Marlon Brando Hated Burt Reynolds So Much, He Threatened To Quit One Of His Biggest Roles

Back when Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" was in preproduction, sometime in 1971, Burt Reynolds was already a notable star. The handsome charmer began acting on TV in 1958 and earned his first film credit in 1961 in a film called "Angel Baby." By 1966, he secured his first title role with "Navajo Joe" and was poised to take the world by storm in the 1972 film "Deliverance." In fact, Reynolds was such a hot commodity at the time that he was offered the role of Michael Corleone in "The Godfather."

Marlon Brando, however, threatened to quit Coppola's film if Reynolds was cast, despite having already essentially built an entire life for his "Godfather" character Vito Corleone. The two actors had never worked together before, but something about Reynolds rubbed Brando the wrong way. Reynolds confirmed this story while appearing on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" in 2018, joking that he was "flattered" that Brando was upset. He didn't regret not getting "The Godfather," either, as his career was in fine shape without it. All the same, he didn't really understand why Brando hated him so much.

Indeed, Brando's hatred of Reynolds is the stuff of Hollywood legend. It's also utterly baffling. The "rivalry" had nothing to do with professional sniping, bad behavior during in-person meetings, or even something contractual. For all we know, Brando just didn't like Reynolds as an actor and resented that he had become famous. One might have even heard the legendary audio recording of Brando ranting on the set of "Apocalypse Now" (which is available online) about how awful Reynolds was. This wasn't a grudge. It was just plain-faced hate of another actor.

The audio of Marlon Brando is clear and hateful. Someone on the "Apocalypse Now" set mentioned Burt Renyolds, prompting Brando to reply:

"Don't say that name around me. [...] He is the epitome of something that makes me vomit, throw up. [...] He can't be [a nice guy]. He's the epitome of everything that's disgusting about the thespian. Just wholly. He worships at the temple of his own narcissism. Totally narcissistic person."

But what did he mean by that? Brando went on to relate an example of Reynolds' behavior that disgusted him. It seems that Reynolds did something as a publicity stunt for his 1973 movie "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing," which ticked Brando off. As he put it:

"You know what really disgusted me? I saw him on the TV one time, it was at an opening of some movie he made ['The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing']. And he had ordered some Indian kids there, because it was a little anti-Indian, and he wanted to make some compensations for it. So, he ordered some little Indian kids there, brought in from someplace. [...] He was about a three- or four-year-old kid. And he wanted to show how loving he was to the kid. So, he stooped down and was playing for the cameras. 'Oh, how I love children,' that kind of thing." 

"Cat Dancing" opened in theaters after "The Godfather," but it seemed to reinforce Brando's already entrenched hatred for Reynolds. One might point out that Brando himself had something of an ego as well (see: why James Dean's rise to stardom didn't sit well with him), but Reynolds' ego was not something Brando could abide. Perhaps Reynolds was too natural for Brando, a more studied actor. 

"The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing," by the way, starred Burt Reynolds as a gunslinger who loves Cat Dancing, a Native American woman who's assaulted and murdered. It's a typically bleak 1970s story about revenge, crime, rage, and tragic misunderstandings. The film was rocked by a scandal when a man named David Whiting, the personal assistant of Reynolds' co-star Sarah Miles, was found dead on set. This Esquire post covers the incident in greater depth, but it appears there was some jealousy and infidelity involved. It's possible this scandal, paired with the bad "Cat Dancing" publicity stunt, only further soured Marlon Brando on Reynolds. 

Also keep in mind that when Brando won his Best Actor Oscar for "The Godfather," he sent activist and actor Sacheen Littlefeather in his place. Littlefeather announced that Brando had refused the award because of "the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry," noting what was happening at the time at Wounded Knee (a debacle unto itself). Perhaps Brando hated that Reynolds, with "Cat Dancing," was being brusque with First Nation citizens as well.

That being said, when The Guardian interviewed Reynolds in 2015, the actor revealed another reason why Brando may've not liked him. Specifically, Reynolds confirmed that he grew his iconic mustache to avoid being compared to Brando, so it seems that some critics had, perhaps, conflated the two actors. "He was a strange man. He didn't like me at all," Reyndolds recalled. "When he finally talked to me — which took forever — I was introduced [...] and he said '[Brando-style mumbles].' I said [...], 'You're the finest actor in the world, and I'm thrilled to meet you.' He said, 'I wish I could say the same for you.'" 

Harsh, man.