Colonel Walter E. Kurtz is the main antagonist of the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. He was portrayed by renowned legendary late actor Marlon Brando. Colonel Kurtz is based on the character of a 19th century ivory trader, also called Kurtz, from the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Both the novel and the film deal with Kurtz's false deity and the destruction it brings to Kurtz