Considered to be the greatest actor of the 20th century, Marlon Brando represented an onslaught of method acting in films, and died on 1 July, 2004 aged 80.

His career was like a roller coaster of success and misfortune. For the large part, though, he contributed much to the majority of his roles.

He followed Stanislavski’s practices and was the original actor to practise method acting on the screen and stage.

Marlon Brando was born on 3 April, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents separated when he was 11 and his mother took him and his siblings to Santa Ana, California, until the couple reconciled in 1937.

He moved to New York where he studied at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, New School Dramatic Workshop, and the Actors' Studio. He studied Stanislavski, an influential practitioner of the time.

He found work in theatre, eventually making it to Broadway in 1944 in Remember Mama . He finally found fame in 1947, in a play called A Streetcar Called Desire .

He first appeared on screen in the 1950 film The Men , in which he prepared studiously for the role of a bitter crippled veteran by staying in a bed at a veteran’s hospital for a month.

‘Streetcar’ came to the big screen in which he reprised the role he made famous in the theatre in 1951. He was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award, something he repeated for consecutive years for performances in Viva Zapata!, Julius Caesar and On the Waterfront - for which he actually won the award in 1954.

His last play in 1953 was Arms and the Man for a salary of $500 a week. He had turned down $10,000 to act on Broadway at the same time.

He became a teen idol after playing a rebel in The Wild One . Elvis and James Dean are known to have respected and even immitated him in their own pictures.

More films followed in the 1950s, Guys and Dolls (in which he sang), The Teahouse of the Augu st Moon, Sayonara (another Oscar acting win) and The Young Lions .

He married actess Anna Kashfi in 1957. They divorced two years later but had a son, Christian Brando. In 1960, he married Movita Castaneda and they had two children together. Another two children followed with long-term girlfriend Tarita Teriipia.

His career took a downward turn when he appeared in several forgettable pictures that lacked his usual energy . He did however direct western film One-Eyed Jacks in 1961, which was considered a success.

His career at the end of the 1960s looked at its end as his reputation as ‘difficult’ had spread across the industry and discouraged any new potential employers.

Luckily, a turning point would arose when he played Vito Corleone in 1972’s The Godfather . He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, but refused to accept it.

He went on to make Last Tango in Paris , which was considered his greatest performance. He was once again nominated for best actor by the academy.

He was paid an extortionate amount of money to play Jor-El in Superman even though it was a small part and he even filmed scenes for the sequel. But when he was refused another large payload, he denied them permission to use his footage. The scenes were seen in a re-cut version of the film in 2006. Unused footage allowed him to reprise the role the same year (though he was dead) in Superman Returns .

He announced his retirement from acting in 1980 but did take part in some films afterwards, delivering some memorable supporting performances.