Julius Caesar (film)

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For the 1970 film, see Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar
Original cinema poster for Julius Caesar
Directed by	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Produced by	John Houseman
Written by	William Shakespeare (play) Joseph L. Mankiewicz (screenplay)
Starring	Marlon Brando James Mason John Gielgud Louis Calhern Edmond O'Brien Greer Garson Deborah Kerr
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography	Joseph Ruttenberg
Editing by	John Dunning
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	June 4, 1953 (USA)
Running time	121 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
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Julius Caesar is a 1953 film adaptation of the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar. It was made by MGM, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the uncredited screenplay, and produced by John Houseman. The original music score was by Miklós Rózsa.

It stars Marlon Brando as Marc Antony, James Mason as Brutus, John Gielgud as Cassius, Louis Calhern as Julius Caesar, Edmond O'Brien as Casca, Greer Garson as Calpurnia, and Deborah Kerr as Portia.

[edit] Awards and nominations

The film won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Marlon Brando), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Picture.

It also won two BAFTA awards for Best British Actor (John Gielgud) and Best Foreign Actor (Marlon Brando). It was also nominated in the Best Film category.

[edit] Trivia

Julius Caesar represents the third time in three consecutive years that Brando was nominated for the Best Actor Award. He was nominated in 1951 for A Streetcar Named Desire and in 1952 for Viva Zapata!.
Brando won the BAFTA Best Actor award in three consecutive years for Viva Zapata! (1952), Julius Caesar (1953), and On the Waterfront (1954).
John Gielgud, who plays Cassius in this version, played the title role in the 1970 film with Charlton Heston, Jason Robards and Richard Johnson (as Cassius)
John Houseman, who had produced the famous 1937 Broadway version of the play starring Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre, also produced the MGM film. By this time, however, Welles and Houseman had had a falling out, and Welles had nothing to do with the 1953 film.
John Hoyt, who plays Decius Brutus, also played him in the 1937 stage version.
Marlon Brando listened to old records of John Barrymore reciting Shakespeare in preparation for his role as Marc Antony.