Conversations with Brando

Was hard to find, same interviewer that worked with Al Pacino on his book. Great intro and good conversations.

I could not put the book, "Conversations With Brando," down once I began reading it. As a Marlon Brando devotee, I was so very pleased to open the book and find that the largest part of the book is composed of Marlon Brando's own words. I could have listened to this man talk all day long, every day of every week. And, in this book, he is at his incredible best -interesting, intelligent, witty, sensitive, idealistic, real, wise, inspirational, poignant, reflective, philosophical, poetic; humanitarian. I love his eccentric ways and I respect his principles of character - standing up for the causes of the voiceless in the world. I appreciate that he bowed to no one when the convictions of his heart and his conscience were at stake. Most of all, when Marlon's children were in trouble, he made the kinds of sacrifices and suffered in ways that only a father whose children are his whole heart would have done. What a beautiful man Marlon was and what an exemplary, praiseworthy piece of work Lawrence Grobel has done with "Conversations With Brando."

This expanded on the PLAYBOY interview it's adapted from. Brando is a good storyteller, and tells some good stories in here. Grobel does preface the interview with phone call transcripts of him talking to Brando, and his secretary. And I know someone close to Brando, and some in the Brando camp felt some annoyance that Grobel taped the phone conversations without saying they were being taped. A bit presumptuous. But an interesting interview nonetheless.

The interview that this book is based on was conducted before Brando filmed "Superman" but I can't imagine that Brando has changed much since. Grobel shows his skills as an interviewer by originally agreeing to only talk about the Native American cause with Brando but eventually teasing out anecdotes about acting, sex, stalkers, Brando's upbringing and much more. Grobel does not try to outsmart Brando, even while he is trying to sneak in forbidden acting/movie questions. He faces his subject head-on and when Brando chooses to speak about his hated profession, he is extremely entertaining. He shows Brando as a very complicated man who is hard to dislike - even if you don't agree with his politics, you come away from the book thinking that Brando is a charming, intelligent, thoughtful and super-talented individual who deserves all the praise for his acting skills. This interview could be considered his greatest performance - it comes from the same honesty that he invested his early screen and stage characters with.