Article: "Marlon Brando on Larry King Live", 1994

March 21, 2026

“Marlon Brando on Larry King Live”, 1994

Larry King’s interview with Marlon Brando was broadcast on CNN on October 7th, 1994. This interview also made it to Larry King’s book – “The Best of Larry King Live: The Greatest Interviews”.

by Larry King Live, 1994, CNN

LARRY KING: We’re honored to be here in the beautiful home of Marlon Brando in Beverly Hills, California. His book, Songs My Mother Taught Me: Brando, the Autobiography, has been published by Random House. We’re going to spend an hour and a half with him. We’re going to be taking your phone calls. He’s lived in this house how many years?
MARLON BRANDO: Ninety-seven.

LK: Ninety-seven years.
MB: Ninety-seven years.

LK: Explain what you did-don’t put me on, Marlon. You put your own makeup on today.
MB: I did, because I wanted to look exactly like you. And-

LK: This was your goal?
MB: This was my goal. I wore some red suspenders in your honor.

LK: Oh, my God.
MB: I did everything I could. And then, now I-I’ve received some criticism from these people.

LK: They wanted to do you themselves. Well, I’m honored. Do you see my eyebrows that dark, in that way, that dark look?
MB: Yes, yes, a little of the, what do you call it? Who was that guy, that famous Italian guy? Not Ramon Novarro, but the other guy? Oh, the big lover. What was his name? Played the Sheik.

LK: Oh, Valentino.
MB: Yeah.

LK: That’s the look you have.
MB: That’s right.

LK: Why-I want to touch a lot of bases with you. It’s not easy to get-why don’t you like interviews?
MB: Well, primarily because the interest is in money. That’s the principal guiding feature of all interviews today, is money.

LK: What do you mean?
MB: Well, you know perfectly well what I mean. You know that a story has-that one story is more valuable than another because of the readership. For instance, 0. J. Simpson has taken over the airways. You’re sweating a little. 0. J. Simpson has taken over the-what are you smiling at?

LK: I’m smiling because you just pointed out that I was sweating. I’m Jewish. I sweat. You’re part Yiddish. You understand. Okay, and that’s money, so you say that-
MB: No. It’s been forced, because market forces determine that….

LK: But the question was, why don’t you like being interviewed?
MB: Because I don’t like the idea of selling yourself for money.

LK: So you don’t like selling a book, right? You don’t like to go on to sell a book or to sell a movie?
MB: I don’t. I don’t. I’ve never sold a movie, and this is the first time I’ve ever been on, beating the drum for some product. In this case, it’s Random House’s book.

LK: Because you promised them you would do one?
MB: It was-unbeknownst to me, it was part of the contract. And, if I didn’t, I would be in breach of contract. But, aside from that, I have had pleasure talking to you. I’m fascinated, with people, especially the kind of people-I wouldn’t lump you with others, because you are exceptional.

LK: Thank you.
MB: Because there are many people who have asked me to be on programs, and I’ve refused. But you-without flattery-I have nothing to gain-you have impressed, I think, all people, and certainly me, as being very forthright, sincere, and direct, and unexploitative.

LK: And now, the subject is you.
MB: No, not necessarily.

LK: Yeah, but in this-
MB: Because the audience really would like to know what it is that makes Larry King tick. I

LK: Okay. Well, one night we’ll have Marlon Brando Live. You’ll host it. I’ll guest.
MB: That’s this night.

LK: No, this night, you’re the guest. Why did you choose acting as a career? Why did you choose to be other people?
MB: It’s useful to make an observation about that, that everybody here in this room is an actor. You’re an actor. And the best performances that I’ve ever seen is when the@ director says’ “Cut,” and the director says, “That was great. That was wonderful. That was good, except there was a few-we had a little lighting problem. Let’s do it again.” What’s he’s thinking is, “Jesus Christ, that’s so f***ing-” Excuse me. “It’s-that’s-it wasn’t done well, so we’ve got to do it over” But, everybody tries to handle-When you say, “How do you do? How are you? You look fine,” you’re doing two things at once. You’re reading the person’s real intention, you’re trying to feel who he is, and making an assessment, and trying to-to-

LK: So the director-
MB: -ignore the mythology.

