Legendary Actor Marlon Brando Dead at 80

Marlon Brando, the eccentric stage and screen actor known for his "Method" acting technique and his performances in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and The Godfather died in a hospital in Los Angeles, his lawyer told The New York Times. The cause of death was not revealed. He was 80 years old.

Brando, who was born in Omaha, Nebraska on April 3, 1924, was a two-time Oscar winner and an influential force for a generation of actors. He made his Broadway debut in I Remember Mama in 1944. His other theatrical credits include Candida and The Eagle Has Two Heads and his searing breakthrough portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. The much-lauded performance eventually led Brando to Hollywood.

Brando's Hollywood achievements include performances in The Men, the film version of Streetcar which earned him the first of four consecutive Best Actor Academy Award nominations, The Wild One, Viva Zapata!, Julius Caesar, On the Waterfront, Desiree, Guys and Dolls, The Teahouse of the August Moon, Sayonara and Mutiny on the Bounty.

A box-office hero in the 1950s, Brando's star appeal lost some of its luster by the late 1960s. Then, in 1972, he took on the role of Don Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, and he powerfully regained his stature. The performance received critical praise, set the tone for the entire film and earned him a second Best Actor Oscar which he declined. He went on to give a bizarre, somewhat controversial performance in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, earning the actor his seventh Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Since then, Brando repeatedly announced his retirement from acting but made more than a dozen films, including The Missouri Breaks, Superman, Apocalypse Now, A Dry White Season, The Freshman, Don Juan DeMarco, The Island of Dr. Moreau and Free Money.

Funeral details have not been released.