Marlon Brando: Talent Has To Move

Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe at the Actors' Studio premiere of Tennessee's The Rose Tattoo

Interview with Marlon Brando

Conducted by James Grissom

1990

You have to have the talent for the art--the music, the acting, the writing, the art--but you also have to have the talent for being in the right place at the right time with the right people with the right approach. I had to become a certain physical person and I had to place myself in certain places in front of, beneath, and around the right people. It's an art to be noticed; to be necessary; to be needed and desired. Develop it, if you can. If you can't, then I don't think any amount of talent will be of any use to you. Talent has to move. Talent has to walk up to people and ask to sit down and talk a bit. Most talent stays at home, and it remains a gift, but it doesn't get out enough. Someone has to see it in the right context. The context is entirely your job.