Marlon Brando appeared in a film.
The Academy Awards , now known officially as the Oscars , is a set of twenty-four awards for artistic and technical merit in the American film industry , given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ( AMPAS ) , to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy 's voting membership . Marlon Brando . The Godfather was then one of the most commercially successful films of all time . On the Waterfront is a 1954 American crime drama film directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg . It stars Marlon Brando and features Karl Malden , Lee J. Cobb , Rod Steiger , Pat Henning , and , in her film debut , Eva Marie Saint .