Brando's invention has legs

MARLON Brando was many things: rebel, actor and now, it emerges, inventor of gadgets.

One of his ideas, a "friction sandal" designed to give you more exercise by being harder to walk in, is set to go into production. Kevin Costanza, a patent lawyer who was Brando's adviser on 20 blueprints, revealed on Los Angeles radio last week that Brando designed the shoes so he could lose weight.

He liked to wear them while walking in the shallow end of his pool at his home in California.

Hours later, Hong Kong-based shoe manufacturer K-Tone announced it wanted to produce a line of "Marlon Balance" shoes to cash in on the market for "rocker" gym shoes, whose curved soles are said to help burn calories and tone leg and bottom muscles.

Brando, star of such films as On the Waterfront and The Godfather, designed them for his own benefit. Costanza said: "The idea was these shoes would increase resistance as you walk on the bottom of the pool. He did not want to go out a lot because he would always be recognised and bothered by people. The shoes were acrylic with wooden blocks on the side holding your ankles in place, making it more difficult to walk."

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