LK: So, when the director says, “Cut, but I didn’t like the lighting,” he’s acting?
MB: I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about going to the office and saying, “Good morning, Mr. Harrison.”

LK: I know, but we’re all acting.
MB: And-we’re all acting.

LK: You chose it as a profession.
MB: Because there isn’t anything that pays you as much money as acting while you are deciding what the hell you are going to do with-

LK: So, wait a minute, are you saying you’re still deciding?
MB: It took me a long time to decide. You know, people have never decided. I mean, most people have never decided. I mean, most people, if you ask them what their dreams are-give this guy a Kleenex.

LK: I’ll get a tissue in a while. Go ahead. I sweat. We’ve got hot lights here.
MB: No, we don’t. I’m not sweating.

LK: Well, you’re Marlon Brando, I’m Larry King. I sweat.
MB: You’re a darling man. I don’t know. Why do you sweat and I don’t?

LK: No, let’s get-I don’t want to get off-
MB: Why do you escape trying to make one-to-one contact?

LK: I-
MB: Because I’m the product?

LK: Yeah, you’re the product. Right.
MB: Okay. Then you answered my first-you answered-

LK: But this is about money, then?
MB: This is about money.

LK: Okay. But it’s also about interest and learning.
MB: If I was Joe Schlep, I don’t think I’d be sitting here. Even though you might like me, even though we went for a taxi ride, and I was a very interesting guy, I don’t know that I would appear on your program.

LK: You are correct. But, you’ve attained something.
MB: Because of market values.

LK: But you’ve attained something that people are interested in. That’s why there’s a market value. That’s why they pay you the money to do the film. Okay. So, when Brando goes up on the screen or on the marquee, people will come to see the movie. That’s money, and brings money to you.
MB: It’s market forces. That’s the way it works. If you don’t carry demand, you don’t get-

LK: Did it come easily to you? So, in other words, you could make money this way.
MB: Acting comes easily to everybody. All I’ve done is just, simply through the extra- ordinary talents of Stella Adler, who is my teacher and mentor, learned how to be aware of the process. And some people are never, never aware of it….

LK: She taught you how to, what, impersonate?
MB: No. How to be aware of my own feelings. And how to access my own feelings. Many actors can do that. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of actors that-I mean, you’ve seen a performance of an actor who really gave his all, and he was-he was very effective, but he was ugly. He was ugly in the expression of his emotions. Or he was truly being himself, but what he was was boring, or was dull, or was-

LK: All right. So she taught you to take that inner self of you and bring it to a Waterfront, or a Godfather, or whatever?
MB: I’m not sure of what she taught me. We’d all like to be certain of what we know. But I think the most important question is to ask yourself, do you really know what you know?

LK: Okay. Help me with something, because it’s fascinating. Let’s say you get a role, it’s The Godfather. You’re not a Mafia kingpin.
MB: Yes, I am. Who are you?

LK: No, no, you’re not a Mafia-
MB: Yeah. Well, as a matter of fact, I’m not.

LK: Okay.
MB: There isn’t anything that you are, or that you feel, or that you have, that I don’t feel, or that I don’t have. And so-

LK: But you can bring it into someone.
MB: You can ask an actor, or they will hear, “This is what you get. You get hit with a crowbar in the head, and you get a brain concussion. You’re lying there, and you’re mumbling.” Well, I mumble, anyway.

LK: Okay. So you’re saying anyone could do that? No?
MB: Nobody can die. So you have to pretend you’re dying.

LK: Okay. Are you saying that when you are the Godfather, you’re pretending?
MB: Sure, I’m pretending… I mean, we’re going to get lost in vocabulary here, very quickly.

LK: No, we’re not. We’re learning what you’re doing. What do you do? Do you read? You read the script, you like it. By the way, how do you-?
MB: I usually read the script and hate it.

LK: You usually hate it. But you didn’t hate The Godfather, right?
MB: No, I liked-I wasn’t sure that I could do it. And Francis Ford Coppola, fortunately, asked me if I would do a-

LK: Test?
MB: Yeah, a test. I would never play a part that I couldn’t do. And if somebody asked me to play Hamlet tomorrow, with Jesus Christ playing Mary Magdalene, I wouldn’t do it.

