Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, portrayed by Marlon Brando, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now. Colonel Kurtz is based on the character of a nineteenth-century ivory trader, also called Kurtz, from the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now
Marlon Brando Jr. was an American actor and activist. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential actors of all time, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, one Cannes Film Festival Award, and three British Academy Film Awards. Brando is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the Stanislavski system of acting and method acting to mainstream audiences.
Brando c. 1934
Brando in 1948
From left to right: Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter and Brando in the original 1947 Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Brando as Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata! (1952)