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« on: March 08, 2022, 11:01:37 PM »
I was doing some shopping at the local Ollie's, a discount chain where you can find some interesting and unusual stuff. I decided to pick up a copy of The Contender, a biography of the late Marlon Brando. Brando certainly led an interesting life and crossed paths with many actors. He made two films with Jean Simmons.
The story about his declining the Academy Award has been told numerous times but the book has some interesting information from her perspective. He sent her to the ceremony with a long speech that went on for several pages. Once she got on stage, she knew that she would never be able to read Brando's speech as written and basically had to ad lib. The audience was dumbstruck initially. Unsurprisingly, John Wayne was furious and he had to physically "restrained by six security guards" from confronting her.
The book also provides some new information on her status as the winner of The Miss American Vampire contest. She had entered the contest to bring attention to the situation at Alcatraz. What being selected Miss American Vampire would have done to aid the situation is unclear. But she did win. Littlefeather declined the prize of a guest appearance on DS. Brando survived the situation. Littlefeather returned to obscurity.
There's another DS connection as well. The author, William J. Mann, has written quite a few other books, including an excellent biography of Katharine Hepburn. But he is also one of us! He wrote a pretty good DS serial, an 1872 flashback, that appeared in the fanzine Inside The Old House.