Marlon Brando: Call Me Womanly

"Contemplation, patience--these are seen, I guess, as feminine."

Interview with Marlon Brando

Conducted by James Grissom

By Telephone

1991

Whenever I have been what I could call a good or sensitive person, I was emulating the behavior of a woman, and whenever I was at my most despicable, I was acting out of the fear that I was not strong enough, manly enough, not hoisting enough meat for the moment.

We learn from our teachers, and no matter what my mother's weaknesses were, she was never deliberately cruel--to evoke Tennessee. Her cruelties were sins of absence: She was far too frequently wrapped in the arms and the fumes of alcohol, because there were so few human arms to offer her comfort.

Contemplation, patience--these are seen, I guess, as feminine. Anything that cannot be seen immediately as action or potent, so to speak, is womanly, feminine. I have destroyed years and emotions and friendships believing this.

Call me womanly. I have grown contemplative. I am hoping to develop patience. I am soft and wrapped in the arms of food and incense and chants, a temple of avoidance.

Call me womanly.

©2020 James Grissom