LK: Have you turned down anything you regretted?
MB: That I’ve regretted? No. No.

LK: Ever taken anything you regretted?
MB: Oh God, taken anything-? You mean swiped stuff?

LK: No, no, no, played a role-“God, I’m sorry I-“
MB: Oh, yes, of course.

LK: Lots of them?
MB: No. Regretted, no. I think to regret is useless in life. It belongs in the past. The only moment we have is right now, sitting here, and talking with each other. You can’t see my feet, can you? I forgot to put my shoes on.

LK: It’s okay. That’s allowed. It’s your house. This-that’s-this is the moment. We’ll come back with more of these moments, okay? I’ll take a break.
MB: Okay.

LK: To make money.
MB: All right.

LK: We’ll be back with Marlon Brando. The book, by the way is-and he said I don’t have to mention it, but I will-Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me, from Random House.
MB: Wait a minute, you have to mention-I have to mention the book.

LK: You have to mention the book?
MB: Yeah, he made an error.

LK: Okay. We have to mention the book. We’ll be right back. Don’t go away. [Commercial break]

LK: Marlon built half this house, this vista overlooking the entire San Fernando Valley. In fact, if you stand on the roof, you can overlook-
MB: A third. A third.

LK: A third-well, you can see a lot. If you stand on the roof, you get a 360-degree view there…. Okay. Back to movies, then we’ll touch a lot of bases. I want to talk about the environment, Tahiti, the causes you get involved in-
MB: I’m glad you said that, so we can get off of movies.

LK: I know, but there’s certain things I want to-
MB: -most fascinating topic in the world. Oh, there are my shoes.

LK: Do you ever miss theater?
MB: Only when I’m going around 47th Street about eighty miles an hour in a cab, and I-

LK: You say you’d like to be inside-
MB: No, I pass by the Alvin and almost hit it. That’s the only time I miss it.

LK: You do not miss being on a stage?
MB: No. God, no.

LK: Why not?
MB: Because it’s three hours of blood, sweat, and tears every night. There’s nothing to do but, “Blab, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

LK: Oh, don’t diminish that….
MB: I don’t diminish Shakespeare. I can recite Shakespeare from morning until night, until I put you to sleep. I love Shakespeare. But I don’t like-I’m not much about going to the theater. It’s so awful. In the past, I’ve gone to the theater and been so bored.

LK: How about working in it, though? I mean, first of all, you get applause….
MB: Who cares about applause? If I get applause from my dog, if I get applause from my children, that’s enough. God, do I have to turn into an applause junkie in order to feel good about myself? … What about you? Do you need applause? “Larry, that was a great show.”

LK: Yeah, I need acceptance.
MB: “Oh, God, I’ve never seen you so stimulated and so inspired in asking the questions of this person.” And you say, “Oh God, oy, veh ist mir! “

LK: This Yiddish thing, you got a lot of that in New York, right? You’re part Jewish?
MB: Well, technically, I’m not a Jew, but culturally, I am. I spent ten years in New York, and New York-it was when New York was New York, The Jewish Daily Forward, and-and Stella very kindly invited me into her home. And my employers, my teachers-I went to the New School of Social Research, which is an extraordinary institution of learning… And it was at a time when all the people were coming out of this extraordinary academia of Germany. And, like Hannah Arendt and-the list is endless.

LK: You read them all?
MB: I did. I never had a chance to take her class. She taught at the New School of I Social Research. It was sort of a clearinghouse, until they went on to Princeton or Yale or-

LK: So, at this time, did you realize, even at this young age, “I am doing acting because I can do it. But I want to do other things?”
MB: I studied for a while to be a dancer at Katherine Dunham’s school of dance. And I formerly had been a trap drummer, a stick drummer. And I got-I was encapsulated in Puerto Rican music.

LK: Would you rather have been a musician?
MB: I don’t know. If the dog hadn’t stopped to pee, he mil4ht have caught the rabbit. How could I possibly know?

LK: Well, because you know if you love it-
MB: What? I’ll do it right now.

