Straight as an Arrow
His direct approach is signified by Sagittarius rising, with its ruler, Jupiter, located in the first house of personal interest. Marlon wasn’t discovered on a drug-store stool or at a Las Vegas parking lot. He knew what he wanted and he applied himself the best he knew how. Once on the way, his climb to the top was a serious, devout and dedicated march.
He started soon after he left school, when his father offered to finance his education in a profession. The Moon-Sun conjunction in the fourth house (father) is trine (good fortune) Jupiter in the house of his personal interests (first). Both he and his sister Jocelyn – who is currently appearing in many television shows – caught the acting bug from their talented mother, a former actress. Mercury (ruler of the mother-tenth house) is in his house of entertainment (fifth).
When his father asked him what profession he wanted to prepare for, Marlon quickly answered, “Acting!” With his father footing the bills, Marlon went to New York City in the fall of 1943. There he entered the Dramatic Workshop of the New School of Social Research. Later he received invaluable experience with a Long Island stock company. During these student-acting days, he was strongly influenced by one of his teachers, Stella Adler – exponent of a thorough study of a character to be played. The impact of her teaching, tied in with the perfectionist potentials in his chart, produced a technique that is individualistic.
For six years he put in a well-rounded apprenticeship for his profession of acting. He alternated between playing roles on Broadway, foreign travel, and studying at the Actors Studio, storing up priceless experiences necessary to any creative artist.
His forceful acting on Broadway in the play A Streetcar Named Desire, brought him to the attention of Hollywood. In the summer of 1950 his first movie, The Man, was released by United Artists. He was paid $40,000 for his work in the film. He approached this role with the same seriousness and idealism that marked his student days.
In his now well-known professional manner, he took steps to prepare himself beforehand – he always strives for authenticity. When he learned that the role concerned a paraplegic veteran who refused to take treatment that would help him, he went to the Birmingham Veterans Hospital in Van Nuys, California. There he lived for a month watching and studying the routine of a paraplegic. Absorbing the aura of such a man and his environment, Marlon took it back to the studio. His excellent portrayal prompted one critic to comment, “The illusion is complete.”
In 1951, after appearing in the movie version of Streetcar, for which he received $75,000, he began to prepare for his next role. He immediately went to Mexico to make an extensive study of history and Mexican types. Then the film, John Steinbeck’s Viva Zapata, released in 1952, was shot on location in Mexico and Texas. Brando had prepared for the role in his usual thorough manner, and his rate had gone up to $100,000. However, the critics’ praise of his work was only warm.
Although that year he was nominated for best actor for his role in Viva Zapata, the Academy Oscar went to Humphrey Bogart.... If losing out on the Oscar gave Marlon any feelings of sorrow and disappointment, no one ever knew it. He continued to apply himself to his profession. As one picture followed another, the stamp of his astrological Trinity of Wealth was apparent – his fee kept edging skyward. Then in 1954 he won the Oscar for his role in On the Waterfront.
-Doris Chase Doane, PROGRESSIONS IN ACTION [1977]
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