1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Hollywood Land listeners, welcome back for another edition of your 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: favorite Hollywood and true crime podcast. This week, we're telling 3 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: you a story about Marlon Brando. Now, Brando is, of course, 4 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood history. A 5 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,319 Speaker 1: lot has been said about him, but I guarantee you 6 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: you haven't heard his story told quite like this. Brando 7 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 1: starred in one of the greatest films of all time, 8 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: one of my favorites, maybe my all time favorite, The Godfather, 9 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,160 Speaker 1: and he's widely regarded as one of, if not the 10 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: finest actors of his generation. But whatever you think of Brando, 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: both on and off screen, we think you'll dig this 12 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 1: episode of Hollywood Land. So without further ado, we hear, 13 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: Double Elvis give you Marlon Brando. 14 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 2: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 15 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 2: Please check the show notes for more information. 16 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: Hollywood Land is a production of Double Elvis. The stories 17 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: about Marlon Brando are insane. He once broke a paparazzo's 18 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:28,399 Speaker 1: jaw with just one punch. He hired private investigators to 19 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: find his son when a fake kidnapping went horribly wrong, 20 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: he nearly sank an already Doomed Film shoot all by 21 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: himself when he arrived in the Philippines, overweight, underprepared, and 22 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: demanding millions of dollars, he tried desperately to resuscitate his 23 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: daughter's dead boyfriend in his own living room right at 24 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: the moment he was trying to resuscitate his career. It 25 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: was a career that produced great films, some of the 26 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: best films in the history of cinema. Unlike that clip 27 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: I played for you at the top of the show, 28 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: that wasn't from a great film. That was a fair 29 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: youth sample from the Library of Congress of Paul Bees 30 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: and his Novelty Orchestra performing Mystery in nineteen nineteen. I 31 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: played you that clip because I can't afford the rights 32 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: to a clip from Gary Marshall's Pretty Woman. 33 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 2: And why would I play you that. 34 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: Particular slice of my fair sex worker Cheese? 35 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 2: Could I afford it? 36 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one movie in America on 37 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 1: May sixteenth, nineteen ninety and that was the day that 38 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: Marlon Brando's living room was turned into a murder scene. 39 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,639 Speaker 1: On this episode Fake Kidnappings, Doomed Film Shoots, Dead Boyfriends, 40 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: and Marlon Brando, I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Hollywood Land. 41 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: The phone rang at Los Angeles nine one one dispatch. 42 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: The voice on the other end of the line was 43 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: frantic and out of breath, but also familiar. The dispatch 44 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,960 Speaker 1: operator tried to get the caller to calm down. She 45 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: asked his name, Marlon Brando. The operator asked Brando exactly 46 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: what happened? He said the boy had been shot. He 47 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: said it happened inside his home, the one on Mulholland, 48 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: and now the boy was dead. Exactly what occurred in 49 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: Marlon Brando's Mulholland drive home on the evening of May sixteenth, 50 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety will never be clear, and there's no one 51 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: left alive to tell the tale. Let's start with who 52 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: was there? Our leading man, Marlon Brando, sixty six years 53 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: old and launching something of a career comeback after sitting 54 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: out most of the nineteen eighties. Terita Brando's Tahitian common 55 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: law wife and mother of two of his children. She 56 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: was there, even though the couple had been separated for 57 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: over a decade. Their daughter, Cheyenne, twenty years old and pregnant, 58 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: dag Drolet, the twenty three year old son of a 59 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: Tahitian legislator and the father of Cheyenne's baby and Brando's 60 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: eldest son, Christian, a high school dropout and failed actor 61 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:26,679 Speaker 1: who lived his entire life in the shadow of his father, 62 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:31,839 Speaker 1: one of the twentieth centuries all time acting greats. Cheyenne 63 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: and Dag were living together in Tahiti, but the relationship 64 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: was a mess. 65 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 2: Like father like daughter. 