The calm before the storm.
Three months after not accepting the best actor award at the Academy Awards, Marlon Brando appeared on The Dick Cavett Show with members of the Pauite, Cheyenne and Lummi tribes. Brando had refused his Oscar for The Godfather in protest of Hollywood’s depiction of Native Americans on film.
Brando radiates a shitload of charisma and looks terrific. Brilliant mind. This is the Brando era I choose to remember. The Brando of Last Tango In Paris.
After the taping of the show, Brando was confronted by papparazzo Ron Gallela outside of a restaurant in Chinatown. Brando humored the photographer for a few moments, but when Gallela asked Brando to remove his sunglasses, the actor had had enough. He responded by punching Gallela in the face, breaking the photographer’s jaw and knocking out five teeth.
This is from June 1973.