Marlon Brando was one of the most private celebrities in modern times, who only stepped into the lime light to promote a new film or causes close to his heart. While several books exist based on such material, there has never been a personal biography with a first-hand view of the inner sanctum such as George Englund's "The Naked Brando". Having been repeatedly urged to write by Brando himself (as he had been given his first Hollywood break by Brando), Englund started this memoir in earnest a few months before Brando died on 1 July 2004 in order to capture the real Brando behind the star. Looking back in time, Brando writes down his incisive recollections from when he befriended the young Marlon when he was on the cusp of his meteoric rise in 1954 and from then on became a close confidant for almost fifty years from whom Brando sought frank advice. Englund draws on stories from Jackie Kennedy to Marilyn Monroe that only he and Brando knew. But he also shows how the seeds of decline and suspicion were there from the start.
From the recollections a young actor emerges who was beautiful in every way - driven by his instinctive talent to break new ground, athletic, muscular, seductive, intelligent and generous - yet also hugely self-destructive.