Eric Braeden Felt Marlon Brando Didn’t Care About Anyone’s Opinion: ‘In That Sense, You Could Have Said He Was a Sociopath’

As one of the most iconic actors of all time, Marlon Brando is not the name most people associate with sociopathic tendencies. Yet fellow actor Eric Braeden of The Young and the Restless describes Brando as so unconcerned with those around him that he could easily be considered one. Here are the details of the soap opera star’s unusual opinion:

‘The Young and The Restless’ star Eric Braeden on Marlon Brando

In a May 2022 interview, Braeden recalls his time on set with Brando. He painted an unexpected picture of the legendary star. “He was arguably one of the most charismatic figures I’ve ever met in my life,” Braeden tells Maurice Benard during his State of Mind interview (available via YouTube). 

Braeden says Brando had an “inner power” bred from “anger” that made him seem unaffected by outside opinion. “He couldn’t care less [what other people thought of him],” Braeden says. “In that sense, you could have said he was a sociopath.” 

That “anger,” Braeden claims, stemmed from Brando’s fierce aversion to acting and the world of celebrity. “He disliked the medium in which he was brilliant,” Braeden says, calling the Oscar-winning Brando “one of the most prodigiously gifted actors” he’s ever seen but notes that Brando was also “very sadistic.”

Marlon Brando as Hollywood’s favorite sociopath

The inherent anger Braeden speaks of is part of what created the riveting effect Brando had in movies. Brando’s most significant characters, like On the Waterfront’s Terry Malloy, Stanley from A Streetcar Named Desire, Don Vito Corleone, Colonel Kurtz, and others, were fueled by this anger — the same deep-seated sense of rebellion Braeden noted in Brando. 

The two actors worked together on Morituri. The 1965 film is a lesser-known name in the collection of Brando movies in which “a war pacifist is blackmailed to pose as an SS officer and to disable the scuttling explosives on freighter carrying rubber cargo to be captured by the Allies” (IMDb). 

In the interview, Braeden also recalled how difficult Brando was to work with on set. Brando was notorious for this and another facet of the star’s distaste for his profession: “I felt sorry for the director, sorry for the crew,” Braeden tells Benard. 

Eric Braeden and Marlon Brando didn’t talk about movies; discussed history and politics

Braeden’s favorite memories of Brando seem to involve the actors’ relationship off-camera. “We threw the football to each other,” Braeden recalls, noting the game of catch occurred on the backlot of Twentieth Century Fox, which has since become the bustling township of Century City. 

“We talked a lot about German politics,” The Young and the Restless star says, referring to Morituri’s plot and another Brando movie from 1958, The Young Lions. “He was very interested in the history of the Second World War and the history of Germany.”

Other subjects broached between the pair included prejudices, Indigenous Peoples, and politics. One issue Brando avoided was acting — that is, when Brando was not trying to dissuade Braeden from becoming an actor. 

Despite the disdain Braeden and others noted that Brando had for making movies and his aversion to the world of show business, he continues to be Hollywood’s man. No other actor seems able to capture his profound mix of vulnerability and grit, sensitivity and imperviousness, or to walk the delicate line between icon and sociopath.