Christian Brando
This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2012) |
Christian Brando | |
---|---|
Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
Died | January 26, 2008 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 49)
Resting place | Kalama Oddfellows Cemetery, Kalama, Washington, U.S. |
Other names | Gary Brown |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1968–2008 |
Spouses |
|
Parents |
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Family | Cheyenne Brando (half-sister) |
Christian Devi Brando (May 11, 1958 – January 26, 2008) was an American actor who was one of the eleven children of actor Marlon Brando, and the only one Brando had with his first wife, former actress Anna Kashfi.
On May 16, 1990, Brando fatally shot Dag Drollet, the boyfriend of his half-sister
Early life
Christian Brando was named after his father's longtime friend French film director Christian Marquand who later directed Marlon in the 1968 film Candy. Christian was born in Los Angeles on May 11, 1958, the product of an affair between Marlon Brando and Anna Kashfi, an actress born to a British family in colonial India. Marlon and Kashfi met in 1955, and Kashfi became pregnant in 1957. They married in 1958 and divorced one year later.
Christian was shuttled between his mother and father. His parents became increasingly hostile and abusive toward each other, and engaged in a protracted custody battle. The 12-year custody battle and his mother's uncontrollable temper due to her abuse of drugs and alcohol had a major effect on young Christian.[1] Marlon eventually won custody of Christian, who was then 13 years old.[2] At that time, Marlon had described his son as a "basket case of emotional disorder".[3]
Marlon was a distant father and spent little time with young Christian, who was raised by nannies and servants. Christian moved between
In 1972, while his father was abroad in France filming
During his teen years, he dropped out of high school and began drinking and using LSD. He was an occasional actor but was not interested in being in the spotlight. He ran away from home to Washington state to move in with family friends, something that his father later approved and supported him in. His father would visit him there and later purchased a remote cabin for him where he practised artistic welding at the age of 22. He would divide his time between there and his father's Hollywood Hills residence.
Acting
As a child, Christian had two small roles in movies: in The Secret Life of an American Wife and I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!, both released in 1968. He appeared in four other films and four made-for-TV productions, sometimes using the alias "Gary Brown", between 1980 and 1990.[5] He played a killer in the Sacra Corona Unita (the Quarter Italian Mafia) in the film La Posta in gioco ("The Prize at Stake"), filmed in Southern Italy in 1987.[6]
Conflicts with the law
Manslaughter
On May 16, 1990, Brando fatally shot Dag Drollet, the boyfriend of his half-sister Cheyenne in the living room of his father's house in Beverly Hills, California. Drollet was in a four-year relationship with Cheyenne, who was 8 months pregnant by Drollet at the time.[7]
A few days before the incident, Drollet had flown in from Tahiti to Los Angeles to visit Cheyenne. Cheyenne was visiting her father along with her mother, and both were staying at Marlon Brando's residence. Marlon Brando had known the Drollet family for years; however, Christian Brando met Dag Drollet for the first time several hours before shooting him dead.
On the evening of the killing, Brando and Cheyenne had dinner at Musso & Frank Grill, where Cheyenne told Brando that Drollet had been physically abusive toward her. Christian Brando said to a reporter from the Los Angeles Times, "She went off on this bizarre tangent."
Later, around 11 p.m. that night, Brando, who admitted to being drunk at the time, confronted Drollet at the Brando home and shot him. Brando claimed that he did not intend to kill Drollet. "I just wanted to scare him," he said.[1] Cheyenne was staying in a separate room. Christian Brando claimed that he and Drollet were fighting over the gun when it accidentally went off. In an interview with The Times, Brando said that later revelations about Cheyenne's mental health had made him question whether she was ever beaten by Drollet. "I feel like a complete chump for believing her," he said.
Trial and aftermath
Robert Shapiro was one of Christian Brando's lawyers. Brando was initially charged with murder; however, prosecutors were unable to proceed with a murder charge because of the absence of Cheyenne, who was a crucial witness to their case. Marlon Brando had Cheyenne admitted into a psychiatric hospital in Tahiti. After several attempts to get her to return to California, a judge eventually quashed all efforts by the prosecution. Without Cheyenne's testimony, prosecutors felt they could no longer prove that Drollet's death was premeditated; therefore, Christian was not charged with first-degree murder and was presented with a plea deal. When his father pleaded for a reduced sentence for his son, he took the stand in the Santa Monica courthouse and said, "I think that perhaps I failed as a father." After heavily publicized pre-trial proceedings, Brando pleaded guilty to manslaughter and spent five years in prison.[8]
Cheyenne attempted suicide twice during the trial. Then, in 1995, a year before Christian was released from prison, she committed suicide by hanging herself at her mother's house in Tahiti at the age of 25 after losing custody of her son.[1][9]
Conditional on his release, he was accepted and enrolled in the state community college system in southern New Hampshire. After a year in the program, he moved to Washington State for a few years while working as a tree cutter and artistic welder.
Personal life
Relationship with Bonny Lee Bakley
Robert Blake and his defense attorneys claimed that Christian Brando was involved in the 2001 murder of Blake's 44-year-old wife Bonny Lee Bakley.[10][11] Robert Blake was ultimately charged with his wife's murder and although acquitted in the criminal trial, he was found liable for her death in the civil case.
