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Why Marlon Brando's breakup letter to girlfriend is up for sale?

Marlon Brando breakup letter; The mythomaniacs most eager to possess a small treasure of the most intimate history of Hollywood always

By Ground report 04 Feb 2023

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Why Marlon Brando's breakup letter to girlfriend is up for sale?

A letter written by actor Marlon Brando to French actress Solange Podell, with whom he was romantically involved in the late 1940s, is up for sale and could fetch at least $15,000 (more than ₹12 lakh).

It appears to have been written shortly after their split, Boston's RR Auction said. Marlon wrote it when he was a rising star on Broadway.

In this way, recently a large collection of Marilyn Monroe's personal items was up for auction, but also someone who is still alive and kicking like Michael Caine was bidding on works of art, movie posters of him and a pair of the iconic sunglasses.

Marlon Brando's breakup letter

The latest curious item looking for a new owner is a letter dated in the late 1940s and written in pencil by Marlon Brando after his breakup with the French interpreter Solange Podell, with whom he had had a brief romantic relationship.

Podell (1927-2020) was an Irish-born cabaret dancer and actress who had small roles in various films in her native country in the early 1940s. On the advice of an American talent scout, she moved to Hollywood for a year before moving back east to New York, where she began taking classes at the Actor's Studio.

During a Broadway play in 1947, he was told to go backstage during a production of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' to meet the up-and-coming young actor than playing the role of Stanley Kowalski. Podell and Brando quickly struck up a romance, but their ambitions and careers led them on different paths.

Brando would reprise his role as Kowalski on the big screen and be Oscar-nominated, and Podell took up photography, learning from the legendary Richard Avedon and graduating from the Famous Photographer's School before settling in Monaco and being appointed Official Photographer of the Office of Tourism of the Principality, portraying both the F1 Grand Prix and the remembered princess, Grace Kelly.

Currently, more than five thousand photos of Solange Podell are archived at the Palais Princier for their aesthetic quality and historical value.

Breakup letter

The text, with various spelling and grammar errors, reads in its entirety as follows:

"So that you do not think that I am a complete jerk, I am writing this letter to explain to you that, due to my erratic, elusive temperament, I do not wish to humiliate and degrade your feelings seeing you only when I feel like it. Please accept this letter with an open heart as it is written with all sincerity. I'm sorry I couldn't try harder to be less self-indulgent and thereby a little more understanding. My intuitions were impeccably scrupulous, but my emotions, unfortunately, unstable. I will remember you with love, consideration and appreciation. When we meet in France (perhaps in October) I hope that my behaviour will be a little more adult."

Brando adds a postscript: "Please give my kind thanks to your mother if she will accept them." The letter is preserved in good condition and the starting price is $15,000.

Beyond his exceptional acting skills, Brando was always known for his tumultuous personal life and his large number of partners and children.

In 1976 he declared to a French journalist: "Homosexuality is so fashionable that it is no longer news. Like a great number of men, I too have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think of me. But if there is anyone who is convinced that Jack Nicholson and I are lovers, please continue to do so. I find it amusing."

Marlon Brando's first marriage

His first marriage, to Anna Kashfi, lasted just two years. Later he went down the aisle with the Mexican actress Movita Castaneda, but their relationship ended when he met his third wife, Tarita Teriipaia, the Tahitian woman who played his partner in the movie 'Rebellion on Board', with the one who had two children and was married for ten years.

As a result of that film, Brando also fell in love with Tahiti and bought a small island in the archipelago in 1966, where he lived when his professional obligations allowed.

One of the actor's best-known affairs was with Marilyn Monroe, whom he met at a party where she was playing the piano, without anyone else noticing. They had an on-off relationship for many years and he even received a phone call from her several days before he died.