66 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: A car accident the year before left Cheyenne's face disfigured, 67 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: putting the brakes on her modeling career. Her mental health suffered, 68 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: and the pregnancy didn't help. Dag was worried Cheyenne was 69 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: going to hurt herself, but he knew he couldn't keep 70 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: her in the baby safe on his own, so he 71 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: encouraged Cheyenne to take her father up on his offer 72 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,559 Speaker 1: to stay in the house on Mulholland until the baby 73 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: was born. Cheyenne agreed to go, but only if Dag flew. 74 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 2: To Los Angeles with her. 75 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 1: After a few days in La Dag called his mother 76 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: back in Tahiti from Brando's house. He said he and 77 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: Cheyenne were still having problems. He gave no indication of 78 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: when he be flying home. Christian Brando was living in 79 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: a ranch house on Wonderland Avenue that his father owned 80 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:24,600 Speaker 1: and rented to him for a nominal sum. Marlon Brando 81 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: always did his best to make sure Christian was provided for, 82 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: but everything Christian Brando touched turned to shit. His first 83 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,799 Speaker 1: marriage fell apart, and then he literally fell out our tree, 84 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: which was the end of his tree trimming business. He 85 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: failed at enough construction jobs to be virtually unhiable in 86 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: Los Angeles, and despite or because of his father's influence, 87 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:48,360 Speaker 1: his film career went nowhere. 88 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 2: He was in and out of. 89 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: AA, mostly out, and his house was stocked with an 90 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: extensive gun collection. On the night of May sixteenth, Marlon 91 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: Brando and Tarita stayed home while Cheyenne, Christian and went out. 92 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 2: For dinner and drinks. Several drinks. 93 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,280 Speaker 1: At some point, when Dag was out of earshot, Cheyenne 94 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: told Christian the Dag had been smacking her around even 95 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,479 Speaker 1: while she was pregnant. After dinner, Cheyenne and Dag headed 96 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: back to the Brando house. 97 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 2: But first Christian stopped off at his. 98 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:21,039 Speaker 1: Place and grabbed a forty five. He was going to 99 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: intimidate Dag. Droleet and he may have been out of 100 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: work and out of love, but he could sure his 101 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,799 Speaker 1: shit make sure that that motherfucker didn't lay another finger 102 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: on his sister. According to Christian Brando, when he got 103 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: back to his father's house, there was a fight. Also, 104 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: according to Christian Brando, during that fight, his forty five 105 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: accidentally went off. The house on Mulholland was big enough 106 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: that no one else heard the alleged scuffle, but everyone 107 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: heard the gunshot. 108 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:48,120 Speaker 2: Marlon Brando ran into his. 109 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: Living room and saw a Dag bleeding out. That's when 110 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: he called nine to one one. He tried to resuscitate 111 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: Dag with mouth to mouth, but each breath he gave 112 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: wheezed out of the exit, wound oozing from Dag's neck. 113 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: When the authorities arrived, the Brando family stood together in 114 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:05,919 Speaker 1: the living room and stunned silence, and the TV was on. 115 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: It's a flickering glow lit the weird scene. Dag Drolat's 116 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: body was slouched back on the couch like a lazy HouseGuest. 117 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,119 Speaker 1: One hand held a cigarette lighter, the other was gripping 118 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: the remote control so tightly that the TV set was 119 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 1: flipping through the channels over and over. The cops looked 120 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: at the body, and then they looked at Brando, and 121 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: then they looked at his kids, and then back to 122 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 1: the body again, and the whole thing was strange. Someone 123 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: walked over and turned off the TV. Christian Brando stood 124 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: by his story that it was an accident. He just 125 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: wanted to scare the guy. Motherfucker was beating his sister. 126 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: That's what big brothers were for. But the cops didn't 127 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: find a mark on Cheyenne. And then there was the 128 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: other thing that Christian said, I was going to kill 129 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: that guy. I want to hit him in the head 130 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: with a baseball bat and pulverized him. That wasn't the 131 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: kind of remark that was going to placate the cops. 132 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: Neither was the gunshot itself. The entrance wound was in 133 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: the face and the exit wound in the neck. It 134 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: sure seemed like Dag Drolat, a half foot taller than 135 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 1: Christian Brando, was sitting down when he got shot. Christian 136 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,880 Speaker 1: Brando was arrested and charged with first degree murder. He 137 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: pleaded innocent but was denied. Belle letters poured into the 138 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: judge for Marlon Brando's famous friends. They said Christian was 139 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: a good boy, would never hurt anyone. 