Eric Braeden Was Shocked to See Marlon Brando Walk Off Set the Moment His Out Time Came: ‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It’
As Marlon Brando‘s co-star in 1965’s Morituri, Eric Braeden was shocked by the movie legend’s on-set behavior. Detailing his experience with one of film’s greatest actors in an interview, The Young and the Restless star says Brando’s antics were unlike anything he’d ever seen. At one point, Brando walked off the set the moment his “out time” came.
Eric Braeden and Marlon Brando co-starred in the 1965 war movie ‘Morituri’
Filmed in 1965, Morituri follows a German man, Robert Crain (Brando), during World War II. Blackmailed into posing as a German spy aboard a cargo ship, Crain’s mission is to disable the explosives on board to prevent the captain from sinking the ship if they are stopped by the Allies.
Also starring in the film was The King and I’s Yul Brynner as Captain Mueller, Janet Margolin, Trevor Howard, Martin Benrath, and Hans Christian Blech. And, in an uncredited role as a radio operator, Breaden.
Eric Braeden remembers a shocking Marlon Brando moment on set
Asked about his experience filming with Brando, Braeden remembered a particularly excruciating setup for a scene in the movie in which director Bernhard Wicki and the crew had worked for eight hours.
On General Hospital star Maurice Benard’s YouTube series, Braeden tells him, “[Brando] had a scene where he had to go into the bowels of the ship, down to the engine room. Took them all day to set that up. Very careful lighting and all that.”
Braeden explains that Wicki called Brando to the set and gave him his directions. The director called “action,” and Brando began. “He walks down the stairs,” Braeden says, “and gets to that point, he looks at his watch. ‘See you tomorrow.’” Brando had arrived at his contractual “out time” and would work no longer.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Braeden says. “I felt sorry for the director, sorry for the crew.”
Marlon Brando hated acting and Hollywood
Brando continued to be known for his difficult on-set behavior throughout the rest of his career. As noted by Far Out Magazine, he and Jack Nicholson became known as the “bad boys of Beverly Hills.” Brando would make outlandish requests (like wanting to play a dolphin) and refuse to learn his lines. He demanded, instead, that his co-stars wear cue cards with his lines printed on them.
Braeden links Brando’s infamous antics with the legendary actor’s resentment for show business. “Part of him resented the business … resented producers, resented studios,” Braeden says after telling Benard that Brando cared so little about what others thought of him, he could have been considered “a sociopath.”
While filming Morituri, Braeden also recalls the pair playing football and talking about anything but acting and the film industry. “He disliked the medium in which he was brilliant,” Braeden continues, saying that he and Brando often talked about politics, history, and social issues.
The only time Braeden remembers Brando talking about acting was when Brando tried to convince Braeden not to become an actor. Ignoring Brando (at least in this case), Braeden has since starred in Titanic, The Nanny, and Den of Thieves. He continues to star in The Young and the Restless.
