Very few roles in cinema are as instantly recognizable as as Don Vito Corleone in . It's widely regarded as among his best work and proof of his genius as an artist, despite his many controversies. and his construction of the character, from his corpulent manners and hoarse voice to his iconic cheeks. What's even more impressive about this is how Brando came up with these character traits on the spot during a screen test,

Marlon Brando is simultaneously and his reputation for both was already well-established in the early 1970s. Despite this, director and original The Godfather author were adamant about wanting Brando for the role of Don Corleone, according to The Smithsonian Magazine. to prove he was the right man for the job. Coppola recalls this legendary screen test in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The director and the studio entourage arrived at the actor's house on Mulholland Drive before Brando was even up, so , like Italian meats, cheese, cigars, and other household items. “There’s a rumble and the door opens, and in walks this beautiful man with long blond hair, in a Japanese robe,” as Coppola describes Brando, looking like the opposite of Don Corleone.

Brando then noticed the props and immediately understood what was going on. "He took his hair... He did it up himself in the back, and he took shoe polish, and he made it black, and he put on a shirt,” says Coppola. proceeding to stuff tissues inside his cheeks. Brando even answered a phone call in character during the test. The resulting footage of the screen test was impressive enough to convince the Paramount executives,

It's simply impossible to conceive of Don Corleone looking like anything else other than his stern looks and protruding jawline, and Brando was obviously not aware that he had created one of the most iconic looks in cinema history. What he didn't think of at that time was that , and that it wouldn't be practical or even hygenic to keep stuffing Kleenex in his mouth to do it. Fortunately, he didn't have to.

was the makeup artist responsible for Brando during the filming of The Godfather. Having previously studied to pursue a career in dentistry, Smith came up with to create Don Corleone's "bulldog-ish" look. The prototype was made of foam latex to feel more comfortable inside the actor's mouth, but it didn't quite achieve the indended look, so Smith reworked it, now using steel and resin to make the final version: a steel wire running along Brando's lower teeth with two resin pieces attached to it at the sides. This pushed Brando's cheeks forward,

Because of his work on The Godfather, Smith eventually came to be known as the "Godfather of Makeup." and even had to develop a special technique to avoid using external prosthetics to achieve Don Corleone's older appearance. Smith would go on to win an Oscar for his work on and also worked on classics such as , , and .

While Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo wanted only Marlon Brando for the role of Don Corleone, the leadership wanted anyone but Brando. At that time, although he had already in the 1950s, his reputation played against him because he lined up a series of box-office and critical flops during the 1960s. Not just that, but he was also widely known to be an extremely difficult actor to work with, which .

The footage was shown to the head of Gulf and Western, (the owner of Paramount at that time), but he wasn't told whose test it was. , and that's how Brando was finally welcomed into The Godfather cast. His work not only redefined his career but also shaped The Godfather into something unique, thanks to his artistic insight. Iconic moments, like Don Corleone holding a cat at the beginning of the film and him using an orange to pretend he was a vampire with his grandson, all came from him and