Testimony introduced during the criminal pre-trial hearings and the subsequent civil trial attempted to implicate Christian in the murder, suggesting that he had the same motive as Blake to have Bonny Lee Bakley killed. Bakley had become pregnant and claimed to both Brando and Blake that they were the father. A DNA test subsequently determined that Robert Blake, not Christian Brando, was the biological father.[12]
According to trial testimony, just days before her death Bakley continued to claim Brando was the father of her child.[10] Dianne Mattson testified in court that Brando became enraged, and at one point stated "somebody should put a bullet in that bitch's head". In a tape-recorded conversation between Brando and Bakley, Brando stated, "You're lucky. You know, I mean, not on my behalf, but you're lucky someone ain't out there to put a bullet in your head."[13]
According to pre-trial testimony and corroboration, Christian Brando was in Washington state on the night of Bakley's death. Other pre-trial testimony alleged that associates of Brando were involved in the murder. One of those allegedly involved was the prosecution star witness: Duffy Hambleton, a
Brando was called as a witness in Blake's civil trial but refused to testify, invoking his
Marriage and spousal abuse
Brando's first marriage to make-up artist Mary McKenna ended without acrimony in 1987 after six years; they first met when both were ten years old.[17] On October 16, 2004, in Las Vegas, after a five-year-long relationship, Brando wed Deborah Presley, an actress who had claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of Elvis Presley. The marriage lasted a short time and was annulled in June 2005 while both were residents of California. Brando pleaded no contest to charges of spousal abuse involving Deborah in January 2005.[18][19] He was placed on probation and ordered to attend drug and alcohol rehabilitation.[20]
In December 2005, Deborah filed a lawsuit against Brando in
Death
Brando died of pneumonia on January 26, 2008,[21] at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center at the age of 49. He had been admitted into Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center on January 11, 2008.[20]
Brando was buried on February 17, 2008, at the Kalama Oddfellows Cemetery in Kalama, Washington.[22]
References
- ^ a b c d Thurber, Jon (January 27, 2008). "Son of acting legend was guilty of killing his half-sister's lover". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
- ^ a b Gribben, Mark (2007). "Christian Brando: A Hollywood Family Tragedy". Court TV: Crime Library. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved January 27, 2008.
- ^ a b Dawson, Nick (March 20, 2010). "Marlon Brando's son kidnapped - March 20, 1972". Focus Features. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ "Christian Brando". The Daily Telegraph. January 28, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- IMDb
- ^ "La Posta In Gioco - Scheda Film". Libero (in Italian). 2000. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ISSN 0093-7673. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ Jablon, Robert (January 26, 2008). "Christian Brando dies of pneumonia". USA Today. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
- Today. January 26, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ a b c "Lawyer: Christian Brando involved in murder of Robert Blake's wife". Court TV. September 30, 2004. Archived from the original on May 15, 2006. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ "The People of the State of California v. Robert Blake, Notice of Motion and Motion to Introduce Evidence of Third Party Culpability" (PDF). Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles. October 14, 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2007. Retrieved January 22, 2019 – via Court TV.
- ^ Springer, John (February 3, 2004). "Brando claims resurface in actor Robert Blake's murder case". Court TV. Archived from the original on May 15, 2006. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ a b "Brando Jr 'murder link' dismissed". BBC News. October 22, 2004. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ Sweetingham, Lisa (October 18, 2005). "Robert Blake: Mystery man staked out my house weeks before my wife was slain". Court TV. Archived from the original on May 15, 2006. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ Sweetingham, Lisa (October 26, 2005). "Brando's son testifies in Blake trial, but says little". Court TV. Archived from the original on November 29, 2006. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ "Christian Brando faces contempt charges after Robert Blake civil trial". Court TV. April 30, 2006. Archived from the original on January 4, 2007. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ Timnick, Lois (February 28, 1991). "Violence by Brando Disputed : Court: His ex-wife and her mother contradict prosecution allegations. They tell of fights but not beatings". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
- ^ a b "Brando's son settles abuse claims". BBC News. February 6, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2008.
- ^ a b "Christian Brando Biography". Biography.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- ^ a b "Troubled Brando Son Christian Dead at 49". ABC News. January 28, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ "Marlon Brando's eldest son dies at 49 in L.A." Today.com. January 26, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2008.
- The Daily News. Archivedfrom the original on July 25, 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
External links
- Christian Brando at IMDb
- Christian Brando at AllMovie
- Interview with Christian Brando on YouTubeon the Skip E. Lowe Globe c.1980s
- Gribben, Mark (2007). "Christian Brando: A Hollywood Family Tragedy". Court TV: Crime Library. Archived from the original on December 5, 2004.
- "Suit tells of raging Brando son". New York Daily News. December 30, 2005. Archived from the original on January 17, 2006.
- "Brando Jr silence in Blake trial". BBC News. October 26, 2005.
- The Advocate. Archived from the originalon November 12, 2006.
- "Robert Blake appeals $30 million verdict". Today.com. January 16, 2008.