando's first screen role was a bitter paraplegic veteran in the men (1950). he spent a month in bed at the birmingham army hospital in van nuys to prepare for the role. the new york times reviewer bosley crowther wrote that brando as ken "is so vividly real, dynamic and sensitive that his illusion is complete" and noted, "out of stiff and frozen silences he can lash into a passionate rage with the tearful and flailing frenzy of a taut cable suddenly cut."[32] by brando's own account, it may have been because of this film that his draft status was changed from 4 f to 1 a. he had had surgery on his trick knee, and it was no longer physically debilitating enough to incur exclusion from the draft. when brando reported to the induction center, he answered a questionnaire by saying his race was "human", his color was "seasonal oyster white to beige", and he told an army doctor that he was psychoneurotic. when the draft board referred him to a psychiatrist, brando explained that he had been expelled from military school and had severe problems with authority. coincidentally, the psychiatrist knew a doctor friend of brando. brando avoided military service during the korean war.[6] early in his career, brando began using cue cards instead of memorizing his lines. despite the objections of several of the film directors he worked with, brando felt that this helped bring realism and spontaneity to his performances. he felt otherwise he would appear to be reciting a writer's speech.[33][34] in the tv documentary the making of superman: the movie, brando explained: "if you don't know what the words are but you have a general idea of what they are, then you look at the cue card and it gives you the feeling to the viewer, hopefully, that the person is really searching for what he is going to say that he doesn't know what to say". some, however, thought brando used the cards out of laziness or an inability to memorize his lines. once, on the set of the godfather, brando was asked why he wanted his lines printed out. he responded: "because i can read them that way."[35] brando brought his performance as stanley kowalski to the screen in tennessee williams' a streetcar named desire (1951). it earned him his first academy award nomination in the best actor category.[36] the role is regarded as one of brando's greatest.[citation needed] he was also nominated the next year for viva zapata! (1952), a fictionalized account of the life of mexican revolutionary emiliano zapata. the film recounted zapata's lower class upbringing, his rise to power in the early 20th century, and death. the film was directed by elia kazan and co starred anthony quinn. in the biopic marlon brando: the wild one, sam shaw says: "secretly, before the picture started, he went to mexico to the very town where zapata lived and was born in and it was there that he studied the speech patterns of people, their behavior, movement."[37] most critics focused on the actor rather than the film, with time and newsweek publishing rave reviews.[38] years later, in his autobiography, brando remarked: "tony quinn, whom i admired professionally and liked personally, played my brother, but he was extremely cold to me while we shot that picture. during our scenes together, i sensed a bitterness toward me, and if i suggested a drink after work, he either turned me down or else was sullen and said little. only years later did i learn why."[39] brando explained that, to create on screen tension between the two, "gadg" (kazan) had told quinn   who had taken over the role of stanley kowalski from brando on broadway   that brando had been unimpressed with his work. after achieving the desired effect, kazan never told quinn that he had misled him. it was only many years later, after comparing notes, that brando and quinn realized the deception.[citation needed] brando's next film, julius caesar (1953), received highly favorable reviews. brando portrayed mark antony. while most acknowledged brando's talent, some critics felt brando's "mumbling" and other idiosyncrasies betrayed a lack of acting fundamentals and, when his casting was announced, many remained dubious about his prospects for success. directed by joseph l. mankiewicz and co starring british stage actor john gielgud, brando delivered an impressive performance, especially during antony's noted "friends, romans, countrymen ..." speech. gielgud was so impressed that he offered brando a full season at the hammersmith theatre, an offer he declined. in his biography on the actor, stefan kanfer writes, "marlon's autobiography devotes one line to his work on that film: among all those british professionals, 'for me to walk onto a movie set and play mark anthony was asinine' yet another example of his persistent self denigration, and wholly incorrect."[40] kanfer adds that after a screening of the film, director john huston commented: "christ! it was like a furnace door opening the heat came off the screen. i don't know another actor who could do that."[41] during the filming of julius caesar, brando learned that elia kazan had cooperated with congressional investigators, naming a whole string of "subversives" to the house committee on un american activities (huac). by all accounts, brando was upset by his mentor's decision, but he worked with him again in on the waterfront. "none of us is perfect," he later wrote in his memoir, "and i think that gadg has done injury to others, but mostly to himself."[37] in 1953, brando also starred in the wild one, riding his own triumph thunderbird 6t motorcycle. triumph's importers were ambivalent at the exposure, as the subject matter was rowdy motorcycle gangs taking over a small town. the film was criticized for its perceived gratuitous violence at the time, with time stating: "the effect of the movie is not to throw light on the public problem, but to shoot adrenaline through the moviegoer's veins."[42] brando allegedly did not see eye to eye with the hungarian director lászló benedek and did not get on with costar lee marvin.[citation needed] to brando's expressed puzzlement, the movie inspired teen rebellion and made him a role model to the nascent rock and roll generation and future stars such as james dean and elvis presley. after the movie's release, the sales of leather jackets and motorcycles skyrocketed.[43] reflecting on the movie in his autobiography, brando concluded that it had not aged very well but said "more than most parts i've played in the movies or onstage, i related to johnny, and because of this, i believe i played him as more sensitive and sympathetic than the script envisioned. there's a line in the picture where he snarls, 'nobody tells me what to do.' that's exactly how i've felt all my life."[44] later that same year, brando co starred with fellow studio member william redfield in a summer stock production of george bernard shaw's arms and the man.[45][46] in 1954, brando starred in on the waterfront, a crime drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. the film was directed by elia kazan and written by budd schulberg; it also starred karl malden, lee j. cobb, rod steiger and, in her film debut, eva marie saint. when initially offered the role, brando still stung by kazan's testimony to huac demurred and the part of terry malloy nearly went to frank sinatra. according to biographer stefan kanfer, the director believed that sinatra, who grew up in hoboken (where the film takes place and was shot), would work as malloy, but eventually producer sam spiegel wooed brando to the part, signing him for $100,000. "kazan made no protest because, he subsequently confessed, 'i always preferred brando to anybody.'"[47] brando won the oscar for his role as irish american stevedore terry malloy in on the waterfront. his performance, spurred on by his rapport with eva marie saint and kazan's direction, was praised as a tour de force. for the scene in which terry laments his failings, saying i coulda been a contender, he convinced kazan that the scripted scene was unrealistic. schulberg's script had brando acting the entire scene with his character being held at gunpoint by his brother charlie, played by rod steiger. brando insisted on gently pushing away the gun, saying that terry would never believe that his brother would pull the trigger and doubting that he could continue his speech while fearing a gun on him. kazan let brando improvise and later expressed deep admiration for brando's instinctive understanding, saying: what was extraordinary about his performance, i feel, is the contrast of the tough guy front and the extreme delicacy and gentle cast of his behavior. what other actor, when his brother draws a pistol to force him to do something shameful, would put his hand on the gun and push it away with the gentleness of a caress? who else could read "oh, charlie!" in a tone of reproach that is so loving and so melancholy and suggests the terrific depth of pain? ... if there is a better performance by a man in the history of film in america, i don't know what it is.[48] upon its release, on the waterfront received glowing reviews from critics and was a commercial success, earning an estimated $4.2 million in rentals at the north american box office in 1954.[49] in his july 29, 1954, review, the new york times critic a. h. weiler praised the film, calling it "an uncommonly powerful, exciting, and imaginative use of the screen by gifted professionals."[50] film critic roger ebert lauded the film retrospectively, stating that brando and kazan changed acting in american films forever and adding it to his "great movies" list.[51] in his autobiography, brando was typically dismissive of his performance: "on the day gadg showed me the complete picture, i was so depressed by my performance i got up and left the screening room ... i thought i was a huge failure."[52] after brando won the academy award for best actor, the statue was stolen. much later, it turned up at a london auction house, which contacted the actor and informed him of its whereabouts.[53] brando portrayed napoleon in the 1954 film désirée. brando was in the film adaptation of the musical guys and dolls (1955). guys and dolls would be brando's first and last musical role. time found the picture "false to the original in its feeling", remarking that brando "sings in a faraway tenor that sometimes tends to be flat". appearing in edward murrow's person to person interview in early 1955, he admitted to having problems with his singing voice, which he called "pretty terrible". in the 1965 documentary meet marlon brando, he revealed that the final product heard in the movie was a result of countless singing takes being cut into one and later joked, "i couldn't hit a note with a baseball bat; some notes i missed by extraordinary margins ... they sewed my words together on one song so tightly that when i mouthed it in front of the camera, i nearly asphyxiated myself". relations between brando and costar frank sinatra were also frosty, with stefan kanfer observing: "the two men were diametrical opposites: marlon required multiple takes; frank detested repeating himself." upon their first meeting sinatra reportedly scoffed, "don't give me any of that actors studio shit." brando later quipped, "frank is the kind of guy, when he dies, he's going to heaven and give god a hard time for making him bald." frank sinatra called brando "the world's most overrated actor", and referred to him as "mumbles".[54] the film was commercially though not critically successful, costing $5.5 million to make and grossing $13 million.[citation needed] brando played sakini, a japanese interpreter for the u.s. army in postwar japan, in the teahouse of the august moon (1956). pauline kael was not particularly impressed by the movie, but noted "marlon brando starved himself to play the pixie interpreter sakini, and he looks as if he's enjoying the stunt talking with a mad accent, grinning boyishly, bending forward, and doing tricky movements with his legs. he's harmlessly genial (and he is certainly missed when he's offscreen), though the fey, roguish role doesn't allow him to do what he's great at and it's possible that he's less effective in it than a lesser actor might have been." in sayonara (1957), brando appeared as a united states air force officer. newsweek found the film a "dull tale of the meeting of the twain", but it was nevertheless a box office success. according to stefan kanfer's biography of the actor, brando's manager jay kanter negotiated a profitable contract with ten percent of the gross going to brando, which put him in the millionaire category. the movie was controversial due to openly discussing interracial marriage, but proved a great success, earning 10 academy award nominations, with brando being nominated for best actor. the film went on to win four academy awards. teahouse and sayonara were the first in a string of films brando would strive to make over the next decade which contained socially relevant messages, and he formed a partnership with paramount to establish his own production company called pennebaker, its declared purpose to develop films that contained "social value that would improve the world." the name was a tribute in honor of his mother, who had died in 1954. by all accounts, brando was devastated by her death, with biographer peter manso telling a&e's biography, "she was the one who could give him approval like no one else could and, after his mother died, it seems that marlon stops caring." brando appointed his father to run pennebaker. in the same a&e special, george englund claims that brando gave his father the job because "it gave marlon a chance to take shots at him, to demean and diminish him".