This has got to be some of the strangest gossip of all time. In the new book Marlon And Me, Marlon Brando's former assistant says that Marlon was so desperate for money in the last year of his life that he met with the shopping channel QVC about selling some kind of product on their network. He really didn't care what the product was, he just wanted to sell something and make some money. OK. So far just slightly wacky. It gets better. What he wanted to sell was either earthquake proof houses which no doubt would have been a huge hit on the channel. "Hey, guess what we have on easy pay today."
His other choices were imported silk or a DVD on acting called Lying For A Living. OK, I could see him selling the last two, so that would not be that wacky, until you consider this kicker.
He was not actually going to sell them as Marlon Brando. Nope. When he had a meeting with the QVC people he told them he wanted to go on air disguised in women's clothing with a grey wig. I don't know if the story is real, but it sure as hell makes you smile thinking about it.
funny, but i don't believe it. brando was a tightwad, i believe.
ReplyDeleteThat's just a hundred different kinds of sad, whether it's true or not.
ReplyDeleteI once saw a sad little old man shuffle out of a grocery store carrying a cherry pie and I cried in my car for a half hour. Old people without money or someone to love send me over the edge. Maybe I'm just afraid I'll be like that one day, or maybe it's just a really sad thing to witness.
He didn't spend a penny he did not have to. That's a fabrication.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible that Marlon Brando was cash poor but asset rich.
ReplyDeleteAccording to an article (link below) he lived in the same mountainside house with a view of L.A. for 50+ years until his death in 2004. His neighbour was Jack Nicholson who, to protect his privacy, purchased Brando's property in 2006 from the estate.
This article says that Brando's estate was worth about 11 million pounds, after the sale of assets, primarily Brandon's Tahitian island.
http://www.therealestatebloggers.com/
2006/08/06/brandos-los-angeles-house-to-be-demolished-by-neighbor-nicholson/
Brando's house was described as being in such poor condition, and run down, with mould, that it had to be destroyed. The article also says that Brando planned to "stock [the swimming pool] with electric eels to power his house and reduce his electric light bill".
It doesn't say he was broke, it says he was desperate for money. Sounds like he had a form of OCD.
ReplyDeleteBrando could wear a tutu while screaming about Shamwow, and I'd be riveted.
ReplyDeleteI love Marlon Brando, aside form the crappy way he treated women, he was great.
ReplyDeleteCasual Observer - I do the same thing. I get ridiculously sad over people that I think look lonely. Then I have to remind myself that maybe the old guy bought that cherry pie because he has a bunch of friends coming over and he isn't sad and lonely at all. At least I can hope that or I end up crying in my car too!
ReplyDeleteGiven all the crazy, true stories about Brando, I really see no particular reason to disbelieve this one. My favorite of such stories is that he supposedly refused to wear pants during the filming of The Score to force them to film him only from the waist up. Hahaha. If I'd been him, I woulda done the same thing.
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