(CNN) — Marlon Brando, the stage and screen actor whose performances in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “On the Waterfront” and “The Godfather” earned him plaudits as one of the greatest actors of all time, has died, his attorney said. He was 80.
Brando’s agent, Jay Cantor, said the actor was admitted to UCLA Medical Center on Wednesday evening and that the cause of death was pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that involves scarring of the lungs.
Brando had suffered from congestive heart failure and was overweight.
The actor was perhaps the most influential of his generation, noted Bob Thomas of The Associated Press.
Marlon Brando was born April 3, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother was active in the local theater and encouraged two local actors, Henry Fonda and Dorothy McGuire, onto the stage.
The young Marlon, known as Bud to the family, moved a handful of times with his family — first to Evanston, Illinois, later to Santa Ana, California, and finally back to Illinois. Known as a rambunctious child, he was sent to military school as a teenager to curb his behavior. He was expelled.
Prevented from enlisting in World War II due to his 4-F status, he moved to New York at 19 to live with his sister Frances. Another sister, Jocelyn, was studying acting with legendary coach Stella Adler; Brando soon joined her. Adler was quickly impressed.
“Within a year, Marlon Brando will be the best young actor in the American theater,” she said, according to the AP