[18] in 1958, brando appeared in the young lions, dyeing his hair blonde and assuming a german accent for the role, which he later admitted was not convincing. the film is based on the novel by irwin shaw, and brando's portrayal of the character christian diestl was controversial for its time. he later wrote, "the original script closely followed the book, in which shaw painted all germans as evil caricatures, especially christian, whom he portrayed as a symbol of everything that was bad about nazism; he was mean, nasty, vicious, a cliché of evil ... i thought the story should demonstrate that there are no inherently 'bad' people in the world, but they can easily be misled." shaw and brando even appeared together for a televised interview with cbs correspondent david schoenbrun and, during a bombastic exchange, shaw charged that, like most actors, brando was incapable of playing flat out villainy; brando responded by stating "nobody creates a character but an actor. i play the role; now he exists. he is my creation." the young lions also features brando's only appearance in a film with friend and rival montgomery clift (although they shared no scenes together). brando closed out the decade by appearing in the fugitive kind (1960) opposite anna magnani. the film was based on another play by tennessee williams but was hardly the success a streetcar named desire had been, with the los angeles times labeling williams' personae "psychologically sick or just plain ugly" and the new yorker calling it a "cornpone melodrama".[citation needed] in 1961, brando made his directorial debut in the western one eyed jacks. the picture was originally directed by stanley kubrick, but he was fired early in the production. paramount then made brando the director. brando portrays the lead character rio, and karl malden plays his partner "dad" longworth. the supporting cast features katy jurado, ben johnson, and slim pickens. brando's penchant for multiple retakes and character exploration as an actor carried over into his directing, however, and the film soon went over budget; paramount expected the film to take three months to complete but shooting stretched to six and the cost doubled to more than six million dollars. brando's inexperience as an editor also delayed postproduction and paramount eventually took control of the film. brando later wrote, "paramount said it didn't like my version of the story; i'd had everyone lie except karl malden. the studio cut the movie to pieces and made him a liar, too. by then, i was bored with the whole project and walked away from it".[55] one eyed jacks was received with mixed reviews by critics.[56] brando's revulsion with the film industry reportedly boiled over on the set of his next film, metro goldwyn mayer's remake of mutiny on the bounty, which was filmed in tahiti. the actor was accused of deliberately sabotaging nearly every aspect of the production. on june 16, 1962, the saturday evening post ran an article by bill davidson with the headline "six million dollars down the drain: the mutiny of marlon brando". mutiny director lewis milestone claimed that the executives "deserve what they get when they give a ham actor, a petulant child, complete control over an expensive picture." mutiny on the bounty nearly capsized mgm and, while the project had indeed been hampered with delays other than brando's behavior, the accusations would dog the actor for years as studios began to fear brando's difficult reputation. critics also began taking note of his fluctuating weight.[citation needed] distracted by his personal life and becoming disillusioned with his career, brando began to view acting as a means to a financial end. critics protested when he started accepting roles in films many perceived as being beneath his talent, or criticized him for failing to live up to the better roles. previously only signing short term deals with film studios, in 1961 brando uncharacteristically signed a five picture deal with universal studios that would haunt him for the rest of the decade. the ugly american (1963) was the first of these films. based on the 1958 novel of the same title that pennebaker had optioned, the film, which featured brando's sister jocelyn, was rated fairly positively but died at the box office. brando was nominated for a golden globe for his performance. all of brando's other universal films during this period, including bedtime story (1964), the appaloosa (1966), a countess from hong kong (1967) and the night of the following day (1969), were also critical and commercial flops.[57] countess in particular was a disappointment for brando, who had looked forward to working with one of his heroes, director charlie chaplin. the experience turned out to be an unhappy one; brando was horrified at chaplin's didactic style of direction and his authoritarian approach. brando had also appeared in the spy thriller morituri in 1965; that, too, failed to attract an audience.[citation needed] brando acknowledged his professional decline, writing later, "some of the films i made during the sixties were successful; some weren't. some, like the night of the following day, i made only for the money; others, like candy, i did because a friend asked me to and i didn't want to turn him down ... in some ways i think of my middle age as the fuck you years." candy was especially appalling for many; a 1968 sex farce film directed by christian marquand and based on the 1958 novel by terry southern, the film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, candy, played by ewa aulin. it is generally regarded as the nadir of brando's career. the washington post observed: "brando's self indulgence over a dozen years is costing him and his public his talents." in the march 1966 issue of the atlantic, pauline kael wrote that in his rebellious days, brando "was antisocial because he knew society was crap; he was a hero to youth because he was strong enough not to take the crap", but now brando and others like him had become "buffoons, shamelessly, pathetically mocking their public reputations." in an earlier review of the appaloosa in 1966, kael wrote that the actor was "trapped in another dog of a movie ... not for the first time, mr. brando gives us a heavy lidded, adenoidally openmouthed caricature of the inarticulate, stalwart loner." although he feigned indifference, brando was hurt by the critical mauling, admitting in the 2015 film listen to me marlon, "they can hit you every day and you have no way of fighting back. i was very convincing in my pose of indifference, but i was very sensitive and it hurt a lot."[citation needed] brando portrayed a repressed gay army officer in reflections in a golden eye, directed by john huston and co starring elizabeth taylor. the role turned out as one of his most acclaimed in years, with stanley crouch marveling, "brando's main achievement was to portray the taciturn but stoic gloom of those pulverized by circumstances."[58] the film overall received mixed reviews. another notable film was the chase (1966), which paired the actor with director arthur penn, jane fonda, robert redford and robert duvall. the film deals with themes of racism, sexual revolution, small town corruption, and vigilantism. the film was received mostly positively.[citation needed] brando cited burn! (1969) as his personal favorite of the films he had made, writing in his autobiography: "i think i did some of the best acting i've ever done in that picture, but few people came to see it." brando dedicated a full chapter to the film in his memoir, stating that the director, gillo pontecorvo, was the best director he had ever worked with next to kazan and bernardo bertolucci. brando also detailed his clashes with pontecorvo on the set and how "we nearly killed each other." loosely based on events in the history of guadeloupe, the film got a hostile reception from critics. in 1971, michael winner directed him in the british horror film the nightcomers with stephanie beacham, thora hird, harry andrews and anna palk. it is a prequel to the turn of the screw, which had previously been filmed as the innocents (1961). brando's performance earned him a nomination for a best actor bafta, but the film bombed at the box office.[citation needed] during the 1970s, brando was considered "unbankable".[59] critics were becoming increasingly dismissive of his work and he had not appeared in a box office hit since the young lions in 1958, the last year he had ranked as one of the top ten box office stars[60] and the year of his last academy award nomination, for sayonara. brando's performance as vito corleone, the "don", in the godfather (1972), francis ford coppola's adaptation of mario puzo's 1969 bestselling novel of the same name, was a career turning point, putting him back in the top ten and winning him his second best actor oscar.[citation needed] paramount production chief robert evans, who had given puzo an advance to write the godfather so that paramount would own the film rights,[61] hired coppola after many major directors had turned the film down. evans wanted an italian american director who could provide the film with cultural authenticity. coppola also came cheap. evans was conscious of the fact that paramount's last mafia film, the brotherhood (1968) had been a box office bomb, and he believed it was partly due to the fact that the director, martin ritt, and the star, kirk douglas, were jewish, and the film lacked an authentic italian flavor.[62] the studio originally intended the film to be a low budget production set in contemporary times without any major actors, but the phenomenal success of the novel gave evans the clout to turn the godfather into a prestige picture.[citation needed] coppola had developed a list of actors for all the roles, and his list of potential dons included the oscar winning italian american ernest borgnine,[63] the italian american frank de kova (best known for playing chief wild eagle on the tv sitcom f troop), john marley (a best supporting oscar nominee for paramount's 1970 hit film love story who was cast as the film producer jack woltz in the picture), the italian american richard conte (who was cast as don corleone's deadly rival don emilio barzini), and italian film producer carlo ponti. coppola admitted in a 1975 interview, "we finally figured we had to lure the best actor in the world. it was that simple. that boiled down to laurence olivier or marlon brando, who are the greatest actors in the world." coppola's hand written cast list has brando's name underlined.[64] evans told coppola that he had been thinking of brando for the part two years earlier, and puzo had imagined brando in the part when he wrote the novel and had actually written to him about the part,[65] so coppola and evans narrowed it down to brando.[66] (coincidentally, olivier would compete with brando for the best actor oscar for his part in sleuth. he bested brando at the 1972 new york film critics circle awards.) albert s. ruddy, whom paramount assigned to produce the film, agreed with the choice of brando. however, paramount studio executives were opposed to casting brando, due to his reputation for difficulty and his long string of box office flops. brando also had one eyed jacks working against him, a troubled production that lost money for paramount when it was released in 1961. paramount pictures president stanley jaffe told an exasperated coppola "as long as i'm president of this studio, marlon brando will not be in this picture, and i will no longer allow you to discuss it."[67] jaffe eventually set three conditions for the casting of brando: that he would have to take a fee far below what he typically received; he would have to agree to accept financial responsibility for any production delays his behavior cost; and he had to submit to a screen test. coppola convinced brando to do a videotaped "make up" test, in which brando did his own makeup (he used cotton balls to simulate the character's puffed cheeks). coppola had feared brando might be too young to play the don, but was electrified by the actor's characterization as the head of a crime family. even so, he had to fight the studio in order to cast the temperamental actor. brando had doubts himself, stating in his autobiography, "i had never played an italian before, and i didn't think i could do it successfully." eventually, charles bluhdorn, the president of paramount parent gulf+western, was won over to letting brando have the role; when he saw the screen test, he asked in amazement, "what are we watching? who is this old guinea?" brando was signed for a low fee of $50,000, but in his contract, he was given a percentage of the gross on a sliding scale: 1% of the gross for each $10 million over a $10 million threshold, up to 5% if the picture exceeded $60 million. according to evans, brando sold back his points in the picture for $100,000, as he was in dire need of funds. "that $100,000 cost him $11 million," evans claimed.