(Credits: Far Out / MGM / UA)
Wed 10 December 2025 20:45, UK
Spare a thought for poor Marlon Brando, who hated being called the best in the world at what he did, which must have been an absolute nightmare. Obviously, anyone who’s ever worked any job would be aghast at the shame, disgrace, and ignominy of being regarded by their peers as the complete and utter pinnacle of the profession.
In reality, most people would be thrilled to be held in such high esteem, but not Brando. He thought his dog, Tim, deserved to be called the best actor on the planet, which was perfectly on-brand. The two-time Academy Award winner knew he was good, but he loathed the back-slapping that came with it.
Hollywood is a place where ego runs rampant, which placed him in a sticky situation. He always wanted to be an actor, and for a while, he loved it. However, once he fell out of love with thespianism, his career was never the same, with the flashes of the era-defining brilliance becoming fewer and further between the longer he stayed in the game.
Instead, he became an increasingly difficult customer on set, and away from the cameras, he was growing more cantankerous than ever. The man who single-handedly shifted the landscape of acting was more likely to be found ranting about whatever annoyed him about modern cinema than rattling off the things he enjoyed about it, and even beloved veterans weren’t immune from his wrath.
Across an eight-decade career that spanned vaudeville, film, television, and theatre, Bob Hope became an American institution. He hosted the Oscars 19 times, made almost 60 tours in support of the armed forces, was awarded five honorary Academy Awards, and has four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Brando thought he’d overstayed his welcome in the public eye, though, and couldn’t hide his disdain. “Bob Hope will go to the opening of a phone booth in a gas station in Anaheim, providing they have a camera there and three people,” he told Lawrence Grobel. “He’ll go to the opening of a market and receive an award. It’s pathetic. It’s a bottomless pit. A barrel that has no floor.”
He didn’t necessarily have anything against Hope as a person or performer, but he had serious issues with his status as a personality. “He must be a man who has an ever-crumbling estimation of himself,” he added. “He’s constantly filling himself up. He’s like a junkie, an applause junkie, like Sammy Davis Jr. Sammy desperately longs to be loved. approved of.”
Dragging the ‘Rat Pack’ icon into the fray was unexpected, but The Godfather star quickly refocused his furious gaze on his intended target: “Bob Hope, Christ, instead of growing old gracefully or doing something with his money, be helpful, all he does is he has an anniversary with the president looking on. It’s sad.”
In short, what was Brando’s estimation of Hope? “He’s a pathetic guy.” The bad news for him was that he aired his grievances in the late 1970s, and it would be another two decades before the industry favourite finally retired from public life.
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