LOS ANGELES - Marlon Brando, who revolutionized Hollywood's image of a leading man playing street-tough, emotionally raw characters in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "On the Waterfront" and then revived his career a generation later as the definitive Mafia don in "The Godfather," died at 80.
The reclusive Brando died of lung failure at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at UCLA Medical Center, according to hospital spokeswoman Roxanne Moster.
"Marlon would hate the idea of people chiming in to give their comments about his death. All I'll say is that it makes me sad he's gone," "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola said Friday.
Brando's attorney, David J. Seeley, said funeral arrangements would be private.
For generations of movie lovers, Brando was unforgettable — the embodiment of brutish Stanley Kowalski in 1951's "A Streetcar Named Desire," famously bellowing "STELLA!" at his estranged love with a mix of anguish and desire.
Then came his mixed-up, washed-up boxer Terry Malloy of 1954's "On the Waterfront," who laments throwing fights for his gangster brother with the line, "I coulda been a contender ... I coulda been somebody ..."
The key to Brando's craft was Method acting — a practice learned at Stella Adler's renowned Actors Studio in New York. The technique eschewed grandiose theatricality in favor of a deeper psychological approach, often through near-continuous rehearsal that led many actors to behave like their characters even when offstage.
Picked by Rhume Temperachure.