Jocelyn Brando

Jocelyn Brando, the older sister of actor Marlon Brando, was born on November 18, 1919, in San Francisco, California, to Marlon Brando Sr. and Dorothy Pennebaker. Jocelyn, Marlon, and their sister Frances were raised primarily on a farm near Evanston, Illinois, though the family frequently moved during their childhood. The children's lives were significantly affected by the alcoholism of both parents, particularly their mother. Karl Malden, a close friend of Marlon, believed that Jocelyn's potential was hindered by alcohol. Despite not reaching the heights she might have, Jocelyn maintained a career in theater, film, and television that spanned five decades. She began her stage career under the direction of her mother, who was a principal in an Omaha community theater group that included Henry Fonda. Jocelyn made her Broadway debut on January 2, 1942, at the Longacre Theatre in "The First Crocus," though the play closed after only five performances. Her next Broadway appearance came two months after Marlon's historic performance as Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire." On February 18, 1948, she joined the cast of "Mister Roberts," playing Navy nurse Lt. Ann Girard alongside Henry Fonda. The play was a success, running for nearly three years with 1,157 performances. Jocelyn did not complete the entire run, later appearing in the 1950-51 season in the comedy "The Golden State," which lasted only 25 performances. She then appeared in a well-received but short-lived production of Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms" in 1952, co-starring with Colleen Dewhurst, who would later become renowned for her portrayals of O'Neill's female characters. Jocelyn later appeared in a Broadway revival of O'Neill's "Mourning Becomes Electra." Returning to uniform, she made her film debut in Don Siegel's war drama "China Venture" (1953). Upon arriving in Hollywood, she gave an interview to "The New York Times" in which she commented on her brother's lack of advice to her: "Marlon is a sweet fellow, and he works very hard. I asked him for a tip about pictures, and he answered, 'Oh, I just say the words. That's all I know about picture acting.' He probably was smart at that to let me find my own way." Her best-known film role came in Fritz Lang's gangster classic "The Big Heat" (1953), where she played the doomed wife of detective Glenn Ford. Her character was killed in a dramatic off-camera explosion when she started the family car, triggering a bomb meant for Ford. The scene remains one of the most famous in film history. Jocelyn later appeared in supporting roles in two of her brother's films: "The Ugly American" (1963) and "The Chase" (1966). While her film career did not flourish, she had a consistent presence on television from the 1940s through the 1980s, appearing in guest roles on numerous shows, including "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955), "Wagon Train" (1957), and "Little House on the Prairie" (1974). In the early 1970s, she portrayed Mrs. Krakauer on the daytime soap "Love of Life" (1951), and had a recurring role as Mrs. Reeves on the prime-time series "Dallas" (1978). Her last major film was "Mommie Dearest" (1981), a biographical film about Joan Crawford. Jocelyn remained a vocal defender of her brother in the media, emphasizing his strong family ties. She was with him when he died at age 80 of lung failure at his Los Angeles home on July 1, 2004 (a condition that had previously taken the life of their sister Frances, a painter). In his 1997 autobiography "When Do I Start?", Karl Malden recounted how he warned Marlon about his alcohol consumption around 1979, noting that alcohol had destroyed their mother's life, compromised their father's, and likely prevented Jocelyn from becoming a major actress. Jocelyn Brando, who was twice married and had two sons, died of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica, California, on November 20, 2005, two days after her 86th birthday. If we take Karl Malden's word for it—someone who knew her and her work well—then it is possible that, had the fatal flaw of alcoholism not run through the Brando-Pennebaker family, Jocelyn might have had a career that would have moved her out of the shadows and elevated her beyond being just a footnote in her brother's legacy.