140 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:27,679 Speaker 2: Another. Judge set bail at two million dollars. 141 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: Marlon Brando posted a bond secured by his house on Mulholland. 142 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: Prosecutors tried to subpoena Cheyenne as a possible witness to 143 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: the murder, but Marlon Brando put her and her mother 144 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: on a plane to Tahiti almost immediately after the shooting. 145 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: A month later, she gave birth to dag Drolat's son. 146 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: Without a witness to the killing, the prosecutors couldn't prove premeditation, 147 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: which meant murder one was off the table. They offered 148 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 1: Christian a reduced charge of manslaughter. He accepted and awaited 149 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: his sentence completely unaware that the leading role at his 150 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:28,680 Speaker 1: sentencing hearing would be played by Marlon Brando. Marlon Brando 151 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: didn't want to talk about the Godfather. He didn't want 152 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: to talk about Las Tango in Paris, or the Oscars 153 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: or any of the shit Dick Cabot wanted to talk about. 154 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:41,800 Speaker 1: He was evasive, he was mean. Basically, he was behaving 155 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: like Marlon Brando. 156 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:45,600 Speaker 2: But Dick Cabot was a class act. 157 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 1: After the interview, he took Brando out to dinner in Chinatown, 158 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: a paparazzo chasing down the street shouting at them, asking 159 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: all the questions Cabot skipped on his show, The hell 160 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: was the deal with the Native American girl? Brando sent 161 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,480 Speaker 1: to the Oscars in his place. Did he really fucked 162 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 1: Maria Schneider up the ass with a stick of butter? 163 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: Filming Last Tango, Brando turned around, he planted his feet, 164 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: he wound up his arm, and then he clocked the 165 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 1: guy's square in the face. Marlon Brando didn't just play 166 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:15,959 Speaker 1: a boxer and on the Waterfront. The nineteen fifty four 167 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: film and earned him his first Oscar win after four 168 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 1: straight years of nominations. He trained as a boxer, and 169 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 1: he trained hard before he broke into movies. When he 170 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: was being hailed as an American hamlet in a street 171 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: car named Desire on Broadway, Brando spent his off time 172 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: sparring in the basement of the Barrymore Theater. When he 173 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:36,840 Speaker 1: wasn't needed on stage, you could find him mixing it 174 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,679 Speaker 1: up with a stage hand behind the scenes. So when 175 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: I say he decked the guy, I mean Marlon Brando 176 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: laid him. 177 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 2: The fuck out. 178 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: The photographer ended up with nine stitches in a metal 179 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: brace in his job. 180 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 2: Next time he tried to get a shot off Brando, 181 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 2: he wore a football helmet. That's one hundred percent true. 182 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 2: Look it up. 183 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 1: Brando's fingers swelled up like balloons and he checked into 184 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: the hospital the next day with an infected hand. And 185 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: then he paid the photogographer forty grand to keep him 186 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: from pressing charges. 187 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 2: Cost it doing business. 188 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: It was an explosively violent response to what had been 189 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 1: a bizarre year Marlin Brando's life. It was nineteen seventy two, 190 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 1: and while the oscar buzz around Brando's performance and The 191 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,959 Speaker 1: Godfather built to a roar, the actor was busy shooting 192 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 1: Last Tango in Paris with the Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, 193 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: and with Brando in Paris, his son, Christian was in 194 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 1: a boarding school in California. Christian was thirteen, the only 195 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: child from Brando's first brief and tumultuous marriage to the 196 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,320 Speaker 1: actress and a cash fee. The couple married in nineteen 197 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: fifty seven when they found out. 198 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 2: She was pregnant. 199 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 1: Brando had a previous brush with a shotgun wedding just 200 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: three years earlier, but that would be bride get herself 201 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 1: a Tijuana abortion rather than be tied down to a 202 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:52,080 Speaker 1: notorious womanizer. Anna though she stuck it out at least 203 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,920 Speaker 1: for a while, but by the time Christian Brando was born, 204 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: the couple had already had enough of each other. Anna 205 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 1: said Brando attracted women like shit trust flies, and she 206 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: was furious when she found out they'd named their son 207 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,719 Speaker 1: after a French actor who had been not only Brando's wingman. 208 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 2: But also his sometimes lover. 209 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 1: The couple divorced a year after that and fought bitterly 210 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 1: over custody of Christian. The fight ended when friends stopped 211 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: by Ana's house and found Christians sitting by the pool, 212 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: his mother in the living room passed out in. 213 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 2: A pool of her own vomit. 214 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: Marlon Brando got primary custody. He might have been happier 215 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: about scoring points over his ex than he was the 216 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:29,800 Speaker 1: realities of raising a kid. 217 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 2: When Brando was shooting Mutiny on the Bounty in the 218 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 2: early nineteen sixties, he fell in love. 219 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: With a small island in Tahiti, so much in love 220 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: that he bought it the whole island. He also fell 221 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 1: for one of the local women well probably more than one, 222 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: and most likely a few of the local men too, 223 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: but only one of them ended up his common law 224 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 1: wife and the mother of two more kids. And then on. 225 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 1: Brando spent his time either making movies or in Tahiti, 226 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 1: leaving Christian in the care of his assistants or and 227 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: boarding school. Brando was in Paris when thirteen year old 228 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 1: Christian set his dorm room on fire. 229 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 2: Unable to reach him, the. 230 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 1: School called Christian's mother and informed her that Christian had 231 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 1: been expelled, which is when things very literally went south. 232 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,199 Speaker 1: Anna Cashy picked up Christian from school, intending to turn 233 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: him over to Brando's assistant at the end of the weekend. 234 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,920 Speaker 1: Now remember Marlon Brando had primary custody. Anna was only 235 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: allowed to spend a few days at a time with Christian, 236 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: But the kid had a bad cough. Doctor said it 237 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 1: was bronchitis. They told Anna to keep him in bed. 238 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: She called Brando's assistant. Christian was going to stay in 239 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,040 Speaker 1: the care of his mother until he felt better, rather 240 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 1: than keeping her son sick in bed. However, Anna and 241 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: her friend drove Christian across the border to Baja Mexico, 242 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: where they rented a cheap motel room. Anna didn't hang around. 243 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 1: She left Christian coughing and wheezing in Mexico with her 244 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: friend and drove herself back to La She returned the 245 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 1: next day, only to find both her friend and Christian 246 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: were gone. No heads up, no noe know nothing. Anna 247 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: feared the worst. She went to the Mexican police. She 248 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:08,440 Speaker 1: told them her son had been kidnapped. The press jumped 249 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: on the story immediately. They tracked down Marlon Brando in Paris. 250 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 1: He denied that his son had been kidnapped. As far 251 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: as he knew, Christian was in Mexico on a scuba 252 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: diving trip with friends, and surely they'd turn up any minute. 253 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 2: Meanwhile, on the. 254 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,600 Speaker 1: Downlow, Brando hired a fleet of private investigators to bulk 255 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: up the Mexican police's search. 256 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 2: Christian was found in a. 257 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: Cave outside San Felipe, some three hours south of the 258 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: US border, with Anna's friend and eight hippies. Christian was 259 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: pale and feverish. He struggled for breath from the heat 260 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: of the cave. His bronchitis had turned into bronchial pneumonia, 261 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 1: and the hippies claim Christian's mother promised them ten thousand 262 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 1: dollars each to hide the boy for a few days 263 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 1: as a fuck you to her ex husband Marlon Brando, 264 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,240 Speaker 1: But when she refused to actually pay them, the hippies 265 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: staged kidnapping became a real kidnapping, and this was three 266 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: years after the Manson murders. If there was one thing 267 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: a California's celebrity should know was to be wary of 268 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:07,280 Speaker 1: the hippies. But hippie testimony wasn't enough to charge Christian's 269 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: mother and the kidnapping. However, it was enough to convince 270 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 1: a judge to give Marlon Brando not just primary. 