After making a name for himself on Broadway in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ a 25-year-old Marlon Brando set his sights on Hollywood. His first film role was anything but easy. In the 1950 drama ‘The Men,’ he played a bitter, paraplegic World War II veteran struggling to readjust to life outside the hospital. The film tackles the raw reality of what war does to soldiers — the physical damage, emotional pain, doubt, and the slow, difficult road toward some kind of normal life.
To prepare for the role, Brando spent a full month living among real patients at the Birmingham Army Hospital in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. He didn’t just visit — he moved in, using a wheelchair, interacting with veterans, and absorbing their daily experiences firsthand. It was an unusual and intense approach to preparation, but it gave him an understanding of his character’s world that no script alone could provide.
The veterans at Birmingham became more than research material — they were Brando’s daily companions and his real-life inspirations. He learned how they navigated their wheelchairs, how they dealt with frustration, and how they found moments of humor and connection despite their injuries. That proximity showed on screen. Film critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote that Brando’s performance “is so vividly real, dynamic and sensitive that his illusion is complete.”
Part of his preparation involved mastering the wheelchair itself. Brando practiced controlling it across different surfaces, building the muscle memory and physical confidence that his character would need. He also worked on the subtler aspects — the posture, the limitations, the way a paraplegic veteran would carry himself in a room full of able-bodied people.
The training wasn’t smooth. Photographs from the hospital grounds show Brando tipping and falling from the wheelchair as he pushed the limits of what he could do in it. These weren’t staged moments — they were part of the learning process, and Brando threw himself into it without reservation.
Away from the hospital, life went on around him. During filming, Brando stayed in California near family — his aunt’s home provided a quiet retreat from the intensity of the production. Photographs from that period capture him alongside his grandmother, sharing ordinary moments that stood in stark contrast to the heavy subject matter he was working with on set.
The rare photographs below document this entire period — from the hospital training sessions to quiet walks with his grandmother and her dog. Together, they offer a close look at how one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors prepared for the role that started it all.
