6 Foods Marlon Brando Ate To Satisfy His Sweet Tooth

Hollywood icon Marlon Brando was notorious for his many appetites, not the least of which was sugar. "The Godfather" himself had a powerful sweet tooth that drove his eating habits into the realm of the luscious and the luxurious, items reserved for the final act of a menu at any of these restaurants Brando loved. But he didn't take a haughty approach to his sumptuous delights; lore around the backlots and movie sets indicates his tastes tended toward store-bought cookies and homemade candy bars rather than chef-inspired indulgences.

Brando's sugar hunger absolutely spilled into his professional life. Back in the day, future star of "The Princess Bride," Cary Elwes, was a runner on the 1978 film "Superman," tasked with keeping Brando flush with desserts to level out his mood. And in a 1994 interview with Larry King, he offered the host a cookie made out of salicornia, a succulent plant Brando believed would revolutionize the treat industry. That didn't stop him from eating a slew of traditional goodies during his lifetime, from cake to ice cream and a decadent bunch of other sweet-tooth satisfiers. Here are some of Marlon Brando's favorite sweets.

Marlon Brando didn't reserve his penchant for sugar for snacks and dessert; he took advantage of breakfast as a perfect meal to work a little extra sweetness into his daily menu. One of his daybreak platters certainly included eggs and bacon — standards of an American diet — though it's likely he increased the quantities to slake his tummy grumblings. But he did the IHOP shuffle and added whole stacks of pancakes to the proposition, incorporating more than a little sweetness into the deal.

In "Bud: The Brando I Knew," a biography by Carlo Fiore about his long-lasting friendship with the Hollywood legend, Fiore wrote about Brando's propensity for downing piles of flapjacks sozzled in sugary syrup. The spread would likely serve as a post-film shoot splurge, a cheat meal to make up for Brando's strict fitness regimen before production started. All modern menus considered, it seems like the actor was taking advantage of an entire Denny's menu all at once — shady side of maple syrup be darned.

So maybe it's not technically a sweet food, but peanut butter does contain sugar, which puts it in the suite adjacent to sweets. Even if you use it sparingly, it feels like a luxurious provision. So imagine how elite it feels to enjoy more than a swipe on a PB&J. Let's say half a jar or more in one sitting ... then imagine Marlon Brando doing just that. Brando made it a part of his regimen, enjoying peanut butter by the jarful, which sounds completely on-brand for someone who never did things by half measures.

Early in his career, Brando was eating these mass quantities of PB. The protein may have helped build his famous physique at the time, but the sugar would have come along for the ride. All the best and worst peanut butter brands can't help incorporating sugar into their recipes, so Brando was getting at least something to satiate his sweet tooth. There's no word on whether "The Godfather" star dipped anything into the peanut butter or if he simply used a spoon. Hopefully, he at least had a few carrot sticks to add crunch.

Marlon Brando was a great fan of ice cream, but then again, what self-respecting sweet toother isn't? It seems to have been with him from the start of his career, as starlet Joan Collins attested when she appeared on "The Graham Norton Show." Brando was friends with Collins when she first arrived in Hollywood and would frequently appear at her apartment door for a visit. Once inside, he'd raid the freezer and clean out the ice cream she had on hand. He was also a patron of C.C. Brown's, a well-known Tinseltown ice cream parlor that attracted stars like bees to nectar for popular ice cream flavors from the era.

Later, when the actor had begun to exert his star power in less charming ways, Brando would devour tubs of ice cream while filming the 1962 film "Mutiny on the Bounty," forcing ongoing changes in his wardrobe to accommodate the weight gain. The actor reportedly split 52 pairs of pants thanks to his ice cream habit, which he would indulge by paddling out to a reef near the film's shooting location, with nothing but ice cream to eat and the local birds for company.

The real-life Mounds bar may be one of the tastiest culinary inventions ever, and Marlon Brando gets the credit for bringing it into existence. The flavors of coconut and dark chocolate are as complex and intriguing as the actor himself, so it makes a strange kind of sense that he would be drawn to the classic candy bar. The gourmet island twist Brando gave the Mounds bar, however, is an inspired touch that has become part of his legacy.

While filming in French Polynesia, the Oscar-winning actor fashioned his homemade Mounds bars by letting chocolate melt in the sun, then pouring it into a cracked-open coconut, creating a real-life Mounds bar that wasn't in bar form at all. Instead, it was a delicious spin on the bite-sized ingots that added dimension and scale, suiting Brando's sensibilities. It was so luxe that it became a signature dessert item at one of the restaurants at the Polynesian resort that the actor envisioned and planned to build before his death. The completed resort not only serves his ultimate sweet dish; the spot is also named The Brando in his honor, doubling the sweetness.

It's a tad obvious to say traditional birthday cake was part of Marlon Brando's portfolio of sweet treats. It's essentially a staple for birthday celebrations, which means even people without a sweet tooth are likely to partake. But like many other indulgences in his life, the cinema titan enjoyed birthday cake with great gusto — and with more than a little theatrical flair, fitting of his larger-than-life persona.

One particular anecdote relates an incident on a film set that showed just how much of a sweet tooth Brando had for cake. A sign reading "Don't Feed The Director" was placed in front of a cake during Brando's birthday party with his "One-Eyed Jacks" cast and crew ... and Brando happened to be the director. Regardless of the instruction, Brando was said to have eaten at least four pieces of cake at the event. Whether that left much cake for everyone else isn't known, but it certainly (literally) sounds like a sweet celebration.

Pepperidge Farm offers a premium selection of cookies that goes above and beyond the more basic selections in the grocery store. But are these biscuits so beguiling they could captivate the gustatory leanings of someone with access to much more deluxe offerings? Would an A-list actor opt for these standard sweets rather than seeking out something more fitting for a celebrity of stature? In short: Yes, Marlon Brando loved these cookies.

His own brother-in-law is said to have revealed that on the set of the 1966 film "The Appaloosa," Brando required a double for some shots due to his oversized lunch. It seems the actor had followed up two chickens with bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies. Whether they were chocolate-filled Milanos or jelly-centered Veronas isn't known, but considering the quality of Pepperidge Farm cookies of all types, they must have been delicious.