Marlon Brando’s breakup letter to girlfriend is up for sale
Toyin Owoseje, CNN
A handwritten letter sent by a young Marlon Brando to break up with his French girlfriend in the late 1940s could fetch up to $15,000 at auction.
The rare letter was addressed to Solange Podell, Brando’s love interest when he was a budding Broadway star. Boston’s RR Auction is in charge of the online sale, which ends on February 9.
In the message, littered with spelling mistakes, Brando uses the tried and tested “it’s not you, it’s me” approach as he attempted to end the affair with the dancer and actress amicably.
“In order that you won’t think me a complete boor, I am writing you this letter to explain that because of an erratic, flighty, fly-by-night, temperament I wish not to humiliate and degrade your sentiments by seeing you only at my mood’s convenience,” the “Last Tango in Paris” star writes in pencil on three pages on two adjoining sheets.
“Please accept this letter with an open heart as it is written with fourthright sincerity. I’m sorry I could not have tried harder to be less self indulgent and therewith, a little more compatable. My intuitions were flawlessly scroupulous, but my emotions, unfortunately, unstable. I will remember you with fondness, regard, and appreciation. When we meet in France (perhaps in October) I trust my behavior will be a trifle more adult.”
Brando signed off the letter “with warmest Marlon” before adding in a postscript: “Please give my kind acknowledgements to your mother, if she’ll accept them.”
According to the auction listing, Brando and Podell met in 1947 after she was invited backstage during a production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” in which he played Stanley Kowalski opposite Jessica Tandy’s Blanche DuBois.
After their break-up, Brando focused on his dream of Hollywood stardom, while Podell turned to photography, studying with Richard Avedon. Brando went on to earn two Best Actor Oscars for his performances in “On the Waterfront” and “The Godfather.”
The-CNN-Wire
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