This is one of the most iconic images of the 1950s, Marlon Brando getting ready to yell "Stella!" in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Brando (1924-2004) was an early devotee of Stanislavski's Method Acting, getting into the character so deeply that you experience what he experiences. He won Oscars for On the Waterfront (1954) and The Godfather (1972), and he starred in many other influential films, such as Guys and Dolls, The Young Lions, Reflections in a Golden Eye, Last Tango in Paris, and Superman.
He was pansexual, interested in men, women, anyone over 18 and human. His list of probably lovers include just about every gay, bi, and gay-for-pay actor in 1950s Hollywood: Wally Cox, Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift, Merv Griffith, James Dean, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, and even Richard Pryor. Wally Cox was one of his great loves; after his death, Cox kept his ashes for thirty years. When Cox died, his ashes were mixed with Brando's, and they were scattered together.
French actor Christian Marquand (Lord Jim, The Flight of the Phoenix, The Longest Day) was an important lover. Brando named his son after him.
Wally Cox (Mr. Peepers, Underdog) was an early roommate and lover. After Cox died in 1973, Brando kept his ashes for thirty years, until his own death, then had his own ashes mixed in and scattered in Death Valley.
According to Brando Unzipped, the penis belongs to Wally Cox. Brando posed for it in 1952, when they attended one of Phil Black's legendary M4M Parties in Harlem. M4M parties. You paid $10 for all the food, booze, and sex you could handle.
Days after the photograph was taken, it was on sale on the East and West Coasts. Soon it was being sold openly on the streets of Paris. Gay men of a certain age around the world had copies pinned to their bedroom walls. It remains to this day the only photograph of a major Hollywood star engaging in fellatio.
But does this look like Wally Cox's penis to you?
I don't know, I've never seen Wally's cock.
ReplyDeleteHe was also famous for rejecting an Oscar because #TheWholeDamnedIndustrySoWhite. LOL The Fox people are still pissed about that. Don't know of any relationships from that time, though indigenous nationalism was already pretty gay-friendly at that point.
James Baldwin's maybe? =D
ReplyDeleteMarlon Brando hooked up with James Baldwin? I never knew that.
DeleteI have the original photo
ReplyDeleteDo tell.
DeleteHmmm... I'm not convinced this is even Brando. So much of the face and head is cropped out it could be someone who just slightly resembles him.
ReplyDeleteBrando sucking a dick? Definitely. Wally’s cox? I seriously doubt it 😎
ReplyDelete