LK: A few more things on acting, and then I want to touch other bases. But on acting-
MB: Acting is the most important thing in the world, because-

LK: We all do it.
MB: We all do it, and we do it for a reason. It serves a sociological purpose. And when you think of it, it’s an absurd process, because I go, and I pretend that I’ve got a hole in my leg, and because I’m limping on one side, this girl won’t fall in love with me. And her grandmother is trying to arrange-some crazy thing. And people go to a dark room and pay money to see somebody pretend that they’ve got a hole in their leg.

LK: Now you’re making light of it. But in-
MB: I’m not making light of it.

LK: But in pretending you’ve got the hole in the leg-
MB: Because it is a fundamental process. It’s older than whoring. It’s older than being a whore, because if you examine the behavior of chimpanzees, or other related ape groups, even-well, you see it in many different animal species, but especially the gorilla. If you look the gorilla right in the face, a grayback-a silverback gorilla, he would most likely attack you, because-and that’s not very far from the drunk, who is in-in a bar, when you look at him, he says, “Who the hell you think you’re looking at, huh?” And so, either you take your legs off-either you take-

LK: No, but back to the point, though, if you can-
MB: This is precisely the point.

LK: If you can make me understand the man with the hole in the leg, and what that feels like, the pain of the loss of the wife or the grandmother-
MB: We all have related pain. For instance, if I’m sad, you don’t know what I’m sad about, and you can say-you can say, in a play, “He’s sad because his life is so full of emptiness,” or, “He dreads getting cancer of the nose,” or something like that. And-

LK: But the energy you bring.
MB: All I have to do is think about something that reminds me of a sadness that I’ve had in my life.

LK: Okay. And you’ll bring that to whether it’s a disappointment in On the Waterfront, an anger in The Godfather, right? Or a scene in Viva Zapata? You bring that emotion, that feeling, to whether you’re on horseback or on a gangplank.
MB: Or-or, my dear-or, my dear friend, a reasonable facsimile thereof. Because you don’t know whether I’m feeling it or not. As long as I can convince you that I am, I have done my job.

LK: Willing suspension of disbelief, right? That’s what a good actor makes me do.
MB: No. A willing suspension to believe, not to disbelieve.

LK: To believe?
MB: A willing-I shouldn’t say willing-

LK: Well, it’s a willing-to disbelieve that that’s Marlon Brando, but that is in fact-
MB: A willingness to believe.

LK: Yeah, to believe that you’re not Brando. You’re the Godfather.
MB: But, you see, it’s part of the process, because you pay hard cash. You have to pay the babysitters, you have to pay for the popcorn, you have to pay for the tickets. You have to pay for a lot of things, besides getting robbed on the way to the movie. So- LK So, you’ve got to willingly suspend and believe. All right, let me get a break. We’ll come back with Marlon Brando. There’s lots of other things to talk about.
MB: No, I’m leaving now. It doesn’t matter what he says.

LK: No. And we’re going to take phone calls. You love Don Rickles, right? Tell them, because-
MB: I love Don Rickles.

LK: He loves Don Rickles.
MB: I want to know how it is that you comb your hair with a washrag so successfully… [Commercial break]

LK: … Okay. Why Tahiti?
MB: Tahiti-one thing that has been very problematic about being an actor and get- ting some measure of celebrity is the fact that you lose your identity, and every- body calls you, instantly, “Mr. Brando,” instead of “Hey, you.” And then people make up notions. They want your autograph. And I used to shovel manure from horses and cows for a living. I milked cows, and I’ve dug ditches, real ditches for Malcolm Ball’s father, in Libertyville, Illinois. I was an elevator boy at Best & Company. And I was a short-order cook for a while, and a sandwich man, a waiter.

LK: All right. And then you got famous and rich.
MB: And then your life changes. You don’t change, but, suddenly, there’s a lot more girls saying, “Hi, Mar.”

LK: And that’s good, ain’t it?
MB: I used to think it was good, until-it took me a while to realize that it was just part of the game. And, I always wanted to be liked for myself, known to myself So, anyway, long story short … I went to Tahiti, where they don’t give a damn who you are. The Tahitians are marvelously free. First of all, it’s a classless society, and if you put on airs, they just tease the life out of you.

LK: So, ego don’t work there?
MB: Doesn’t work there. Well, ego works, but not for long, because they tease you so much that you have to-you get rid of it pretty good….