271 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 2: Custody, but full custody of their son. 272 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: He met Christian at Lax and the two flew back 273 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,880 Speaker 1: to Paris, where Christian stayed with him for the last 274 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 1: weeks of shooting. Those weeks may have included the day 275 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: that Brando decided to improvise last tango in Paris's most 276 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: notorious scene, the scene that depicts sexual assault with butter 277 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: as a lubricant. The butter was Brando's idea, which he 278 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 1: discussed with the director that morning, but neither Brando nor 279 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: Bertolucci you bothered to inform Maria Schneider the nineteen year 280 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 1: old actress Brando was sharing the scene with. Years later, 281 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: this led to a viral rumor that the scene showed 282 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: an actual rape. Schneider said that while the sex was 283 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,640 Speaker 1: only simulated, her tears and her terror in the scene 284 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: were very much real, and she never forgave Bertolucci for 285 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: putting her through it. After the shooting, Marlin and Christian 286 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: Brando returned to California to the house on Moholland Drive. 287 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: It was part of a sprawling complex on the same 288 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: property as Jack Nicholson's house, where Roman Polanski would later 289 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 1: drug and sexually assault a thirteen year old girl. By 290 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three, Brando had five acknowledged kids with three women, 291 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: and by the end of his life that number would 292 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: hit eleven. His youngest at the time, Cheyenne, was only three. 293 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: She split her time between the housea Moholland and Brando's 294 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,960 Speaker 1: island in Tahiti, where her mother lived. The Moholland House 295 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 1: featured a rotating cast of Brando's children and lovers, and 296 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:39,360 Speaker 1: Christian ended up playing dad for whichever of his half 297 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 1: siblings were around teenage. Christian became particularly protective of his 298 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: baby half sister, Cheyenne, but life as the son of 299 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: the American Hamlet was never stable. At age fourteen, plagued 300 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: by nightmares about the Mexican kidnapping the hippies in the cave, 301 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: that fucking heat pressing against his fevered skin, and his 302 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: lungs struggling for air, Christian Brando bought his first gun. 303 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this. We're, We're, We're. 304 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: The helicopters sank into the jungle, pressed under the thick 305 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: humidity of the air by the weight of its cargo. 306 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: The choppers were on loan to Francis Ford Coppola from 307 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:30,960 Speaker 1: Ferdinand Marcos, the brutal and massively corrupt dictator of the Philippines. 308 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:33,920 Speaker 1: Depending on the day, the film crew might have access 309 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,480 Speaker 1: to five of them, or ten or none. If Marcos 310 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: needed them back to bomb the shit out of the 311 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 1: Communist insurgents in the South. The film crew was grateful 312 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 1: for what they got. The US military had flat out 313 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: refused to let them use American choppers from the minute 314 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,359 Speaker 1: they heard what Apocalypse Now was actually about. When Marlon 315 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: Brando stepped off the helicopter, he was fifty pounds heavier 316 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,159 Speaker 1: than the last time. Francis Ford Coppola saw him. This 317 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 1: was after Coppola agreed to pay Brando three million dollars 318 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,960 Speaker 1: for just three weeks of shooting, but scheduling had. 319 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 2: Been a problem. Production was wildly over budget. 320 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 1: Brando's people threatened to pull him off the film and 321 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:14,440 Speaker 1: keep the money. Coppola talked Brando into staying on the project. 322 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: What was less than honest about how badly everything was 323 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 1: fucked Part of Darkness, Joseph Conrad's novel about the search 324 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: for a man driven insane by life in the Jungle, 325 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: was cursed when it came to translating him for the 326 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:31,199 Speaker 1: silver screen. Orson Wells's first attempt at writing a screenplay 327 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: was one hundred and eighty four page adaptation of the 328 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: seventy page book. RKO shot the project down when Wells 329 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:40,360 Speaker 1: said the budget would top a million bucks. He got 330 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,440 Speaker 1: stuck making a little movie called Citizen Kane instead. 331 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 2: Coppola was determined to succeed where Wells had failed. 332 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: His original plan was to drop his buddy George Lucas 333 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:52,160 Speaker 1: and a film crew into the middle of the Vietnam 334 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:54,159 Speaker 1: War for a quick and dirty three weeks shoot on 335 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 1: sixteen millimeter like literally into the middle of the Vietnam War. 336 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: American film studio might be crazy, but they weren't that 337 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,880 Speaker 1: fucking crazy. No one was bank rolling a film crew 338 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: in the middle of an. 339 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,440 Speaker 2: Actual war zone. The project was shelved. 