[68] brando was on his best behavior during filming, buoyed by a cast that included rising stars al pacino, robert duvall, james caan, and diane keaton. as the most seasoned actor on set, he wielded his influence to support the creatives on the project, serving as the "head of the family" much like his role in the film.[69] in a 1994 interview, coppola insisted the godfather was "a very unappreciated movie when we were making it. they were very unhappy with it. they didn't like the cast. they didn't like the way i was shooting it. i was always on the verge of getting fired."[70] when word of this executive interference reached brando, he threatened to walk off the picture, writing in his memoir: "i strongly believe that directors are entitled to independence and freedom to realize their vision."[71] similarly, in a 2010 interview, al pacino discussed how brando's support helped him keep the role of michael corleone in the movie, despite the fact coppola wanted to fire him due to pressure from studio executives who were puzzled by pacino's performance.[72][73] brando's performance was glowingly reviewed by critics. "i thought it would be interesting to play a gangster, maybe for the first time in the movies, who wasn't like those bad guys edward g. robinson played, but who is kind of a hero, a man to be respected," brando recalled in his autobiography. "also, because he had so much power and unquestioned authority, i thought it would be an interesting contrast to play him as a gentle man, unlike al capone, who beat up people with baseball bats." duvall later marveled to a&e's biography, "he minimized the sense of beginning. in other words he, like, deemphasized the word action. he would go in front of that camera just like he was before. cut! it was all the same. there was really no beginning. i learned a lot from watching that." brando won the academy award for best actor for his performance, but he declined it, becoming the second actor to refuse a best actor award (after george c. scott for patton). brando did not attend the award ceremony; instead, he sent actress sacheen littlefeather (who appeared in plains indian style regalia) to decline the oscar on his behalf.[74] after refusing to touch the statue at the podium, she announced to the crowd that brando was rejecting the award in protest of "the treatment of american indians today by the film industry ... and on television and movie reruns and also with recent happenings at wounded knee." the wounded knee occupation of 1973 was occurring at the time of the ceremony.[75][76] brando had written a longer speech for her to read but, as she explained, this was not permitted due to time constraints. in the written speech brando added that he hoped his declining the oscar would be seen as "an earnest effort to focus attention on an issue that might very well determine whether or not this country has the right to say from this point forward we believe in the inalienable rights of all people to remain free and independent on lands that have supported their life beyond living memory."[77] the actor followed the godfather with bernardo bertolucci's 1972 film last tango in paris, playing opposite maria schneider, but brando's highly noted performance threatened to be overshadowed by an uproar over the sexual content of the film. brando portrays a recent american widower named paul, who begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young, betrothed parisian woman named jeanne. as with previous films, brando refused to memorize his lines for many scenes; instead, he wrote his lines on cue cards and posted them around the set for easy reference, leaving bertolucci with the problem of keeping them out of the picture frame. the film features several intense, graphic scenes involving brando, including paul anally raping jeanne using butter as a lubricant, which it was alleged was not consensual.[78] the actress confirmed that no actual sex occurred, but she complained that she was not told what the scene would include until shortly prior to filming.[79] bertolucci also shot a scene which showed brando's genitals, but in 1973 explained, "i had so identified myself with brando that i cut it out of shame for myself. to show him naked would have been like showing me naked."[80] schneider declared in an interview that "marlon said he felt raped and manipulated by it and he was 48. and he was marlon brando!".[80] like schneider, brando confirmed that the sex was simulated.[81] bertolucci said about brando that he was "a monster as an actor and a darling as a human being". brando refused to speak to bertolucci for 15 years after the production was completed. bertolucci said: i was thinking that it was like a dialogue where he was really answering my questions in a way. when at the end of the movie, when he saw it, i discovered that he realized what we were doing, that he was delivering so much of his own experience. and he was very upset with me, and i told him, "listen, you are a grown up. older than me. didn't you realize what you were doing?" and he didn't talk to me for years.[82][83] however; "i called him one day in '93, i think, i was in la and my wife was shooting a movie. first of all, he answered the phone, and he was talking to me like we had seen each other a day earlier. he said, "come here." i said, "when?" he said, "now." so i remember driving on mulholland drive to his home and thinking i think i won't make it, i think i will crash before [i get there]. i was so emotional." the film also features paul's angry, emotionally charged final confrontation with the corpse of his dead wife. the controversial movie was a hit however, and brando made the list of top ten box office stars for the last time. his gross participation deal earned him $3 million.[84] the voting membership of the academy of motion picture arts & sciences again nominated brando for best actor, his seventh nomination. brando won the 1973 new york film critics circle award for best actor.[85] pauline kael, in the new yorker review, wrote "the movie breakthrough has finally come. bertolucci and brando have altered the face of an art form."[86] brando confessed in his autobiography, "to this day i can't say what last tango in paris was about", and added the film "required me to do a lot of emotional arm wrestling with myself, and when it was finished, i decided that i wasn't ever again going to destroy myself emotionally to make a movie".[87] in 1973, brando was devastated by the death of his childhood best friend wally cox. brando wrenched his ashes from his widow, who was going to sue for their return, but finally said, "marlon needed the ashes more than i did."[88] in 1976, brando appeared in the missouri breaks with his friend jack nicholson. the movie also reunited the actor with director arthur penn. as biographer stefan kanfer describes, penn had difficulty controlling brando, who seemed intent on going over the top with his border ruffian turned contract killer robert e. lee clayton: "marlon made him a cross dressing psychopath. absent for the first hour of the movie, clayton enters on horseback, dangling upside down, caparisoned in white buckskin, littlefeather style. he speaks in an irish accent for no apparent reason. over the next hour, also for no apparent reason, clayton assumes the intonation of a british upper class twit and an elderly frontier woman, complete with a granny dress and matching bonnet. penn, who believed in letting actors do their thing, indulged marlon all the way."[89] critics were unkind, with the observer calling brando's performance "one of the most extravagant displays of grandedamerie since sarah bernhardt",[90] while the sun complained, "marlon brando at fifty two has the sloppy belly of a sixty two year old, the white hair of a seventy two year old, and the lack of discipline of a precocious twelve year old."[90] however, kanfer noted: "even though his late work was met with disapproval, a re examination shows that often, in the middle of the most pedestrian scene, there would be a sudden, luminous occurrence, a flash of the old marlon that showed how capable he remained."[90] in 1978, brando narrated the english version of raoni, a french belgian documentary film directed by jean pierre dutilleux and luiz carlos saldanha that focused on the life of raoni metuktire and issues surrounding the survival of the indigenous tribes in north central brazil. brando portrayed superman's father jor el in the 1978 film superman. he agreed to the role only on assurance that he would be paid a large sum for what amounted to a small part, that he would not have to read the script beforehand, and that his lines would be displayed somewhere off camera. it was revealed in a documentary contained in the 2001 dvd release of superman that he was paid $3.7 million for two weeks of work. brando also filmed scenes for the movie's sequel, superman ii, but after producers refused to pay him the same percentage he received for the first movie, he denied them permission to use the footage. "i asked for my usual percentage," he recollected in his memoir, "but they refused, and so did i." however, after brando's death, the footage was reincorporated into the 2006 recut of the film, superman ii: the richard donner cut and in the 2006 "loose sequel" superman returns, in which both used and unused archive footage of him as jor el from the first two superman films was remastered for a scene in the fortress of solitude, and brando's voice overs were used throughout the film.[citation needed] in 1979, he made a rare television appearance in the miniseries roots: the next generations, portraying george lincoln rockwell; he won a primetime emmy award for outstanding supporting actor in a miniseries or a movie for his performance.[91] brando starred as colonel walter e. kurtz in francis ford coppola's vietnam epic apocalypse now (1979). he plays a highly decorated u.s. army special forces officer who goes renegade, running his own operation based in cambodia and is feared by the u.s. military as much as the vietnamese. brando was paid $1 million a week for 3 weeks work. the film drew attention for its lengthy and troubled production, as eleanor coppola's documentary hearts of darkness: a filmmaker's apocalypse details: brando showed up on the set overweight, martin sheen suffered a heart attack, and severe weather destroyed several expensive sets. the film's release was also postponed several times while coppola edited millions of feet of footage. in the documentary, coppola talks about how astonished he was when an overweight brando turned up for his scenes and, feeling desperate, decided to portray kurtz, who appears emaciated in the original story, as a man who had indulged every aspect of himself, with coppola commentating that "he was already heavy when i hired him and he promised me that he was going to get in shape and i imagined that i would, if he were heavy, i could use that. but he was so fat, he was very, very shy about it ... he was very, very adamant about how he didn't want to portray himself that way." brando admitted to coppola that he had not read the book, heart of darkness, as the director had asked him to, and the pair spent days exploring the story and the character of kurtz, much to the actor's financial benefit, according to producer fred roos: "the clock was ticking on this deal he had and we had to finish him within three weeks or we'd go into this very expensive overage ... and francis and marlon would be talking about the character and whole days would go by. and this is at marlon's urging and yet he's getting paid for it."[citation needed] upon release, apocalypse now earned critical acclaim, as did brando's performance. his whispering of kurtz's final words "the horror! the horror!", has become particularly famous. roger ebert, writing in the chicago sun times, defended the movie's controversial denouement, opining that the ending, "with brando's fuzzy, brooding monologues and the final violence, feels much more satisfactory than any conventional ending possibly could."[92] brando received a fee of $2 million plus 10% of the gross theatrical rental and 10% of the tv sale rights, earning him around $9 million.