(Apr. 03, 1924 - July 01, 2004) Marlon Brando was an Oscar winning American actor who is widely regarded as one of the greatest film actors of the twentieth century. His acting style, combined with his public persona as an outsider uninterested in the Hollywood of the early 1950s, had a profound effect on a generation of actors, including James Dean and Paul Newman, and later stars, including Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.