There have been more biographies of Marlon Brando than you can shake a stick at. One thing they all ignore – except in passing – is his humor.

Brando – The Funny Side reverses that trend in no uncertain terms. From childhood, it points out, he was an inveterate prankster and practical joker.

A nightmare to all and sundry, he seemed to have an ambition from childhood to wrongfoot everyone he met. He jerked their chains, made bawdy cracks about them when they were least expecting it and frustrated their expectations in all sorts of zany ways.

You could never be mad at ‘Bud’ (his childhood name) for too long because his ruses were so ingenious. Whether he was causing minor explosions outside teachers’ doors, stealing bells from high towers in military college or shaking hands with Hollywood’s Sob Sisters with an electric buzzer in his fist, he never let anyone relax for too long.

After he went to New York to ‘tread the boards,’ he continued to have method in his madness – and madness in his Method. By day he revolutionized acting; by night he encouraged his pet raccoon, Russell, to nip people’s ankles until they screamed in pain.

Or hung out windows upside down as if he was going to hurtle onto the pavement below. His impishness helped him unwind from the intensity of acting.

Even after he became its most high profile purveyor he didn’t let up, making directors’ lives hell as he continued to conduct himself like an overgrown adolescent for most of his Hollywood life. Whether he was ‘mooning’ on the set of The Godfather or acting the goon with people like Michael Winner or Wally Cox he was Tinseltown’s prize clown, a funster with an inexhaustible array of ways to drive both friends and foes batty.

This is a Marlon Brando you’ve never experienced before. And will never forget after you do.

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