[93][94] after appearing as oil tycoon adam steiffel in 1980's the formula, which was poorly received critically, brando announced his retirement from acting. however, he returned in 1989 in a dry white season, based on andré brink's 1979 anti apartheid novel. brando agreed to do the film for free, but fell out with director euzhan palcy over how the film was edited; he even made a rare television appearance in an interview with connie chung to voice his disapproval. in his memoir, he maintained that palcy "had cut the picture so poorly, i thought, that the inherent drama of this conflict was vague at best." brando received praise for his performance, earning an academy award nomination for best supporting actor and winning the best actor award at the tokyo film festival.[citation needed] brando scored enthusiastic reviews for his caricature of his vito corleone role as carmine sabatini in 1990's the freshman. in his original review, roger ebert wrote, "there have been a lot of movies where stars have repeated the triumphs of their parts but has any star ever done it more triumphantly than marlon brando does in the freshman?"[95] variety also praised brando's performance as sabatini and noted, "marlon brando's sublime comedy performance elevates the freshman from screwball comedy to a quirky niche in film history."[96] brando starred alongside his friend johnny depp on the box office hit don juan demarco (1995), in which he also shared credits with singer selena in her only filming appearance,[97] and in depp's controversial the brave (1997), which was never released in the united states.[98] later performances, such as his appearance in christopher columbus: the discovery (1992) (for which he was nominated for a raspberry as "worst supporting actor"), the island of dr. moreau (in which he won a "worst supporting actor" raspberry) (1996), and his barely recognizable appearance in free money (1998), resulted in some of the worst reviews of his career. the island of dr. moreau screenwriter ron hutchinson would later say in his memoir, clinging to the iceberg: writing for a living on the stage and in hollywood (2017), that brando sabotaged the film's production by feuding and refusing to cooperate with his colleagues and the film crew.[99] unlike its immediate predecessors, brando's last completed film, the score (2001), was received generally positively. in the film, in which he portrays a fence, he starred with robert de niro.[citation needed] after brando's death, the novel fan tan was released. brando conceived the novel with director donald cammell in 1979, but it was not released until 2005.[100] brando's notoriety, his troubled family life and his obesity attracted more attention than his later acting career. he gained a great deal of weight in the 1970s; by the early to mid 1990s, he weighed over 300 pounds (140 kg) and suffered from type 2 diabetes. he had a history of weight fluctuation throughout his career that, by and large, he attributed to his years of stress related overeating, followed by compensatory dieting. he also earned a reputation for being difficult on the set, often unwilling or unable to memorize his lines and less interested in taking direction than in confronting the film director with odd demands. he also dabbled with some innovation in his last years. he had several patents issued in his name from the u.s. patent and trademark office, all of which involve a method of tensioning drumheads, between june 2002 and november 2004 (for example, see u.s. patent 6,812,392).[101] his assistant, alice marchak, resigned from her role due to his eccentric and unpredictable behavior.[102] brando also made sketches and art as hobby.[103] in 2004, brando recorded voice tracks for the character mrs. sour in the unreleased animated film big bug man. this was his last role and his only role as a female character.[104] a longtime close friend of entertainer michael jackson, brando paid regular visits to his neverland ranch, resting there for weeks at a time. brando also participated in the singer's two day solo career 30th anniversary celebration concerts in 2001 and starred in his 13 minute long music video "you rock my world", in the same year.[citation needed] brando's son miko was jackson's bodyguard and assistant for several years and was a friend of the singer. "the last time my father left his house to go anywhere, to spend any kind of time, it was with michael jackson", miko stated. "he loved it ... he had a 24 hour chef, 24 hour security, 24 hour help, 24 hour kitchen, 24 hour maid service. just carte blanche."[105] "michael was instrumental helping my father through the last few years of his life. for that i will always be indebted to him. dad had a hard time breathing in his final days and he was on oxygen much of the time. he loved the outdoors, so michael would invite him over to neverland. dad could name all the trees there and the flowers, but being on oxygen it was hard for him to get around and see them all, it's such a big place. so michael got dad a golf cart with a portable oxygen tank so he could go around and enjoy neverland. they'd just drive around michael jackson, marlon brando, with an oxygen tank in a golf cart."[106] in april 2001, brando was hospitalized with pneumonia.[107] in 2004, brando signed with film director ridha behi and began preproduction on a project to be titled brando and brando. up to a week before his death, he was working on the script in anticipation of a july/august 2004 start date.[108] production was suspended in july 2004 following brando's death, at which time behi stated that he would continue the film as an homage to brando,[109] with a new title of citizen brando,[110][111] which ultimately became always brando. on july 1, 2004, brando died of respiratory failure from pulmonary fibrosis with congestive heart failure at the ucla medical center.[112] the cause of death was initially withheld, with his lawyer citing privacy concerns. he also suffered from diabetes and liver cancer.[113] shortly before his death and despite needing an oxygen mask to breathe, he recorded his voice to appear in the godfather: the game, once again as don vito corleone. brando recorded only one line due to his health and an impersonator was hired to finish his lines. his single recorded line was included within the final game as a tribute to the actor. some additional lines from his character were directly lifted from the film. karl malden brando's co star in three films (a streetcar named desire, on the waterfront, and one eyed jacks) spoke in a documentary accompanying the dvd of a streetcar named desire about a phone call he received from brando shortly before brando's death. a distressed brando told malden he kept falling over. malden wanted to come over, but brando put him off, telling him there was no point. three weeks later, brando was dead. shortly before his death, he had apparently refused permission for tubes carrying oxygen to be inserted into his lungs, which, he was told, was the only way to prolong his life.[114] brando was cremated and his ashes were put in with those of wally cox.[115] they were then scattered partly in tahiti and partly in death valley.[116] brando was known for his tumultuous personal life, his poor treatment of women, and his large number of partners and children. he was the father to at least 11 children, three of whom were adopted.[117][118] in 1976, he told a french journalist, "homosexuality is so much in fashion, it no longer makes news. like a large number of men, i, too, have had homosexual experiences, and i am not ashamed. i have never paid much attention to what people think about me. but if there is someone who is convinced that jack nicholson and i are lovers, may they continue to do so. i find it amusing."[119][120] during the 1947 production of a streetcar named desire, brando became enamored with fellow cast member sandy campbell,[121] who played the minor role of the young collector. brando had asked campbell to have an affair with him and was often seen standing in the wings with campbell and holding his hand.[122] according to truman capote, both campbell and brando confessed to having been in a sexual relationship.[123] "i asked marlon, and he admitted it. he said he went to bed with lots of other men, too, but that he didn't consider himself a homosexual. he said they were all so attracted to him. 'i just thought that i was doing them a favor,' he said."[124] in his 1957 interview with brando for the new yorker, capote claimed to have first encountered brando at a rehearsal for a streetcar named desire while brando was sleeping on a table on the stage in an empty auditorium.[125] however, the story was appropriated from sandy campbell, as confirmed by campbell's partner, donald windham.[126][127] in songs my mother taught me, brando wrote that he met marilyn monroe at a party where she played piano, unnoticed by anybody else there, that they had an affair and maintained an intermittent relationship for many years, and that he received a telephone call from her several days before she died. he also claimed numerous other romances, although he did not discuss his marriages, his wives or his children in his autobiography.[128] he met nisei actress and dancer reiko sato in the early 1950s. though their relationship cooled, they remained friends for the rest of sato's life, with sato dividing her time between los angeles and tetiʻaroa in her later years.[129][130] in 1954 dorothy kilgallen reported they were an item. brando also dated actress ariane "pat" quinn.[citation needed] brando was smitten with the mexican actress katy jurado after seeing her in high noon. they met when brando was filming viva zapata! in mexico. brando told joseph l. mankiewicz that he was attracted to "her enigmatic eyes, black as hell, pointing at you like fiery arrows".[131] their first date became the beginning of an extended affair that lasted many years and peaked at the time they worked together on one eyed jacks (1961), a film directed by brando.[131] brando met actress rita moreno in 1954, and they began a love affair. moreno later revealed in her memoir that when she became pregnant by brando, he arranged for an abortion. after the abortion was botched, and brando fell in love with tarita teriipaia, moreno attempted suicide by overdosing on brando's sleeping pills.[132] years after they broke up, moreno played his love interest in the film the night of the following day.[133] after their relationship, she accused brando of significant emotional abuse and of throwing a chair at her after she revealed she had dated elvis presley in the past.[134] brando was briefly engaged to the 19 year old french actress josanne mariani, whom he met in 1954. they broke their engagement when brando discovered that his other girlfriend, anna kashfi, was pregnant, and went on to marry kashfi instead in 1957.[135][136][137] brando and kashfi had a son, christian brando, on may 11, 1958; they divorced in 1959.[138] in 1960, brando married movita castaneda, a mexican american actress; the marriage was annulled in 1968, after it was discovered she was still legally married to her first husband jack doyle.[139] castaneda had appeared in the first mutiny on the bounty film in 1935, 27 years before the 1962 remake with brando as fletcher christian. they had two children together: miko castaneda brando (born 1961) and rebecca brando (born 1966).[140] french actress tarita teriipaia, who played brando's love interest in mutiny on the bounty, became his third wife on august 10, 1962. she was twenty years old, 18 years younger than brando, who was reportedly delighted by her naïveté.[141] because teriipaia was a native french speaker, brando became fluent in the language and gave numerous interviews in french.[142][143] brando and teriipaia had two children together: simon teihotu brando (born 1963) and tarita cheyenne brando (1970 1995). brando also adopted teriipaia's daughter, maimiti brando (born 1977) and niece, raiatua brando (born 1982). brando and teriipaia divorced in 1972.[144] after brando's death, the daughter of actress cynthia lynn claimed that brando had a short lived affair with her mother, who appeared with brando in bedtime story, and that this affair resulted in her birth in 1964.[145] throughout the late 1960s and into the early 1980s, he had a tempestuous, long term relationship with actress jill banner.[146] brando had a long term relationship with his housekeeper maria cristina ruiz, with whom he had three children: ninna priscilla brando (born may 13, 1989), myles jonathan brando (born january 16, 1992) and timothy gahan brando (born january 6, 1994). brando also adopted petra brando corval (born 1972), the daughter of his assistant caroline barrett and novelist james clavell.[147][148] brando's close friendship with wally cox was the subject of rumors. brando told a journalist: "if wally had been a woman, i would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after."[149] writer editor beauregard houston montgomery said that while under the influence of marijuana, brando told him that cox had been the love of his life.