LK: What has fame done to you, if anything?
MB: It’s made me feel kind of isolated and a little alone. The society I know and trust are the people I have known for a long time and loved.

LK: Are you happier now?

MB: I’m happy now. Most of the time, I’m happy. I may have a few blips now and then. But it took me a long time to hit my stride.
LK: Were you ever what might be termed depressed?
MB: No. I was never depressed. I was-

LK: Were you-were you ever-
MB: I had trouble-

LK: Mood swings?
MB: No. It wasn’t mood swings. I was-I think that I was mostly an angry guy.

LK: At your childhood?
MB: A quick temper. Quick to fight. And I had a bad-bad bringing up.

LK: You had some childhood, right? You had a tough childhood?
MB: Well, it’s all relative. There are some guys-one of my very closest friends was Jimmy Baldwin-and I met him when I was eighteen. And we were instant friends.

LK: He had it tougher than you.
MB: He-well, first of all, he was black, which is tough, to grow up in this country. Secondly, he was dominated by his father, who was not such a wonderful man, according to what he told me. And he wanted to be a writer, which at that time was a very-there weren’t any black writers. He was one of the first black writers that we had that achieved popularity.

LK: So when you say it’s relative, you can look at Baldwin and say, “I had it better than he did?”
MB: I can look at him and say, maybe he had a capacity to deal with life. I know people that have it worse than I have, and they pull through.

LK: All right, but does that make it easier for you, because they had it worse?
MB: It’s all relative. It’s very, very difficult to say when somebody is brave of when somebody is cowardly, because what might be a brave choice for you, for another person is just-they just simply don’t experience fear. So it doesn’t mean anything.

LK: Anger-did you use that anger ever in a pro sense? In other words, anger is not a very good thing to have. Did you ever use it, say, in your career, to your benefit?
MB: Well, I suppose acting, you have to be angry at something. You think of something that makes you-

LK: All right. What changed you? What diminished the anger?
MB: Pain. I knew I had to deal with it, and I had to find out why I was angry. We all do. And, as opposed to you, from what we said before, I believe that unless we look inward, we mill not ever be able to clearly see outward.

LK: We were talking before we went on the air that I have a difficult time looking inward. Marlon was kind of analyzing this. You can look inward, right? … Most people can’t.
MB: I have the sense that I can. In any event, the total result is that I have felt much calmer, and I’ve had moments of real tranquility since I just put a brake on everything. I’ve done a lot of meditation, and-

LK: Professional help, too?
MB: I was uselessly psychoanalyzed and exploited by a psychoanalyst. Or maybe sometimes sincerely. I don’t want to degrade their intentions. But they make a lot of money getting you, five days a week, to lie down, and say, “I understand that your mother used to like to pinch your blockheads. What does that mean to you?”

LK: Where’s your Oscar?
MB: I don’t know.

LK: You don’t know where your Oscar is?
MB: I think my secretary has it.

LK: George C. Scott said-
MB: I know one guy that has it. But-

LK: George C. Scott said that he doesn’t want to ever compete because he thinks competition among actors is wrong, unless all of them played the same part.
MB: I think it’s foolish. Originally, I think that the Academy Awards was put together by some very cogent businessmen who thought that they would improve their product if they had a gala and all of that stuff. And that was when Hedda Hopper and-what’s the other-

LK: Louella Parsons.
MB: -Louella Parsons were running the show. And it came out of that. And now people take it very seriously. And-

LK: Do you?
MB: No, I don’t believe in any kind of award, no matter what it Is.

LK: Because?
MB: And I don’t believe in any kind of censure.

LK: No censure, no awards?
MB: No.

LK: No awards, why?
MB: Because I don’t think that I’m any better than the camera operator, the boom man. I don’t think that I’m any better than you are.

LK: But in your profession-
MB: And I don’t think that they are better than I am. They all have their personal, intimate-

LK: So, in a Brando world there would be no Emmys or Tonys or award shows?
MB: In a Brando world? I don’t know. That’s hard to envision. Oh, I suppose, if I were king of the world-

LK: Okay. By the way, did you want good reviews?
MB: I never read reviews.

