The films made in the first five years of his career: The Men, A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata!, Julius Caesar and On The Waterfront, established him as a Hollywood Great and, never entirely categorisable, he went on to create iconic performances in films as diverse as The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris and Apocalypse Now.

However even in the early years there were two duds, the cultish The Wild One and the turgid historical epic Desiree in which he gave a lacklustre impersonation of Napoleon Bonaparte.

This latter film was imposed on him and was an indication of things to come. For although Brando was at the forefront of a revolution in screen acting he was also a product of the studio system. He was alpha and omega. He at once represented what had been and what was to come and this proved an unresolvable dichotomy that was to wreck his career and tear apart his very messy private life.

Brando had numerous affairs which led to three disastrous marriages and 11 children. Unlike his own father, he seems to have approached parenting in an entirely haphazard manner and it comes as no surprise that at least two of his offspring turned out to be emotionally unstable.

While in a drunken rage, his son Christian shot and killed the lover of his sister Cheyenne who, some years after, committed suicide.

The wives and children demanded support and Brando was forced to work, often in films that didn’t warrant his presence and which certainly didn’t get his wholehearted attention.

He became something of a joke, though interesting performances sometimes lifted a mediocre film, and he died at 80, bloated and a near recluse.

Stefan Kanfer’s Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando is a highly readable account of an extraordinary life, both a serious analytical study of a man and his career and a muck-raking exposé of a tortured movie star.

By Stefan Kanfer
Faber & Faber, £20