340 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: Coppola came back to it at the end of the seventies, 341 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,160 Speaker 1: helming it himself and funding it with money he'd made 342 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:17,760 Speaker 1: from the success of the Godfather movies. He secured Brando's 343 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:20,480 Speaker 1: involvement with a million dollar down payment, and he cut 344 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:23,160 Speaker 1: the deal with Marcos to rent the helicopters for thousands 345 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,200 Speaker 1: a day, including pilots from the Philippine Army who drew 346 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:29,920 Speaker 1: overtime pay. Each day a different group of pilots showed up, 347 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:32,800 Speaker 1: not the guys, for instance, who rehearsed the scene the 348 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 1: day before. Days and weeks flew by. Drug use was 349 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: a rampant LSD, marijuana, cocaine. A shirtless, bearded Francis fort 350 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: Coppola rapidly sweated off pounds as he barked orders, trying 351 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 1: to keep the production from spiraling into complete chaos. Coppola's 352 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,200 Speaker 1: entire family was in the country with him for the shoot. 353 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,159 Speaker 1: His wife shot documentary footage with the production and of 354 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: the locals, and she filmed a group of Filipinos brutally 355 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: slaughtering on water buffalo. They acted apart with machetes until 356 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:03,639 Speaker 1: it dropped the dirt dead. 357 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 2: She showed Francis the. 358 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:07,439 Speaker 1: Footage that night, and he knew it how to be 359 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 1: part of the film. He made a deal with the 360 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,399 Speaker 1: locals to film the next slaughter. He gave no directions, 361 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: just let the cameras roll as the men butchered the animal. 362 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:17,400 Speaker 2: To say it was a wild shoot. 363 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 1: Would be a massive understatement. A typhoon shut her production 364 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: for eight days, and then Martin Sheen, the film's protagonists, 365 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: suffered a massive heart attack. He was so close to 366 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,879 Speaker 1: death that a Filipino priest pronounced his last rites for 367 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: six weeks. 368 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 2: Coppola continued shooting without. 369 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: His lead, and after sixteen grueling months, after heart attacks, 370 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,920 Speaker 1: in typhoons and slaughtered water buffaloes, this was the. 371 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 2: End, my friend. 372 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,399 Speaker 1: But getting the final scenes of Apocalypse now on film 373 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: threatened to be the toughest slog of all, because Francis 374 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: Ford Coppola went through all that other bullshit just so 375 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: he could now endure the problem that was Marlon Brando, 376 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:02,399 Speaker 1: make that multiple problems. The first was that Brando was 377 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,399 Speaker 1: supposed to be playing a half starved madman, and when 378 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:07,880 Speaker 1: he showed up on set he weighed in at about 379 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,160 Speaker 1: three hundred pounds, and for some reason, he also showed 380 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: up with a cleanly shaved head. Okay, I thought, Cocola, 381 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:16,880 Speaker 1: I can work with this. I'll make the character a glutton, 382 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,359 Speaker 1: gorging himself on fruit and meat in every shot. Except 383 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,439 Speaker 1: Brando was self conscious about the weight, he refused to 384 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:25,920 Speaker 1: do anything that might call attention to it. He would 385 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:29,160 Speaker 1: only wear black and demanded he'd be shot only in shadow. 386 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 1: The second problem was that Brando couldn't stand Dennis Hopper, 387 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:35,639 Speaker 1: who would agree to do the movie only if he 388 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,480 Speaker 1: got one line with Brando. Hopper had been in the 389 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:40,119 Speaker 1: country for a month and a half, working with a 390 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:42,920 Speaker 1: team of green Berets and snorting copious amounts of cocaine 391 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 1: when he wasn't making a dent. Is never any supply 392 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: of liquor and cheap beer. One thing Hopper hadn't done 393 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:50,360 Speaker 1: since he got there, though, was shower. 394 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:52,160 Speaker 2: The dude fucking stunk. 395 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: One of the green Berets gave Hopper a little red book, 396 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,680 Speaker 1: a special services guide on tactics, not the kind of 397 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: thing civilians are supposed to have eyes on. Hopper kept 398 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 1: it in his boot. At the first story meeting, tensions 399 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,800 Speaker 1: were already high between Brando and Coppola. Brando didn't seem 400 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: to have any sense of whose character was. Hopper tried 401 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: to lighten the boot. 402 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 2: He leaned over to his co star. 403 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: One hand reached down and tugged at the laces of 404 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: his boot. I bet you haven't read the book, Hopper said, 405 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: talking about the tactic book, a gift from the Green 406 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: Berets that might help Brandon get inspired. 