Marlon Brando was in a film.
Marlon Brando . Brando is widely known for his Academy Award-winning performances as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront ( 1954 ) and Vito Corleone in The Godfather ( 1972 ) , as well as his performances in A Streetcar Named Desire ( 1951 ) , Viva Zapata ! ; Mark Antony in Joseph L. Mankiewicz 's 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar ; and Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver in Sayonara ( 1957 ) , an adaption of James Michener 's 1954 novel . He directed and starred in the cult western film One-Eyed Jacks , a critical and commercial flop , after which he delivered a series of box-office failures , beginning with the 1962 film adaptation of the novel Mutiny on the Bounty . The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy , based on Mario Puzo 's best-selling novel of the same name . It stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders of a fictional New York crime family .