Marlon Brando is widely considered to be the greatest movie actor of all time. No actor ever exerted such a profound influence on succeeding generations of actors as did Brando. More than 50 years after he first scorched the screen as Stanley Kowalski in the movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and a quarter-century after his last great performance as Col. Kurtz in  Apocalypse Now (1979), all American actors are still being measured by the yardstick that was Brando. 

It was the period of 1951-54 that revolutionized American acting, spawning such stars as James Dean - who modeled his acting and even his lifestyle on his hero Brando - the young Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. After Brando, every up-and-coming star with true acting talent and a brooding, alienated quality would be hailed as the "New Brando," such as Warren Beatty. "We are all Brando's children," Jack Nicholson pointed out in 1972. "He gave us our freedom." He was truly "The Godfather" of American acting - and he was just 30 years old. 

In the beginning, his irreverent acting style lent itself to playing misunderstood rebels, and later in life he played powerful, ruthless criminals.

Marlon Brando’s philosophy said it best:

“Regret is useless in life. It's in the past. All we have is now.”

Marlon Brando always lived in the moment with great passion and resolve, bowing to no one.