407 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:26,920 Speaker 2: Brando flipped his shit. 408 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:29,960 Speaker 1: I don't have to take this, he shouted, I have 409 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,679 Speaker 1: to hear it from this punk. He refused to shoot 410 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,160 Speaker 1: with Dennis Hopper refused to even be on set with him, 411 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,120 Speaker 1: and they shot their scenes on separate days. But why 412 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: did Brando fly off the handle at such a harmless 413 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:45,679 Speaker 1: comment from Dennis Hopper? Because Brando hadn't read the book. 414 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:48,440 Speaker 1: He hadn't read Heart of Darkness, the one fucking thing 415 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: Copola had asked him to do before we showed up. 416 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:52,639 Speaker 1: Copa had been giving Brando grief about it from the 417 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:53,800 Speaker 1: minute he got off to Chopper. 418 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 2: Brando thought Hopper was giving him shit for not doing 419 00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 2: his homework. 420 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: And not only did Brando not read Hard of Darkness, 421 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: he hadn't even read the script for what there was 422 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:05,639 Speaker 1: of it, and that was the last problem. The scenes 423 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: Brando was there to shoot hadn't even been written. Apocalypse 424 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: Now had no ending other. 425 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,560 Speaker 2: Than that everything was going great. 426 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: Rather than Pau's production to finish the script, Copola encouraged 427 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: Brando to improvise all the scenes for three weeks, camera's 428 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: role as the massive actor, dressed in black and cloaked 429 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: and shadow mumbled poetically about war and savagery in the 430 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,400 Speaker 1: darkness of the human soul. Copola ended up with over 431 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: a million feet of film to edit, and it took 432 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,520 Speaker 1: him two years. Brando, meanwhile, took home three and a 433 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: half million dollars for fifteen minutes of screen time, which 434 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: would be nothing compared to the three point seven million 435 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,480 Speaker 1: dollars plus top billing in a percentage of gross that 436 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,480 Speaker 1: he got for eight minutes in Superman. Just a year later. 437 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: Even Christopher Reeve complained about Brando's phone did in performance, 438 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:56,240 Speaker 1: and Christopher Reeve never said anything bad about anybody after 439 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,359 Speaker 1: pulling in massive checks for what amounted to cameo appearances 440 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 1: marl When Brando returned to the empty house Ama Holland Drive, 441 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,919 Speaker 1: his performance as a real dad was as phoned in 442 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: as his role as Superman's absent father. He paid the 443 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 1: rent on the cabin in the woods of Washington State 444 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:14,120 Speaker 1: where Christian lived with an ever expanding collection of guns 445 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,880 Speaker 1: in an ever expanding mind courtesy. 446 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 2: Of a steady supply of LSD. 447 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: He also paid for repair and improvements for the house 448 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:23,880 Speaker 1: in Tahiti where his daughter Cheyenne was living with her mother, 449 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: but he rarely saw either of his children before the 450 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: night in May nineteen ninety when a single gunshot rang 451 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:34,119 Speaker 1: out in the house ONM. Holland Drive and ripped Marlon 452 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:35,360 Speaker 1: Brando's family. 453 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:36,480 Speaker 2: Apart for good. 454 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: The people in the packed courtroom watched as Marlon Brando 455 00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 1: squeezed onto the witness stand he had to turn sideways 456 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: to get in. Every reporter in Hollywood wanted to see 457 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:09,040 Speaker 1: the next great performance from the country's greatest actor, and from. 458 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,119 Speaker 2: The looks of Brando, it might be his last. 459 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: The bailiff asked Brando to swear to God that he 460 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:15,920 Speaker 1: was about to tell the truth, the whole truth, and 461 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,480 Speaker 1: nothing but the truth. Brando refused, he didn't believe in 462 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,600 Speaker 1: that shit. He swore in the lives of his children instead, 463 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: including his eldest son. Sitting across the courtroom, Christian Brando's 464 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,679 Speaker 1: life was hanging in the balance. He'd pleaded guilty to 465 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:34,320 Speaker 1: manslaughter and the killing of his sister Cheyenne's boyfriend, Dag Drolei, 466 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,679 Speaker 1: and this hearing would determine his sentence. Brando spoke for 467 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,640 Speaker 1: an hour. He didn't say much about Christian. He talked 468 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: about his own failures as a father. He said he'd 469 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: led a wasted life and his own children were now 470 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: paying for the sins of the father. He said none 471 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:53,000 Speaker 1: of this would be happening if Christian wasn't his son. 472 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,119 Speaker 1: Christian Brando's trial was now the Marlon Brando trial. On 473 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 1: his final day, the defense had called it star Witness. 