(born 1924) A powerful naturalistic actor who dominated the screen in the early 1950s with stunning performances in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), where he gained stardom on Broadway Viva Zapata! (1952), Julius Caesar (1953) and On the Waterfront (1954), for which he won an Oscar. In these roles, Brando, a method actor trained at Actors Studio, exuded rebellion, epitomized in images of his leather-clad motorcyclist in The Wild One that adorned dormitory walls for decades and in his adventurous off-screen life. After a slack period, Brando reemerged to major stardom as Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and in the tortured Last Tango in Paris (1972), although he took on limited roles through the 1990s. His characteristic speech, emblematic roles and expanding size made him a favorite target of imitators.