Actor. He was a motion picture and stage actor who achieved legendary status in his own lifetime. The youngest of three children of alcoholic parents, he was left alone much of the time as a child. He was kicked out of military high school for riding a motorcycle through the halls. He worked as a department store elevator operator and quit after four days due to his embarrassment in having to call out the lingerie floor. Prevented from enlisting in World War II due to his 4-F status, he moved to New York at age 19 to live with his sister, Frances, where he studied at the Dramatic Workshop at the New School for Social Research in New York City. He was known for bringing "real" acting, on stage and screen, into the mainstream. His breakout role (1947) was on stage where he gave a groundbreaking performance in Tennessee Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire" as the brutal, animalistic 'Stanley Kowalski.' Critics and patrons commented at the time that never before had there been such a display of dangerous, brutal, male beauty on an American stage. That performance, together with "On the Waterfront," "The Wild One," and "The Godfather," earned him plaudits as one of the greatest actors of all time and perhaps the most influential of his generation. Over the course of his career, he was nominated for eight Oscars, winning two - "On the Waterfront" (1954) and "The Godfather" (1972). Two years before, Brando declined his Oscar for Best Actor in the 1972 movie, "The Godfather." He had applied to the Academy to replace the one he'd won for "On the Waterfront" (1954), which had been stolen. He was one of the innovators of the Method acting technique in American film. His signature was considered so valuable to collectors, that many personal checks he wrote were never cashed because his signature was usually worth more than the amount on the check. He appears on the front sleeve of the Beatles' classic album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" as 'Johnny' in "The Wild One." He championed a number of social causes during his lifetime, helping out minorities in America including African Americans and Native Americans. Among many other accolades, he was ranked #13 of "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list of the British film magazine "Empire;" was chosen by "Empire" as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#14), and was ranked #12 in Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 Entertainers of All Time. Since 1966, he owned a private island in the South Pacific, the Polynesian atoll known as Teti'aroa, lived a very secluded life and rarely made public appearances.