LK: You know, people say that. That’s really true? You’ve never read-you wouldn’t say-if I said to you, “Marlon-“
MB: I have read reviews.

LK: -the Washington Post tomorrow gives you a rave-
MB: Yes, I have read reviews. Generally, I don’t. And I don’t see the movie. Anybody can tell you.

LK: When a movie comes on of yours, like tonight, if it’s playing on television, do you watch it?
MB: It all depends on the movie. Some of them bore the hell out of me.

LK: What movie would you definitely watch? What would you say, “This is-“
MB: Oh, there he is.

LK: The dog. What movie would you say, “This is good work?”
MB: Bring him in. I want to-I want you to-

LK: He’s got a dog you wouldn’t believe…. What movie would you say, “Yes, this is good work?”
MB: I tried hard in a movie called Burn…. It was a movie about slavery and slave rebellion. Come here, Tim. Tim, I want you to meet my friend. Tim, Tim, come here. Tim, over here, right here. Here. This is Tim…. Now, sit down, like a good boy. Now, shake hands with Larry. Shake hands. That a boy.

LK: Way to go, Tim.
MB: Good. Isn’t that good?

LK: This is what kind of breed?
MB: This is a mastiff

LK: How heavy is Tim?
MB: Tim is 180-here-

LK: I’m not going to eat Tim’s food.
MB: No, I don’t want you to eat it. I want you to just-

LK: Oh, feed him.
MB: -put it in your mouth, like this. Here. You’re getting nearsighted. I have to get you glasses, like Larry… [Commercial break]

LK: Let’s take some calls for Marlon Brando. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Hello. CALLER: [Montreal, Quebec] Hello, Mr. Brando? Hi. I just wanted to ask you, considering that you are-
MB: What is your name, please? CALLER: [Montreal, Quebec] Natalia.
MB: Natalia. CALLER: [Montreal, Quebec] Yes.
MB: Oh.

LK: Okay, calm down, Marlon. Go ahead, Natalia. CALLER: [Montreal, Quebec] Okay. Considering that you are a very private person, why, after so many years of obscurity, of refusing to be in the spotlight, have you decided to publish your autobiography?
MB: I think that you have misunderstood something. I wouldn’t be on that program, on this program-somebody in Louisiana, a woman, I don’t know who she was, said anybody who shows his face in public is an ass. And perhaps that’s true by some standards. In any event, fate has brought me to his moment.

LK: All right. Her question was, why did a private person write an autobiography?
MB: Oh. I was just explaining to Larry that the reason that I wrote it was, it was an exercise in freedom. I want to be able to say to you or to Larry or to myself anything that I believe to be true. And it’s a very, very difficult thing to do, to go through life-and one of the things that, in this culture, money is every- thing. Money is God. Money is our religion. And, it determines everything we do.

LK: So they paid you to do this. They paid you to do the book.
MB: They paid me $5 million to write the story of my life, but I had decided to do it before.

LK: But you would also do things for nothing. You did a movie for nothing, right?
MB: I did the last-next to last movie I did for nothing

LK: When I mentioned to you that, last night, Ted Turner and Robert Redford signed a big deal in New York to do movies about the Native Americans, you said you’d work for them.
MB: That’s right. I said I’d work for nothing, too.

LK: Why?
MB: Because I believe that we must understand one another, and if we don’t, we’re going to be in an awful lot of trouble. And I don’t think that is enough. I think that we have to alter ourselves in a fundamental sense. And the idea of being successful and having a lot of money and having all your dreams come true is completely crazy. I’ve had so much misery in my life, being famous and wealthy. And I know so many people-

LK: But how does that equate to the Native American?
MB: The Native Americans are an example of the kind of bifurcation of the Americans’ sense of themselves. We committed genocide. We are, by the United Nations’ definition, which we were a party to in forming, committing genocide on the American Indian. When all the other countries, France, England, Holland, Italy, all the countries of Europe, all the imperialistic countries, were giving up their possessions after World War 11, we applauded softly with gloved hands. And although we say, “Oh, the Indians got a bad deal. They got a raw deal,” we have never given one single postage stamp size of earth back to the American Indian.