[150] milagros tirado "millie" beck, cox's second wife, and patricia cox shapiro, cox's third wife, dismissed the suggestion that the love was more than platonic. after cox died in 1973, brando turned to cox's widow, shapiro, and pleaded for permission to scatter cox's ashes in the hiking spots they had once frequented together, to which she agreed. however, 20 years later, to her dismay, she discovered that brando had kept the ashes nearby instead of scattering them. following brando's death, in accordance with his wishes, his family scattered both men's ashes together in death valley, where they had often gone rock hunting.[151][152] in 2018, quincy jones claimed that brando had had sexual relationships with james baldwin, richard pryor and marvin gaye.[153] pryor's widow, jennifer lee, confirmed pryor's relationship with brando, but pryor's daughter, rain pryor, disputed that assertion.[154][155] in february 2024, actor billy dee williams said brando had propositioned him, which he rejected, while the two were at brando's home during a party.[156] brando's grandson tuki brando (born 1990), son of cheyenne brando, is a fashion model. his numerous grandchildren also include prudence brando and shane brando, children of miko c. brando; the children of rebecca brando;[157] and the three children of teihotu brando among others.[158] stephen blackehart has been reported to be the son of brando,[159][160] but blackehart disputes this claim.[161] brando earned a reputation as a "bad boy" for his public outbursts and antics. according to los angeles: "brando was rock and roll before anybody knew what rock and roll was."[162] his behavior during the filming of mutiny on the bounty (1962) seemed to bolster his reputation as a difficult star. he was blamed for a change in director and a runaway budget, though he denied responsibility for both. on june 12, 1973, brando broke paparazzo ron galella's jaw. galella had followed brando, who was accompanied by talk show host dick cavett, after a taping of the dick cavett show in new york city. he paid a $40,000 out of court settlement and suffered an infected hand as a result.[163][164] galella wore a football helmet the next time he photographed brando at a gala benefiting the american indians development association in 1974.[165] the filming of mutiny on the bounty affected brando's life in a profound way, as he fell in love with tahiti and its people. he bought a twelve island atoll, tetiaroa, and in 1970, hired a los angeles architect, bernard judge, to build his home and natural village there without despoiling the environment.[166] an environmental laboratory protecting sea birds and turtles was established, and for many years student groups visited. the 1983 hurricane destroyed many of the structures, including his resort. a hotel using brando's name, the brando resort[167] opened in 2014.[168][failed verification] brando was an active ham radio operator, with the call signs ke6pzh and fo5gj (the latter from his island). he was listed in the federal communications commission (fcc) records as martin brandeaux to preserve his privacy.[169][170] in the a&e biography episode on brando, biographer peter manso comments: "on the one hand, being a celebrity allowed marlon to take his revenge on the world that had so deeply hurt him, so deeply scarred him. on the other hand he hated it because he knew it was false and ephemeral." in the same program another biographer, david thomson, says: many, many people who worked with him, and came to work with him with the best intentions, went away in despair saying he's a spoiled kid. it has to be done his way or he goes away with some vast story about how he was wronged, he was offended, and i think that fits with the psychological pattern that he was a wronged kid.[18] in 1946, brando performed in ben hecht's zionist play a flag is born. he attended some fundraisers for john f. kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. in august 1963, he participated in the march on washington along with fellow celebrities harry belafonte, james garner, charlton heston, burt lancaster and sidney poitier.[171] along with paul newman, brando also participated in the freedom rides. brando supported lyndon b. johnson in the 1964 united states presidential election.[172] in autumn of 1967, brando visited helsinki, finland at a charity party organized by unicef at the helsinki city theatre. the gala was televised in thirteen countries. brando's visit was based on the famine he had seen in bihar, india, and he presented the film he shot there to the press and invited guests. he spoke in favor of children's rights and development aid in developing countries.[173] in the aftermath of the 1968 assassination of martin luther king jr., brando made one of the strongest commitments to furthering king's work. shortly after king's death, he announced that he was bowing out of the lead role of a major film, the arrangement (1969), which was about to begin production, to devote himself to the civil rights movement. "i felt i'd better go find out where it is; what it is to be black in this country; what this rage is all about," brando said on the late night abc tv talk show joey bishop show. in a&e's biography episode on brando, actor and co star martin sheen states: "i'll never forget the night that reverend king was shot and i turned on the news and marlon was walking through harlem with mayor lindsay. and there were snipers and there was a lot of unrest and he kept walking and talking through those neighborhoods with mayor lindsay. it was one of the most incredible acts of courage i ever saw, and it meant a lot and did a lot."[18] brando's participation in the civil rights movement actually began well before king's death. in the early 1960s, he contributed thousands of dollars to both the southern christian leadership conference (s.c.l.c.) and to a scholarship fund established for the children of slain mississippi n.a.a.c.p. leader medgar evers. in 1964, brando was arrested at a "fish in" held to protest a broken treaty that had promised native americans fishing rights in puget sound.[174] by this time, brando was already involved in films that carried messages about human rights: sayonara, which addressed interracial romance, and the ugly american, depicting the conduct of u.s. officials abroad and the deleterious effect on the citizens of foreign countries. for a time, he was also donating money to the black panther party and considered himself a friend of founder bobby seale.[175] he also gave a eulogy after bobby hutton was shot by the police.[176] brando ended his financial support for the group over his perception of its increasing radicalization, specifically a passage in a panther pamphlet put out by eldridge cleaver advocating indiscriminate violence, "for the revolution."[citation needed] brando was also a supporter of native american rights and the american indian movement. the march 1964 fish in protest near tacoma, washington, where he was arrested while protesting for fishing treaty rights, won him respect from members of the puyallup tribe, who reportedly dubbed the spot where he was arrested "brando's landing."[177][178] at the 1973 academy awards ceremony, brando refused to accept the oscar for his career reviving performance in the godfather. sacheen littlefeather represented him at the ceremony. she appeared in full apache attire and stated that owing to the "poor treatment of native americans in the film industry", brando would not accept the award.[179] this occurred while the standoff at wounded knee was ongoing. the event grabbed the attention of the us and the world media. this was considered a major event and victory for the movement by its supporters and participants.[citation needed] outside of his film work, brando appeared before the california assembly in support of a fair housing law, and personally joined picket lines in demonstrations protesting discrimination in housing developments in 1963.[180] he was also an activist against apartheid.[181] in 1964, he favored a boycott of his films in south africa to prevent them from being shown to a segregated audience. he took part at a 1975 protest rally against american investments in south africa and for the release of nelson mandela.[182] in 1989, brando also starred in the film a dry white season, based upon andré brink's novel of the same name.[183] in an interview in playboy magazine in january 1979, brando said: "you've seen every single race besmirched, but you never saw an image of the kike because the jews were ever so watchful for that and rightly so. they never allowed it to be shown on screen. the jews have done so much for the world that, i suppose, you get extra disappointed because they didn't pay attention to that."[184] brando made a similar comment on larry king live in april 1996, saying: hollywood is run by jews; it is owned by jews, and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of of people who are suffering. because they've exploited we have seen the we have seen the nigger and greaseball, we've seen the chink, we've seen the slit eyed dangerous jap, we have seen the wily filipino, we've seen everything, but we never saw the kike. because they knew perfectly well, that that is where you draw the wagons around. larry king, who was jewish, replied: "when you say when you say something like that, you are playing right in, though, to anti semitic people who say the jews are " brando interrupted: "no, no, because i will be the first one who will appraise the jews honestly and say 'thank god for the jews'."[185] jay kanter, brando's agent, producer, and friend, defended him in daily variety: "marlon has spoken to me for hours about his fondness for the jewish people, and he is a well known supporter of israel";[186] kanter himself was jewish.[187] similarly, louie kemp, in his article for jewish journal, wrote: "you might remember him as don vito corleone, stanley kowalski or the eerie col. walter e. kurtz in 'apocalypse now', but i remember marlon brando as a mensch and a personal friend of the jewish people when they needed it most."[23] that will be brando's legacy whether he likes it or not the stunning actor who embodied a poetry of anxiety that touched the deepest dynamics of his time and place. brando was one of the most respected actors of the post war era. he is listed by the american film institute as the fourth greatest male star whose screen debut occurred before or during 1950 (it occurred in 1950). he earned respect among critics for his memorable performances and charismatic screen presence. he helped popularize 'method acting'.[188] he is regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century.[1][2][189] furthermore, he was one of only six actors named in 1999 by time magazine in its list of the 100 most important people of the century.[190] in this list, time also designated brando as the "actor of the century".[191] encyclopædia britannica describes him as "the most celebrated of the method actors, and his slurred, mumbling delivery marked his rejection of classical dramatic training. his true and passionate performances proved him one of the greatest actors of his generation." it also notes the apparent paradox of his talent: "he is regarded as the most influential actor of his generation, yet his open disdain for the acting profession ... often manifested itself in the form of questionable choices and uninspired performances. nevertheless, he remains a riveting screen presence with a vast emotional range and an endless array of compulsively watchable idiosyncrasies."[192] he was our angry young man the delinquent, the tough, the rebel who stood at the center of our common experience. marlon brando is a cultural icon with enduring popularity. his rise to national attention in the 1950s had a profound effect on american culture.[193] according to film critic pauline kael, "brando represented a reaction against the post war mania for security. as a protagonist, the brando of the early fifties had no code, only his instincts. he was a development from the gangster leader and the outlaw. he was antisocial because he knew society was crap; he was a hero to youth because he was strong enough not to take the crap ... brando represented a contemporary version of the free american ... brando is still the most exciting american actor on the screen."[193] sociologist suzanne mcdonald walker states: "marlon brando, sporting leather jacket, jeans, and moody glare, became a cultural icon summing up 'the road' in all its maverick glory."[194] his portrayal of the gang leader johnny strabler in the wild one has become an enduring image, used both as a symbol of rebelliousness and a fashion accessory that includes a perfecto style motorcycle jacket, a tilted cap, jeans and sunglasses. johnny's haircut inspired a craze for sideburns, followed by james dean and elvis presley, among others.