Marlon Brando’s legacy as one of the sexiest men to ever walk this Earth is already assured. In the 50s, a series of films—including 1953’s The Wild One, 1951’s A Streetcar Named Desire, and 1954’s On the Waterfront—shot Brando to stardom and cemented him as a brooding sex symbol for a new era.
It should come as no surprise that Brando’s sexual conquests were legion—and that they included both men and women. By now we’ve heard all the stories about trysts with Richard Pryor and many other men: even though Brando didn’t consider himself to be queer, it didn’t stop him from having lots and lots of queer sex. And we love that!
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Robert Conrad’s butt was the stuff of legend.
But the extent and chaotic nature of Brando’s sexcapades can’t really be quantified, especially because there are always more stories about the guy coming out. And today, in the wake of the announcement of the death of legendary musician and producer Quincy Jones, is no exception.
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People are remembering the music industry giant, and also taking this moment to revel in some of his finest interview moments.
First of all, learning that Quincy Jones would go cha-cha dancing with Marlon Brando is delightful. I bet those two cut it up on the floor.
But also this seeming admission that Brando had sex with not only Pryor but James Baldwin and Marvin Gaye?!
And if you’re wondering, “how would Quincy Jones know this?” the answer is that the two were remarkably close. In the 1980s, Jones suffered a mental health episode and he went to Brando’s private island to recuperate. In a 2018 GQ interview, Jones waxed eloquent about late nights out with Brando in New York in the 1950s.
Responding to the interviewer’s statement that Jones and Brando were close, Jones replied: “Oh man, like my brother.”
He continued, saying: “I came out of [New York jazz club] Birdland when I was 18 years old – Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Marlon. He had a red fedora on, had just smoked a joint. He’d just done A Streetcar Named Desire, and he was going up to Harlem that night. He didn’t say to the brothers, ‘Go with him.’ He said ‘I’m goin’.’ He didn’t ask us to do shit. And he went up there—he was the only white dude in the whole place. So he went in the joint, all black, and he saw a booth over there with a guy with a hat on and five girls. He didn’t realize the guy was a pimp. And he went over, put his charm on ’em, and said, ‘I’d like to dance,’ took her out on the floor for about 30 minutes. He’d dance his ass off. And went back:, ‘Thank you very much.’ Got that charming smile.”
The man had stories, and we loved to hear them. But we’ll certainly never forget that iconic Vulture interview that gave us Marlon Brando dancing the cha cha and having lots of gay sex.
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