LK: We’ve compensated them financially, though, and they now have gambling areas.
MB: That’s nonsense, because of the-of the-well, I shouldn’t say that. I don’t mean to be-but I’m-1 don’t mind-I mean, we’re all hypocrites, in one form or another. But, to have it institutionalized, historialized-what is that word, histori-alized?

LK: It’s a word we just invented. Let me get in another call. I understand where we’re going. Louisville, Kentucky, with Marlon Brando. Hello. CALLER: [Louisville, Kentucky] Hello, gentlemen. I have two quick questions to Mr. Brando. What is your opinion of Martin Scorsese and his work? I think he’s the greatest. And my brother, Malcolm, wanted me to ask you about One Eyed Jacks. He says it’s the greatest western of all time.

LK: I loved One Eyed Jacks. You directed that movie. Was that fun doing?
MB: I directed it because they couldn’t get anybody else to do it.

LK: You worked with your friend Karl Malden?
MB: Oh, I love Karl. We go back to Truckline Cafe. But in answer to your question, Martin Scorsese is an inordinately talented person. And he has extraordinary instincts. He’s dynamic. He’s vibrant. He’s real. He has taken film and put it in a much higher and noticeably higher dimension, with Bobby DeNiro and-and-

LK: Your friend, Mr. Pacino.
MB: Well, Al is certainly an accomplished person, a highly developed actor. I forgot his name.

LK: You mean who works with Scorsese?
MB: He played in Taxi Driver. How could I forget his name?

LK: DeNiro.
MB: No. Yes, DeNiro, but then, the guy who played the pimp.

LK: Harvey Keitel.
MB: Harvey Keitel. Sorry, Harvey.

LK: How good an actor is Harvey Keitel?
MB: Harvey Keitel is an excellent actor. And he’s an actor, like Jack Nicholson, who dares. And Bobby Duvall is another actor who gets out there, and let’s say we all fall on our face. But he’s milling to try. And he’s very good. And the more he goes on, the better he gets. [Commercial break]

LK: Atlanta. Hello. CALLER: [Atlanta, Georgia] Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Mr. Brando, I hope it’s not a frivolous question, but I understand you’re a ham radio operator, or you were. And I wonder if you’d mind talking about that.
MB: I am a ham radio operator, and the thing I enjoyed about it is-is anonymity, because, when you call up and you say, “This is Marlon Brando calling,” they give you the routine, or any famous person…. I still am a ham radio operator. As a matter of fact, I’m updating my license. And I think it’s wonderful. And with the new international highway of communications that is now very quickly falling upon us, it’s going to be tied up with computers. As a matter of fact, I’m on America Online….

LK: What is this here that you wanted to show us?
MB: Oh. I wanted to show you-first of all, I want you to try one of these cookies.

LK: Are they fattening?
MB: It’s not going to make you fat. It’s not going to do anything. Just give me a reading of what it is.

LK: What it is?
MB: Yeah. You don’t have to say it’s delicious if it’s not.

LK: Delicious. Very chewy and delicious. It’s-
MB: I’m going to have one right now, too.

LK: Got sugar. It’s a very tasty cookie.
MB: A bissel sugar.

LK: A bissel sugar. What is the point? Is there something-
MB: It comes from this plant.

LK: It comes from that plant?
MB: Yup. This plant is called salacornia. And this plant-they make paper out of this plant.

LK: The cookie is fantastic.
MB: Here’s the paper. This is paper you can write on. Makes very interesting wallpaper. As a matter of fact, I’m going to have it all over my house. This is a picture- can you get a close-up of this? This plant is grown in seawater. It is irrigated in seawater. This-all this area here you see is desert.

LK: But may I ask what got you interested in this?
MB: C02. That’S-CO2 is carbon dioxide, which is wrecking our atmosphere; which is, by some scientific estimation, going to turn the world into a kind of heat trap that is going to melt the poles, which means New York goes underwater, London goes underwater, all the lowlands will be flooded, and the Mississippi Valley.

