Marlon Brando's son's tragic death was as heartbreaking as the life he lived

June 02, 2024

Marlon Brando had 11 children, but the legendary actor’s eldest son lived a troubled life where his relationship with his film star father saw struggle, and was sent to jail for killing his sister’s boyfriend.

Brando is still remembered as one of Hollywood‘s most celebrated stars. The movie actor’s presence on the silver screen is still talked about and studied today, and he left behind an ever-lasting legacy.

Throughout his life, the celebrity had 11 children and married three times. The Godfather star first rose to fame in the 1950s, where he met his first wife, and they had a son. This was before marrying Movita Castaneda in 1960, whom he shared two children. But it wasn’t meant to be as two years later, the star had met his third wife who he had two more children with.

It’s also said Marlon adopted his stepdaughter, and his wife’s niece. The star also fell for his housekeeper, Maria Ruiz, and they had three children together. But he didn’t stop there, he also adopted another child, the daughter of his assistant. However, the tragedy of Marlon Brando’s eldest son still lives more than 15 years later.

The struggles of the relationship

Brando, aged 33, married Anna Kashfi in 1957, but they divorced 18 months later. Reports say they were rowing days after tying the knot, because his wife wasn’t Indian as she claimed but Welsh. Her real name was Joanne O’Callaghan.

Kashfi was said to be angry Marlon called his son Christian after his male lover. Brando wasn’t ashamed to be bisexual, and openly spoke about it.

He told a journalist in 1976: “Homosexuality is so much in fashion, it no longer makes news.”

Adding: “Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences, and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me.”

The pair would fight over their son over the next 20 years. Marlon Brando was given temporary custody over his son after Kashfi once overdosed. Then in 1972, while he was filming in Paris for the Last Tango, Kashfi took the then 13-year-old from his school and abducted him to northern Mexico.

The film star hired a private detective to find them, and is said to have found the teen hiding in a tent living with a group of hippies.

Christian would find life difficult, dropping out of school at 16 and using substances.

Moving to a small town in Washington state, he would split his time between the outdoors lifestyle. He would stay at his father’s house next to Jack Nicholson in Hollywood Hills and a house his dad bought him on Wonderland Avenue. But his relationship with Brando became strained as the actor grew older.

Film producer Carmine De Benedittis once said: “When I went to meet Marlon, I noticed that when Christian is near his father, he seems to shrink, he becomes a gnat.

“He seems to be crushed by the force of his father’s character. It’s a very heavy load, to be called Christian Brando.”

The night that changed the family forever

On May 16, 1990, the family dynamic would never be resolved after an argument broke out at Brando’s home at Mulholland Drive. This was where his son shot and killed his sister’s boyfriend.

Christian told police that over dinner earlier in the evening his half-sister Cheyenne – who was eight months pregnant at the time – had been beaten by Dag Drollet, her partner. He said he had been drinking and threatened Drollet with the weapon, but it went off accidentally in the struggle.

But when cops arrived, they found the body in Brando’s den. He was lying on the couch ‘kind of like watching TV‘, with the television set playing. He had been shot in the face and died immediately, still holding the remote control.

Marlon Brando had attempted to revive him with CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but it failed. Cheyenne later admitted she was never harmed by Drollet, writes The Guardian. But the actor sent his daughter to a mental facility in France, harming the attorney’s ability to prosecute.

In 1991, after a trial, Christian pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and sent to jail for 10 years. He was out after four and a half years, but fans remember Marlon Brando taking the stand giving testimony on his son’s behalf. The Streetcar Named Desire actor sobbed, saying he failed as a father.

It’s said Christian was traumatized by the incident, thinking the safety was on the gun, only hoping to scare Drollet. He dived deeper into alcohol and substances in the years that followed.

If you’ve been affected by this story, you can contact American Addiction Centers on (877) 686-7688. Or Talk To Frank on 0300 123 6600 in the UK.

Father and son

Brando’s long term friend for more than 50 years, George Englund, said despite the arguments, Marlon always did what he could for his eldest son.

He said: “Marlon always wanted, basically, to feel inside himself that he was being a proper father.

“Christian led a very self-abusive life,’ says Peter Manso, who wrote about the star’s life in his 1994 biography titled Brando.

“But the fact that he was living on welfare and died in a city hospital would have troubled his father. The executors are sitting on $20m. The least they could do is bury him.”

Marlon died in 2004, at age 80, of respiratory failure after his health took a turn with pulmonary fibrosis.

Christian moved back to LA after his dad died, and would stay at his house on Mulholland Drive. But he and his wife were ‘pushed out’ by Brando’s executors, who wanted to sell the home. Jack Nicholson then bought it for $5m.

Marlon Brando’s son died after spending weeks in a coma

Marlon’s eldest, Christian Brando, was found barely conscious on the floor at his apartment by his girlfriend. He was rushed to the Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital and was in a coma for two weeks, being kept alive with a respirator.

Fighting double pneumonia, the 49-year-old died in a public hospital without a will or health insurance.

His ex-wife, Deborah Presley – who had married Christian Brando in 2004 – said Marlon wanted the family to look after his son if he died.

She said at the time: “The executors of the estate were supposed to make sure that Christian was taken care of. Everybody knew that Christian was Marlon’s number one son.

“Marlon wanted Christian to always have a roof over his head. And he was always supposed to have health insurance. Marlon knew Christian couldn’t take care of himself.”

He was then buried in Kalama, one of the few places he felt accepted and appreciated, his mother said.