Marlon Brando Had His Students Do What In His Secret Acting School?
Marlon Brando was known as being a little eccentric at times, but now news of Marlon Brando’s secret acting school confirms it.
Marlon Brando’s star-studded acting class from 2002 sounds totally insane: http://t.co/nqhttCmDMe pic.twitter.com/wfhHN24lxb
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) June 12, 2015
Brando, star of such films as A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, and the iconic The Godfather, died in 2004 at the age of 80, but he left quite a legacy with his secret acting school.
The Hollywood Reporter first shared the news that Brando had conducted a secret “extraordinary 10-day acting workshop” 13 years ago. And while no one seems to remember “the exact address of the warehouse in Hollywood where it took place,” students won’t forget what they learned.
The students included “about 20 young acting students and a dozen established stars,” all ready to learn more about their craft at Brando’s secret acting school. Some of the students included such stars as Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, and even the king of pop, Michael Jackson.
Brando, who referred to his secret acting class as “Lying for a Living,” according to the Examiner, got his students attention the very first day by entering the class dressed in drag. The then-78-year-old Brando appeared “wearing a blond wig, blue mascara, a black gown with an orange scarf and a bodice stuffed with gigantic falsies.”
And with a secret acting class that starts that way, it only got more interesting from there.
Some of the things that Brando asked his students to do in his class included “mooning his students… pitted a group of little people against a team of Samoan wrestlers for a series of improvisation exercises together… he also brought in a homeless man from a dumpster for acting lessons.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Brando even asked students to “strip naked in front of the entire class.”
Not surprisingly, Brando’s entire secret acting class was “improv… no syllabus or set schedule.”
While some of Brando’s students only lasted one out of the 10 days of the secret acting school, like Leonardo DiCaprio, many of his students finished the full 10 days, like Robin Williams.
What’s more is that Brando had all of the sessions of his secret acting school recorded, planning at a later time to compile them into a how-to DVD to sell on QVC. Want to check out all the craziness for yourself? Good luck. Brando’s estate has shared that they will never allow the video of Brando’s secret acting school to be released.
[Photo Courtesy of Ronin691/Flickr]