LK: How do you react to those people who say that’s, like, wacko environmental poppycock?
MB: Yeah. That’s what they used to say about tuberculosis and Pasteur. They said, “He’s a nut. Get him out of here. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” And everybody now has injections against-

LK: So you are very into the environment. Is this new, or has this-
MB: No, it’s not that. It’s your kids, and it’s my kids. I’m going to live through it. But by the year-if we don’t reverse the- Burning down the forests in Brazil has reduced the amount of oxygen that goes into the air. The use of burning fossil fuels, which we have to do for industry-nobody is going to stop that. Nobody is going to stop driving their car-is producing carbon dioxide, which is filling the earth’s atmosphere. And if you want to know what the effect is, you get inside your car, you roll up the windows on a hot summer day, and you sit there. You’ll be dead in about forty-eight minutes from-what do they call that? … You’ll be boiled. And that’s what’s going to happen, because the-the ultraviolet-rather, the-the rays that come through the atmosphere …

LK: You’re saying this is by the year 2050?
MB: I’m not saying. I’m not putting a date on anything. These are assumptions. Everybody knows that the Malthusian- Malthus was a man, who said population is going to increase at this rate. He’s right. We are now five billion people. By the year 2020, according to the -way things are progressing, we are going to be-we’re going to be 10 billion people in this world, 50 percent of which, if not more, are going to live on the sea coasts. Now, I want to make this all fast, and I can’t. But these cookies are made from this plant, and this plant is raised and made-

LK: So, in other words, we could live off this plant?
MB: You can live off this plant. Not only this plant, but this plant can grow in any desert. There are 40,000 kilometers-

LK: Let me tell you another thing.
MB: What?

LK: This is one delicious cookie.
MB: It is a good cookie. Here-

LK: I’ll have another one.
MB: Have another one…. [Commercial break]

LK: We’re going to have to do part two of this, because we’ll never cover enough tonight. Also, we’re going to do a show where I’m the guest. It will be Marlon Brando Live, right, and you’ll ask questions?
MB: That’s correct.

LK: Okay. Now we’re going to show you a side of Brando you may not know since Guys and Dolls. We’re going to do a tune, right? What tune you want to do?
MB: Let’s see. What about “Limehouse Blues”?

LK: No, I don’t know “Limehouse Blues.” You could sing-you want to do “Limehouse Blues”? Do it.
MB: Well, what song do you know?

LK: Well, what’s wrong with what we were just doing, “I’ve Flown Around the World in a Plane”?
MB: All right.

LK: Okay. [Both sing]

LK: Let me take another call. Zurich, Switzerland. Hello. (CALLER: [Zurich, Switzerland] This is Sammy from Zurich. It’s fascinating to talk to two legends at the same time. Larry, I’m sure that all the free thinkers in the world will agree with me that you deserve a Nobel Prize of your own.
MB: For what? …

LK: Do you have a question for Mr. Brando? CALLER: [Zurich, Switzerland] Yes. Mr. Brando has a political and social agenda some- times. You defended the American Indians, for example. Have you ever considered a political career in your life, like-

LK: Ever want to run for office?
MB: Yes. Larry has cut you off.

LK: Well, he got to his point. I’m moving him along.
MB: Yes. Okay.

LK: I didn’t cut him off, I-
MB: I have been in support of the Jews who came out of the concentration camps, to try to find a home for them. I was in support of the Indians in America. Four hundred treaties-read them-four hundred treaties have been broken by the United States government. If one time Cuba said, “I’m sorry, we don’t recognize the treaty of Guantanamo,” they’d have the Marines in there in eight seconds. They’d bomb Havana flat. They’d make a parking lot out of it. Why is it that we cannot give- One-third of America is owned by the U.S. government. The blacks in this country have struggled, have fought, have died of misery and bro- ken hearts, perfectly and wonderfully documented by the best writer of the world, in my estimation, Toni Morrison, in her books. And I think they should be read everywhere in the world, to have a sense- Don’t look at your watch.

LK: I know. I’ve got to get a break. Hey, we’re coming-we’re going to do more of this. We just touched the surface…. Have you ever wanted to run for office?
MB: I wanted to run from office, but never for office. Thank you. [Commercial break]

LK: “Got a Date with an Angel.” We’re going to do “Got a Date with an Angel.”
MB: Okay. Let’s get together for this-

LK: All right.
MB: Okay.
[Both sing]

MB: You’re off key. Darling, good-bye.
LK: Good-bye. Marlon Brando.

Copyright Cable News Network, 1995.

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