Marlon Brando, hailed as the greatest American actor of all time, died at UCLA Medical Center late Thursday night. The cause of his death is unknown. "Extra" has learned that paramedics were called to the 80-year-old legend's hilltop home twice last night, at 7:00 p.m. and then again at 11:00 p.m.

Since the earliest days of his career, Brando had held the fascination of audiences both on and off the screen. He won two Best Actor Academy Awards and was nominated for the Oscar seven times. A devotee and early exponent of the "method" school of acting, the intense, charismatic icon influenced generations of actors, including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson.

Brando shot to fame in the late 1940s as Stanley Kowalski in the stage version of "A Streetcar Named Desire." In 1951, Brando took the role to the big screen and forever stamped his image on moviegoers' minds while launching a career that would span half a century.

From the brutish Stanley Kowalski to the mixed up Terry Malone in "On the Waterfront" (for which he won his first Oscar), to the leader of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in "The Wild One" and "The Last Tango in Paris'" haunted lover, the chilling Colonel Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now," and many more, Brando's performances made him an iconic presence on the silver screen and one of the country's most fascinating celebrities. But perhaps Brando's most famous role was Don Vito Corleone in 1972's "The Godfather," which earned his second Oscar and crowned a career of embodying powerful, complex and conflicted men.

Like his performance prowess, Brando's appeal as a celebrity was based on his intense inner power and magnetism. For decades, he was the considered one of Hollywood's sexiest -- and most controversial -- leading men.

"Nobody will ever forget the night that instead of coming to accept his win for the award for 'The Godfather,' Marlon Brando sent Sashine Little Feather to turn down the academy award in his name," recalls Entertainment Weekly Senior Editor Steve Daily.

According to Daily, Brando always took the underdog's side: "He always took the point of view of someone who had been belittled and been wronged to and he often took a lot of lumps for it."

Brando was born on April 3, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. Throughout his life, Brando attempted to keep his personal life private. He married his first wife, actress Anna Kashfi, in 1957. The couple had one child before divorcing in 1959.

Brando's second and third marriages were to Movita Castaneda and Tarita Teripia, both of which ended in divorce. Between his three marriages, Brando had a total of nine children.