Whattaya Got?

by anna at 08:37 AM on July 03, 2004

Once again a cultural icon has bitten the dust. The massive Marlon Brando is no more. I always thought he was one of the greatest actors of all time, albeit if a bit of a kook in real life. Look for a major circus when it comes time to divvy up his loot between a motley crew of acknowledged children, illegitimate (what an antiquated term!) kids, inmates and housekeepers.

You turn on the TV or open a newspaper and there are these meticulously researched and written bios of the latest luminary to die. (In Brando's case we learn that he took the coveted Don Corleone role only because he saw The Godfather as a screed against corporate greed. Huh? Or that he was paid $3.7 million for 12 days work on Superman.)

Most of them have long been out of the limelight. Their heyday came 'n went long before most of today's writers' memory span. So how do they come up with all these obscure life details and produce such quality product on such short notice?

Obviously these things were produced and canned well in advance. Somewhere there's a shelf that contains all the bios of old famous people who are likely to conk out at any given moment. Once, a news outlet broke out one of Bob Hope well before his actual demise. Others followed suit. He read it. Shades o' Monty Python: Uh, I'm not quite dead yet. Conk! Now you are.

All of this has that same creepily macabre feel to it as those morbid office and online death pools. Fortunately for me, I hit the trifecta with Reagan, Ray Charles and now Brando. At the same time I must say the world will miss all them sorely.

So, Johnny, what are you rebelling against? Uh, corporate greed. Not.