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Waltzing With Brando: Planning a Paradise in Tahiti
Waltzing with Brando is the story of a young Los Angeles architect who found himself, quite unexpectedly, living on an unpopulated atoll in the South Pacific with his client, Marlon Brando. Bernard Judge recounts his life changing experience while discovering the culture of Polynesia and Tahiti in the early 70's, before mass tourism, electrification and the automobile changed everything. The book is filled with amusing anecdotes about his famous client. It exposes Marlon Brando the man, not the actor, his foibles and eccentricities and regales the reader with Brando's ridiculous exploits with women. It is also a narrative about Tetiaroa, Brandon's private atoll, about living in nature without despoiling the environment. Questions are asked. Should a hotel be built? What are the consequences? It tells of how Brando and his architect came to an understanding, an appreciation for the atoll's archeology, its ecology, and the interdependence of its marine life, sea birds and nesting turtle grounds. It is an unusual convergence of adventure, of reaching for a dream, and a compelling love story richly told and illustrated with beautiful historic photographs of the period.
289 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2011
40 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 12, 2011
It was 1969 when architect Bernie Judge first began exploring the project that would eventually become Marlon Brando’s private resort in Tetiaroa amid the South Pacific’s Society Islands. Starting from little more than an idea – a fantasy, you might call it – the two conspired over the course of many years to eventually build a small scale, eco-friendly resort in an idyllic setting among the motus of Bora Bora, Moorea, and Tahiti.
“Waltzing With Brando” is the story of that decades long adventure – a trip that required great amounts of research, planning and execution to achieve its idealistic dream (it is complete with ample photos of the region, diagrams of the project, and pictures of the people referenced in the twisting and turning story line of the book.) Today it seems so simple, but back in the early 70’s the islands were much less developed with far fewer resorts and only the first glimmer of commercial air service coming to the region.
To this day, most of the world’s population probably doesn’t even know about Brando’s resort, though those who have ventured to the South Pacific and begin to ask questions about the outlying regions (the Tuamotos, Rangoria, etc…) eventually get wind of the locale. The story of the planning and building – from the initial runway to being in supplies and visitors, to the building of the resort itself, to a hurricane wipe out and an eventual rebuild – is both a detailed love affair between the inhabitants and the geography as well as the inner workings of the project and even the partners themselves. Throughout, there are the stories of the fun times, the women and the many, often strenuous factors that affect living in such a remote location.
For those who have traveled to this region, “Waltzing” makes for a fascinating history of a microcosm of this French Polynesian paradise. For anyone thinking about vacationing there, (the resort is under new management and is currently in the midst of another rebuild) this adventure story makes for a great way to prepare to glean an even greater understanding of your visit in advance.
“Waltzing With Brando” is the story of that decades long adventure – a trip that required great amounts of research, planning and execution to achieve its idealistic dream (it is complete with ample photos of the region, diagrams of the project, and pictures of the people referenced in the twisting and turning story line of the book.) Today it seems so simple, but back in the early 70’s the islands were much less developed with far fewer resorts and only the first glimmer of commercial air service coming to the region.
To this day, most of the world’s population probably doesn’t even know about Brando’s resort, though those who have ventured to the South Pacific and begin to ask questions about the outlying regions (the Tuamotos, Rangoria, etc…) eventually get wind of the locale. The story of the planning and building – from the initial runway to being in supplies and visitors, to the building of the resort itself, to a hurricane wipe out and an eventual rebuild – is both a detailed love affair between the inhabitants and the geography as well as the inner workings of the project and even the partners themselves. Throughout, there are the stories of the fun times, the women and the many, often strenuous factors that affect living in such a remote location.
For those who have traveled to this region, “Waltzing” makes for a fascinating history of a microcosm of this French Polynesian paradise. For anyone thinking about vacationing there, (the resort is under new management and is currently in the midst of another rebuild) this adventure story makes for a great way to prepare to glean an even greater understanding of your visit in advance.
August 16, 2025
The story is overly long and gets stuck in technical details. There is a sexist 70s vibe when writing about women. Beautiful photos.
December 12, 2025
the way i had to slog through this! a really informative book about tahiti in general and about marlon in tahiti (which is usually hard to get information on). lots of beautiful photos as well. the problem is that this is truly about the building of the resort And if you’re not into architecture… this is exhausting to read. and lots of the author slobbering over women while talking about his (now ex) wife in the next page (not like someone who reads books about marlon, Out of all people, is sensitive to infidelity But still…)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews