Free Republic

Marlon Brando may have possessed the greatest talent of any American actor of the past 100 years, but for most of his career, he wasted that talent. Charley Malloy: Look, kid, I -- how much you weigh, son? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast. Terry Malloy: It wasn't him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night....

Filed at 4:50 p.m. ET LOS ANGELES (AP) -- John Frankenheimer, director of such Hollywood classics as ``The Manchurian Candidate'' and ``Birdman of Alcatraz,'' died Saturday. He was 72. Frankenheimer died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of a stroke due to complications following spinal surgery, said his business manager, Patti Person. Frankenheimer was nominated for 14 Emmy Awards in a career that spanned nearly five decades. His work ranged from social dramas to political thrillers, and included a highly regarded run of feature films in the 1960s, and a string of 152 live television dramas in the '50s. He won four...