Marlon Brando Dead at 80

Actor Marlon Brando died Thursday night in Los Angeles, according to local CBS affiliate KPHO in Phoenix this morning. The Los Angeles city fire department was called twice last night to respond to Brando's residence at 12900 Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles.

The CBS News Division and family members both confirm that Brando died in the hospital overnight. The cause of death is still unknown.

Brando was recently in the news when it was disclosed that the retired recluse owed more than $28 million, and was reportedly hiding his Oscars for On the Waterfront and The Godfather for fear they would be seized by debt collectors.

An article in London's Sunday Times says the slumming Brando complained to court officials last year that he scraped by on two pensions worth roughly $7,600 a month, while an ex-lover and maid, who also once engaged him in a court battle, lived in a bigger, better domicile than he.

He was born in Nebraska in 1924 and made his Broadway debut in "I Remember Mama." Brando's big break came in his role as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams's "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1947. He also starred in the film version in 1951.