Marlon Brando on Adler and Kazan

Elia Kazan and Marlon Brando on the set of On the Waterfront (1954).

Interview via telephone

1990

From the forthcoming Artistic Suicide

You clearly need lines of definition--distinction--and I'll give them to you. What Stella [Adler] gave me was the courage to believe that I deserved to walk toward the plank that all actors live and work on; stumble on and fall from. Stella led me to believe that I could do it; should do it; had to do it. But someone like [Elia] Kazan was already on the plank, holding out a hand, and walking it with me. I trusted both people completely, but their gifts could not and should not be confused. I don't think Stella could have helped me a bit once I was halfway down the plank, but I would never, ever have gotten on it in the first place without her. There was foreplay with Stella, and consummation with Kazan.

© 2013 James Grissom