[195] dean copied brando's acting style extensively and presley used brando's image as a model for his role in jailhouse rock.[196] the "i coulda been a contender" scene from on the waterfront, according to the author of brooklyn boomer, martin h. levinson, is "one of the most famous scenes in motion picture history, and the line itself has become part of america's cultural lexicon."[195] an example of the endurance of brando's popular "wild one" image was the 2009 release of replicas of the leather jacket worn by brando's johnny strabler character. the jackets were marketed by triumph, the manufacturer of the triumph thunderbird motorcycles featured in the wild one, and were officially licensed by brando's estate.[197] brando was also considered a male sex symbol. linda williams writes: "marlon brando [was] the quintessential american male sex symbol of the late fifties and early sixties".[198] brando was an early lesbian icon who, along with james dean, influenced the butch look and self image in the 1950s and after.[199][200][201][202] brando has also been immortalized in music; most notably, he was mentioned in the lyrics of "it's hard to be a saint in the city" by bruce springsteen, in which one of the opening lines read "i could walk like brando right in to the sun", and in neil young's "pocahontas" as a tribute to his lifetime support of native americans and in which brando is depicted sitting by a fire with young and pocahontas.[203] brando was also mentioned in "vogue" by madonna, "is this what you wanted" by leonard cohen on the album new skin for the old ceremony, "eyeless" by slipknot on their self titled album, and most recently in the song simply titled "marlon brando" on the australian singer alex cameron's 2017 album forced witness. bob dylan's 2020 song "my own version of you" references one of his most famous performances in the line: "i'll take the scarface pacino and the godfather brando / mix 'em up in a tank and get a robot commando."[204] brando is also visible on the cover of the beatles' 1967 album sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band, among a tableau of celebrities and historical figures.[205][206] brando's films, along with those of james dean, caused honda to come forward with its "you meet the nicest people on a honda" ads, to curb the negative association motorcycles had gotten with rebels and outlaws.[207][208] in his autobiography songs my mother taught me, brando observed: i've always thought that one benefit of acting is that it gives actors a chance to express feelings that they are normally unable to vent in real life. intense emotions buried inside you can come smoking out the back of your head, and i suppose in terms of psychodrama this can be helpful. in hindsight, i guess my emotional insecurity as a child the frustrations of not being allowed to be who i was, of wanting love and not being able to get it, of realizing that i was of no value may have helped me as an actor, at least in a small way. it probably gave me a certain intensity that most people don't have.[209] he also confessed that, while having great admiration for the theater, he did not return to it after his initial success primarily because the work left him drained emotionally: what i remember most about a streetcar named desire was the emotional grind of acting in it six nights and two afternoons. try to imagine what it was like walking on stage at 8:30 every night having to yell, scream, cry, break dishes, kick the furniture, punch the walls and experience the same intense, wrenching emotions night after night, trying each time to evoke in audiences the same emotions i felt. it was exhausting.[210] brando repeatedly credited stella adler and her understanding of the stanislavski acting technique for bringing realism to american cinema, but also added: this school of acting served the american theater and motion pictures well, but it was restricting. the american theater has never been able to present shakespeare or classical drama of any kind satisfactorily. we simply do not have the style, the regard for the language or the cultural disposition ... you cannot mumble in shakespeare. you cannot improvise, and you are required to adhere strictly to the text. the english theater has a sense of language that we do not recognize ... in the united states the english language has developed almost into a patois.[211] in the 2015 documentary listen to me marlon, brando shared his thoughts on playing a death scene, stating, "that's a tough scene to play. you have to make 'em believe that you are dying ... try to think of the most intimate moment you've ever had in your life."[212] his favorite actors were spencer tracy, john barrymore, fredric march, james cagney and paul muni. he also showed admiration for sean penn, jack nicholson, johnny depp and daniel day lewis.[213] among the numerous accolades for his acting work, brando has won two academy awards for best actor for his role as a longshoreman in the elia kazan directed drama on the waterfront (1954) and vito corleone in the francis ford coppola directed crime film the godfather (1972). he also won three bafta awards, five golden globe awards and a primetime emmy award. over his lengthy career he has been recognized by the academy of motion picture arts and sciences for the following performances:

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an official website of the united states government official websites use .gov a .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the united states. secure .gov websites use https a lock ( lock locked padlock icon ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. primary site navigation logged in as: correspondence, alyson lamb, iwk health centre, halifax, ns, canada. email: alamb@dal.ca corresponding author. received 2016 dec 29; accepted 2018 mar 14; collection date 2018 jul. this is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ license, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the aim of this study is to explore advanced practice nurses’ perceptions of their leadership capabilities. a qualitative descriptive methodology informed by a well‐established leadership framework was used to explore advanced practice nurses’ perceptions of their leadership. purposive sampling of advanced practice nurses working in tertiary acute care facilities in eastern canada was employed. data sources included face‐to‐face interviews and document analysis. fourteen advanced practice nurses participated in two audio‐taped semi‐structured interviews from march 2013 january 2014. data were transcribed and analysed using nvivo 10 software and content analysis. two main themes were identified: “patient‐focused leadership” and “organization and system‐focused leadership”. these two themes are further described through leadership domains and capabilities that clearly articulate advanced practice nursing leadership and its contribution to improving the care environment for patients and families, nurses and other healthcare providers, organizations and the healthcare system. keywords: advanced practice, anp, leadership, nurses, nursing health care is in the midst of major change, stimulated by the current economic challenges facing the world, the shifting demographics of most developed countries’ populations and the growing number of people living with long‐term illness. this unpredictable and dynamic environment requires healthcare professionals to demonstrate effective leadership. registered nurses working in advanced practice nursing (apn) roles have completed graduate education, have an expert level of knowledge and complex decision‐making skills and clinical competencies for expanded practice specific to the context in which they are credentialed to work (international council of nurses, 2009, p.1; national council of state boards of nursing, 2008). advanced practice nursing roles vary by title and description between countries. the two types of apn roles formally recognized in canada are the clinical nurse specialist and nurse practitioner. both are clinical roles that require master's level education and expected to embody the following five competencies; clinical care, leadership, research, consultation and collaboration (canadian nurses association, 2008, 2010, 2014). in canada, clinical nurse specialists provide expert specialized clinical guidance and leadership to assist nursing staff in managing complex patients and function within the same legislative and regulatory framework as registered nurses (cna, 2008; donald et al., 2010). nurse practitioners have an autonomous expanded clinical practice that includes making a medical diagnosis, ordering diagnostic tests and prescribing medications and other treatments and function within a separate nurse practitioner‐specific legislative and regulatory framework (cna, 2008; donald et al., 2010). leadership is an internationally accepted generic feature of apn (mantzoukas & watkinson, 2007). advanced practice nurses are expected to demonstrate leadership competencies at an advanced level in their roles (elliot et al., 2012; nieminen, mannevaara, & fagerstrom, 2011; schober & affara, 2006), yet there are few comprehensive explanations about what an advanced level of leadership means or how to operationalize it in healthcare environments. although apn roles have been in place for several decades, healthcare organization decision‐makers (managers, senior administrators and physicians) identify they have limited knowledge about the value‐added elements of these roles (carter et al., 2013). leadership, for example, is a capability that is often embedded in a series of complex actions in care delivery and therefore may not be apparent to decision‐makers (calkin, 1984; whitehead, welch dittman, & mcnulty, 2017). this is problematic because to fully optimize the use of apn roles, clear expectations for intended outcomes must be established (bryant‐lukosius et al., 2007; carter et al., 2010; kilpatrick et al.,2014). the lack of knowledge about apn leadership constrains use of the full scope of these practice roles, thus limiting their potential impact on patient care and health system innovations. this article begins to address this knowledge gap by providing a clear description of apn leadership from the perspective of advanced practice nurses working in acute care settings. leadership is a set of skills and abilities that a person embodies (kouzes & posner, 2007). a leader is the person who embodies and uses these abilities and skills to create a vision and engage others to share that vision. although leadership is an expected attribute of all registered nurses, leadership in the profession is often considered to be role‐dependent (scott & miles, 2013). those in administrative and management roles are considered formal leaders, while nurses in clinical roles, such as advanced practice nurses, are defined as informal or clinical leaders. the evidence supporting the relationship between formal nursing leadership and positive outcomes for patients and nursing staff is growing (wong & cummings, 2007). however, research examining the impacts of leadership demonstrated by informal nurse leaders on patients, fellow nurses and the broader system is scarce (cummings, 2011). advanced practice nurses are frontline healthcare providers and as such are often not recognized as formal leaders because the majority of their time is spent providing direct patient care. although the demands of clinical practice often limit the time advanced practice nurses have for other advanced nursing practice activities, it creates opportunities to provide leadership at the frontline (kilpatrick, dicenso, et al., 2014; mayo et al., 2010). there is a substantive and growing body of synthesized research evidence demonstrating that advanced practice nurses provide safe and effective clinical care to patients (kilpatrick et al., 2015; martin‐misener et al., 2015; newhouse et al., 2011). clinical care is the central core of apn roles, but it is only one of several dimensions that make these roles advanced. research describing dimensions other than clinical practice such as leadership is needed if those aspects of apn roles are to be integrated and supported in practice (bryant‐lukosius, dicenso, browne, & pinelli, 2004; pauly et al., 2004). when advanced practice nurses are unable to fulfil all dimensions of their role, they are less satisfied and more likely to leave the role (bryant‐lukosius et al., 2007; kilpatrick, dicenso, et al., 2014). research about apn leadership is limited and mostly focused on elements related to team effectiveness and evidence‐based practice (campbell & profetto‐mcgrath, 2013; kilpatrick et al., 2013; van soeren, hurlock‐chorrstecki, & reevesm, 2011). an exception is a large case study, conducted in 13 sites across ireland and involving 23 clinical nurse specialists and advanced practitioners (clinical midwife specialists and advanced nurse practitioners). an important finding of this study was the identification of multiple activities that focused on two areas of leadership; clinical and professional (begley et al., 2013; elliot, begley, kleinpell, & higgins, 2013; elliot et al., 2012). clinical leadership activities supported the development of nursing practice in clinical settings or services. professional leadership activities supported the development of nursing practice outside the service at the national or international level (elliot et al., 2013, p. 1039). there are not any similar comprehensive studies of apn leadership in canada. differences in apn leadership may occur across countries due to the variation in role development, education, health policies and deployment. the ability to clearly identify and articulate apn leadership capabilities and their impact is needed, so that advanced practice nurses can be optimally educated and deployed to close the current leadership gap in healthcare organizations (cummings & estabrooks, 2003; dickson, briscoe, fenwick, macleod, & romilly, 2007; mccutcheon, doran, evans, mcgillis hall, & pringle, 2009). the primary research question of this study was: how do advanced practice nurses working in an acute care setting describe their leadership and its impact on patient, healthcare providers and healthcare system outcomes? the study was conducted using qualitative description (sandelowski, 2000, 2010) informed by the leads in a caring environment leadership capabilities framework, (leads, http://www.leadersforlife.ca/). leads is particularly relevant to this study because it was developed and is used by canadian healthcare organizations, providing a common and coordinated approach to developing high quality healthcare leaders (dickson et al., 2007). the study was conducted in two tertiary acute care facilities in eastern canada. advanced practice nurses received an email invitation from a senior administrator in their facility. the invitation described the study and who to contact if they were interested in participating. recruitment posters were also placed in the two facilities. purposeful sampling was used to select advanced practice nurses who met the following inclusion criteria: employed as a master's prepared advanced practice nurse with at least 1 year of experience in the apn role. at least 1 year of apn experience is needed to define and implement all apn role dimensions, including leadership (baker, 1987; hamric & spross, 1983). maximum variation was used to enable the investigation of the phenomenon from a variety of diverse sources (sandelowski, 1995). data redundancy was achieved with 11 participant interviews completed; however, an additional three interviews were conducted to ensure no new themes emerged from the data (morse, 2000; sandelowski, 1995). data were collected using semi‐structured interviews and document analysis from march 2013 january 2014. each participant completed an initial and follow‐up interview. the interviews were conducted using a guide developed by the research team and informed by the leads framework. the study interview guide included 11 questions and was piloted by an advanced practice nurse not recruited for the study. the initial interviews lasted 60 90 min and were audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. participants completed a brief demographic questionnaire at the conclusion of the initial interview. in addition to the interview data, two advanced practice nurse job profiles and three advanced practice nurse job postings were included in the analysis. the initial findings of this study were shared with all 14 participants during the second interview. the themes and leadership capability domains were validated and further refined by the participants. the data were managed using nvivo10 (qsr international pty ltd., 2012) and analysed using qualitative content analysis (attride‐stirling, 2001; graneheim & lundman, 2004; neergaard, olesen, andersenm, & sondergarrd, 2009). to ensure study rigour, several processes for trustworthiness were included (lincoln & guba, 1985). the second interview with study participants allowed for member‐checking and feedback on the emerging data analysis. the primary researcher reviewed and coded all transcripts and one other member of the research team reviewed and coded 15% of transcripts. the research team reviewed and provided feedback on the coding framework and development of themes. ethical approval for this study was obtained from the research ethics boards at the two participating tertiary hospitals and by a hospital affiliated university research ethics board. as table 1 shows, the all‐female sample was experienced and included fourteen advanced practice nurses. all participants noted leadership to be an expectation of their apn role. study participant demographics in this study, two overarching themes describing apn leadership were identified: “patient‐focused leadership” and “organization and system‐focused leadership”. patient‐focused leadership as described by advanced practice nurses includes capabilities that are intended to have a direct impact on patients and families. “organization and system‐focused leadership” includes capabilities that are intended to have a direct impact on nurses and other healthcare providers, the organization or larger healthcare system. figure 1 summarizes the leadership themes and capabilities domains; apn leadership capabilities model. apn leadership capabilities model. apn, advanced nursing practice “patient‐focused leadership” included the following four leadership capability domains: 1) managing patient‐centred care; 2) coaching and educating; 3) advocating and 4) initiating meaningful communication. “organization and system‐focused leadership” included the following seven leadership capability domains: 1) improving the quality of care provided; 2) enhancing professional nursing practice; 3) being an expert clinician; 4) communicating effectively; 5) mentoring and coaching; 6) providing leadership on internal and external committees and 7) facilitating collaboration. each capability domain has associated leadership capabilities. leadership capabilities are the skills and abilities advanced practice nurses described as necessary for demonstrating leadership. table 2 clearly defines the five “patient‐focused leadership” capability domains and provides supporting data for each capability. table 3 defines the seven “organization and system‐focused leadership” capabilities domains and provides supporting data for each capability. patient‐focused leadership capability domains, capabilities and supporting data organization and system‐focused leadership capability domains, capabilities and supporting data the apn leadership capabilities model (figure 1) and associated domains (tables 2 & 3) illustrate the nature of apn leadership and the complexity of apn roles. each domain includes one or more capabilities. the model creates a language and a road map from which advanced practice nurses and others can begin to articulate their leadership roles. nurses in advanced practice roles must be able to clearly articulate their roles to operationalize the full range of their capabilities (calkin, 1984; jones charbachi, williams, & mccormack, 2012). leadership is often referred to as a competency in apn literature (cna, 2010, 2014; elliot et al., 2012; hanson & spross, 2005). the accepted definition of competency is practicing to a minimum safe standard in a predictable environment (cna, 2005; dickson et al., 2007). the advanced practice nurses in this study described being leaders in dynamic, unpredictable settings that required their sophisticated nursing knowledge and expertise. the leads framework is founded on the concept of leadership as a set of capabilities that enable leaders to have the necessary skills to thrive in complex environments such as those described by the advanced practice nurses in this study (dickson, 2010). using the leads framework to inform this study enabled the findings to be more representative of the reality of apn leadership as described by the participating advanced practice nurses. the capabilities described in the apn leadership capabilities model (figure 1; tables 2 & 3) are comparable to many of the capabilities found in the leads framework, for example, both include the capability of communicating effectively. similarly, advanced practice nurses in this study described “enhancing professional nursing practice bringing a high level of professionalism to their nursing practice” through modelling professionalism and having a vision for nursing practice (table 3), which is relevant to the leads capability of orient themselves strategically to the future (dickson, 2010). one main difference between the leads framework and leadership described by advanced practice nurses in this study, is the focus of activities. when the advanced practice nurses described their leadership, it was in the context of making change at the level of the patient, nurse, healthcare provider or program and less frequently at the level of the entire healthcare system. the language used to describe the leadership capabilities in leads often refers to system level change and does not fully capture apn leadership. advanced practices nurses described their leadership as patient‐focused and organization and system‐focused. leadership as described by kouzes and posner (2007) is a relationship between people. when the relationship is built on mutual trust, respect and confidence exemplary outcomes can be achieved. to build the relationship described above, kouzes and posner (2007) described five practices and ten commitments a leader can develop and practice to be exemplary. there are some common themes found between the practices and commitments of exemplary leadership (kouzes & posner, 2007) and the apn leadership capabilities model (figure 1). for example, advanced practice nurses described modelling professionalism comparable to model the way a practice of exemplary leadership. kouzes and posner (2007) exemplary leadership includes the practice of encourage the heart, which is described as positive reinforcement of achievements and excellence. advanced practice nurses in this study did not describe celebrating their successes as part of their leadership; therefore, a similar capability to the practice of encourage the heart, is not found the apn leadership capabilities model. the leadership capabilities outlined in the apn leadership capabilities model (figure 1) are comparable to several competencies found in other apn frameworks. system leadership is one of the core competencies found in the pan‐canadian core competencies for the clinical nurse specialist (cna, 2014). it includes competencies such as facilitating interprofessional collaboration and integrating knowledge to make change and many others. leadership is also a core competency in the canadian nurse practitioner core competency framework, which includes competencies such as managing clinical teams and acting as a mentor and preceptor (cna, 2010). similarities can also be seen between the apn leadership capabilities model and the core competencies of advanced practice nursing model (hamric, spross & hanson, 2009). both models have layers of competencies or capabilities arranged in a circular manner, emphasizing patient care as the central feature of apn. hamric, et al. (2009) denotes clinical and professional leadership as a core competency of apn practice. the clinical and professional leadership skills they describe are similar to some of the capabilities described in patient‐focused (table 2) and organization and system‐focused leadership (table 3). clinical and professional leadership activities were also identified by elliot et al. (2012) in a large irish study that was the first to examine apn leadership. for example, elliot et al. (2012 pg. 1040 1046) described the following clinical leadership activities: initiates and changes patient/client care through practice development; changes clinical practice through formal education; guides and co‐ordinates the activities of the multidisciplinary team; and mentors and coaching the multidisciplinary team in clinical practice. these activities are comparable to the following capability domains in our study: improving the quality of care provided; managing patient‐centred care; and mentoring and coaching. elliot et al. (2012) also described professional leadership activities that are similar to the leadership capabilities domains described by participants in our study such as: engages in professional organizations at a national or international level. these activities are relevant to the “organization and system‐focused leadership” capability domain of providing leadership on external committees and bringing the knowledge back to their practice environments. there were also some differences in the results between the two studies including the organizing themes as well as some specific leadership activities/capabilities identified in one but not the other study. whereas elliot et al. (2012) identified apn leadership as clinical or professional leadership activities, in the apn leadership capabilities model leadership is defined through a set of capabilities that have an impact on the patient and the system or organization. capabilities as defined by dickson (2010) in leads are actions enacted in a complex, ever changing environment for which the person has more than the minimum knowledge and skill to act safely. an advantage of examining leadership in the context of patient, organization and system factors is that it provides a framework through which to begin to articulate the outcomes of apn leadership and understand the complexity of advanced practice nurses actions as leaders. some of the differences in findings may be related to methodology. elliot et al. (2012) national study used a case study method that included non‐participant observation of clinical nurse specialists and advanced practitioners (clinical midwife specialists and advanced nurse practitioners), interviews with administrators and clinician team members and document analysis. our study was much smaller in scope, involving only acute care advanced practice nurses in one canadian city. differences may also potentially be related to contextual differences in the study settings (country), healthcare systems, education of practitioners and or apn role expectations. leadership is a shared responsibility of all nursing roles (cna, 2009). for graduate prepared nurses working in apn roles, leadership is a core competency not simply a shared responsibility (cna, 2008, 2010, 2014; icn, 2009). the leadership skills of registered nurses working in non‐advanced practice roles (such as staff nurses) are often defined as the “staff nurse behaviours that provide direction and support to clients and the healthcare team in the delivery of patient care” (patrick, spence lanchinger, wong, & finegan, 2011; pg 450). this definition has similarities to how advanced practice nurses in this study described their patient‐focused leadership capabilities in that both are focused on the best outcomes for the patient and family. the difference, noted by patrick et al., (2011) and described by the advanced practices nurses in this study, is that advanced practice nurses demonstrate their leadership through integration of these capabilities in complex and unpredictable care environments. leadership in the context of apn has varying definitions; often these definitions differentiate apn leadership as either clinical leadership, which influences patient care at the local level, or professional leadership, which involves a broader context of national and international organizations (carryer, gardner, dunn, & gardner, 2007; elliot et al., 2012; fealy et al., 2011; gardner, chang, & duffield, 2007; hamric et al., 2009; hanson & spross, 2005; mantzoukas & watkinson, 2007). categorizing apn leadership as, clinical and professional leadership, did not resonate with participants of this study, they preferred “patient‐focused and organization and system‐focused leadership”. the themes and leadership capabilities in the apn leadership capabilities model captured and provided descriptive language to articulate the breadth of leadership provided by advanced practice nurses. leadership is a skill that must be developed, practiced and coached (dickson, 2010; kouzes & posner, 2007). leads is a leadership framework intended to be a guide for developing leadership capabilities to be an effective leader, regardless of position or title in health care (dickson, 2010). the leads framework has informed this study and its findings. educators could adopt the apn leadership capabilities model as a guide to developing leadership capabilities in advanced practice nurses. leadership is embedded in a series of complex actions in care delivery and may not be apparent or tangible (calkin, 1984; whitehead et al., 2017). as a result, the contribution that advanced practice nurses make to the healthcare system is often lost because what they do is considered clinical practice and not leadership. beginning to use the language provided in “patient‐focused leadership and organization and system‐focused leadership” can assist advanced practice nurses in articulating what they do. this will allow those in decision‐making roles to better understand and capitalize on the valuable resource of apn leadership and what it contributes to patient, organizational and system outcomes. other studies have shown that for many hospital decision‐makers, the most common avenue for them to receive information about apn roles is through advanced practice nurses in their organization (carter et al., 2013). therefore, it is incumbent on advanced practice nurses to be able to describe their roles and educate key stakeholders. having a collaborative, evidence‐based apn vision and framework specific to the organization could facilitate consistency in communication of apn roles and could assist physicians and administrators to better appreciate the complexity and value added of apn roles. it is equally important for administrators and other stakeholders to educate themselves about apn roles. the findings of this study advance understanding and provide a descriptive apn leadership model that could contribute to an overall vision and framework for apn practice in an organization. supportive administrators (nursing and medical) are integral to implementing and sustaining apn roles. therefore, the more consistent and evidence‐based the information that decision‐makers receive about apn roles, the more likely they are to understand and support these roles (carter et al., 2010, 2013; dicenso et al., 2010). apn leadership needs to be articulated clearly, so that the impact of this leadership can be understood and measured (kilpatrick, kaasalainen, et al., 2014; kleinpell, 2013). unfortunately, when the abilities of professionals are not understood, they are often underused and talent can be wasted and the potential benefits to patients, nurses, healthcare providers and the larger health system can be lost. the study focused on describing leadership from the perspective of a sample of advanced practice nurses in two hospitals in one canadian province, which may minimize the transferability of these results, given the variation in advance practice nurse roles across the globe. although the study was open to both female and male advanced practice nurses in the two study sites, only females chose to participate. there may be gender differences in how leadership capabilities are defined and enacted that were not captured in this study. future studies are required to expand on these findings with a larger sample spanning other practice settings, for example, primary health care. this qualitative descriptive study provides evidence to better understand and use leadership capabilities as a lesser known dimension of apn roles. having language that describes apn leadership can enable advanced practice nurses to recognize the leadership capabilities they demonstrate as part of their daily practice. the ability to recognize and then describe their leadership will enable advanced practice nurses to clearly articulate their leadership to decision‐makers, other healthcare professionals and the public. this may enhance understanding of the apn role and contribute to optimization of apn leadership capabilities. the current state of health care is one of continuous changes where leaders at all levels are needed to lead changes to create positive results. this study describes apn leadership and the contributions apn leadership make to patient, organizational and system goals. none declared. all authors have agreed to the final version. i would like to thank the 14 advanced practice nurses who graciously volunteered their time to participate in this study. these 14 advanced practice nurses shared their perceptions of their everyday reality as a nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist leader. lamb a, martin‐misener r, bryant‐lukosius d, latimer m. describing the leadership capabilities of advanced practice nurses using a qualitative descriptive study. nursing open. 2018;5:400 413. 10.1002/nop2.150 funding information the study was funded by the dalhousie university school of nursing research and development fund, the nova scotia health research foundation scotia scholar award and the iwk health centre ruby blois scholarship. articles from nursing open are provided here courtesy of wiley connect with nlm national library of medicine 8600 rockville pike bethesda, md 20894

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what to watch supported by whether in the lead or a supporting role, the actor’s immense talent and range were apparent in six decades of performances. by scott tobias a lithe and seductively charming actor who worked consistently for more than six decades in hollywood, often as a leading man, donald sutherland died on thursday at 88. as a thinking man’s sex symbol whose versatility made him equally persuasive in irreverent comedies and heart rending dramas, sutherland worked with major directors across multiple eras, including robert altman, federico fellini and clint eastwood and looked comfortable in both modern dress and period garb. his unusual height   he was 6 foot 4   and sonorous voice gave sutherland an authoritative gait, but he was given more toward gentle giant sensitivity than masculine swagger. narrowing his great performances down to 15 films is no easy task   there’s at least another 15 where these came from   but this selection of streamable titles is a testament to his immense talent and range. 1970 rent it on amazon, apple tv, fandango at home, google play and youtube. kicking off a decade in which counterculture rebellion would seep into american studio movies   and a decade in which, not unrelatedly, sutherland would become a big star   robert altman’s irreverent comedy about a medical unit during the korean war doubled as a stealth commentary on the then ongoing quagmire in vietnam. sutherland and elliott gould embody the film’s coarse iconoclasm and soul as two skilled combat surgeons who fill the downtime between harrowing emergencies with pranks, sarcastic quips and a fair bit of womanizing, often at the expense of the head nurse (sally kellerman). a hit in theaters, “m*a*s*h” was a popular long running tv comedy, but the film remains significantly pricklier. 1970 rent it on amazon, apple tv, fandango at home, google play and youtube. the central joke of paul mazursky’s clever riff on fellini’s “8 ½” is that “alex in wonderland” was only the second film mazursky had directed, following “bob & ted & carol & alice,” and thus he had not nearly the mileage fellini had accumulated when his onscreen alter ego suffers a nervous breakdown after eight films and major international success. here, sutherland has the comic humility to play mazursky’s hyper neurotic surrogate, who is rendered nearly catatonic in his panic over his future in hollywood and whether he should shift to a more commercial direction. it’s an unusual role for sutherland, whose gravitas makes him more naturally assured, but he’s counterbalanced nicely by ellen burstyn as his wife, who manages his ego while exerting a subtle influence over his decision making.

christopher walken (born ronald walken; march 31, 1943) is an american actor. his diverse work on stage and screen has earned him numerous accolades including an academy award, a bafta award, a screen actors guild award, as well as nominations for two primetime emmy awards and two tony awards. his films have grossed more than $1.6 billion in the united states alone.[1] walken has appeared in supporting roles in films such as the anderson tapes (1971), next stop, greenwich village (1976), roseland (1977) and annie hall (1977), before coming to wider attention as the troubled vietnam war veteran nick chevotarevich in the deer hunter (1978). his performance earned him an academy award for best supporting actor. he was nominated for the same award for portraying con artist frank abagnale's father in steven spielberg's catch me if you can (2002). since his breakthrough, walken has appeared in films in various genres, both in lead and supporting roles.[2] these include the dogs of war (1980), brainstorm (1983), the dead zone (1983), a view to a kill (1985), at close range (1986), biloxi blues (1988), king of new york (1990), the comfort of strangers (1990), batman returns (1992), true romance (1993), pulp fiction (1994), the prophecy (1995, and its two sequels), suicide kings (1997), sleepy hollow (1999), man on fire (2004), wedding crashers (2005), hairspray (2007), seven psychopaths (2012), a late quartet (2012), percy (2020), and dune: part two (2024). he has also provided voice work for the animated films antz (1998) and the jungle book (2016). on television, walken has appeared in films such as who am i this time?