474 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:05,359 Speaker 1: After cataloging his mistakes, Brando turned to the victim's family, 475 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 1: who had flown in from Tahiti for the sentencing hearing. 476 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 1: He apologized to them in perfect French. They glared at 477 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,160 Speaker 1: him with hatred in their eyes. The American Hamlet's performance 478 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: was wasted on them. Christian Brando was sentenced to ten years. 479 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: He served five. While he was in prison, his sister's 480 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:27,640 Speaker 1: mental problems spiraled hidden away in Tahiti. She was declared 481 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,920 Speaker 1: unfit to testify at his trial, but once he was sentenced, 482 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,159 Speaker 1: she spoke to any reporter who tracked her down. She 483 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: said Marlon Brando neglected her growing up. Then she said 484 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 1: he abused her. Then she suggested her father conspired with 485 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,680 Speaker 1: Christian to murder her boyfriend. Cheyenne Brando was diagnosed with 486 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: schizophrenia and lost custody of her son. Isolated from friends 487 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,080 Speaker 1: and family, she hanged herself in nineteen ninety five, less 488 00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 1: than a year before Christian was released from prison. Christian 489 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,280 Speaker 1: never said much about his sister after she only that 490 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,880 Speaker 1: he was a chump for believing her accusations of abuse 491 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:05,960 Speaker 1: against her boyfriend on the night of the murder. 492 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,159 Speaker 2: In two thousand and four, Marlon Brando. 493 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,679 Speaker 1: Died at home in the House on mahonand his final 494 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 1: screen appearance was three years earlier, in the music video 495 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 1: for Michael Jackson's You Rock My World. Brando and the 496 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:21,760 Speaker 1: King of Pop had been friends since the late seventies, 497 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: and Brando was one of Jackson's guests on stage for 498 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: his thirtieth anniversary concerts in New York City in early 499 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: September two thousand and one. Elizabeth Taylor also made an appearance. 500 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 1: On the morning of September eleventh, Michael Jackson got a 501 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 1: call from so called friends in Saudi Arabia telling him America. 502 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:40,240 Speaker 2: Was under attack. 503 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 1: Convinced that he personally might be a target, MJ did 504 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,320 Speaker 1: what any demorel adult pop icon would do in that situation. 505 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,960 Speaker 1: He rented a car, picked up Marlon Brando and Elizabeth 506 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 1: Taylor from their hotels, and drove to Ohio, where the 507 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,960 Speaker 1: trio will be saved from terrorists. Brando annoyed his fellow 508 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,400 Speaker 1: travelers by insisting they stopped at every KFC they passed. 509 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: In his last days, Marlon Brando was convinced to alter 510 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,359 Speaker 1: his will, signing over his twenty million dollar estate to 511 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: a film executive, effectively disinheriting his son, Christian. Christian, meanwhile, 512 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,359 Speaker 1: was a person of interest in another celebrity murder case. 513 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: Robert Blake, known to television audiences as the hard nosed 514 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: Detective Tony Bretta, was charged with murdering his wife, Bonnie 515 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:28,720 Speaker 1: Lee Bakeley in two thousand and one, and a pre 516 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:32,720 Speaker 1: trial hearing Blake's attorneys introduced a bizarre alternate theory about 517 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:37,520 Speaker 1: the murder. The real killer, they claimed was Christian Brando. 518 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 1: Blake's dead wife had a thing for celebrities. She once 519 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,480 Speaker 1: said her first daughter was the child of Jerry Lee Lewis, 520 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: although a DNA test disproved it. She began writ into 521 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: Christian Brando when he was in prison, and their affair 522 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,000 Speaker 1: started not long after his release. 523 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,880 Speaker 2: When Bakeley got pregnant, she told both Blake and Christian 524 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 2: they were the father. She even named the kid Christian. 525 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 1: A paternity test showed the baby was Blake's, but Christian 526 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 1: didn't appreciate being drawn in or whatever fucked up domestic 527 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 1: situation the couple had going on. The defense had a 528 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: tape of him telling Bakeley she was lucky someone wasn't 529 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: out there to put a bullet in her head, except 530 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:16,880 Speaker 1: that someone had, and Robert Blake's lawyers wanted the jury 531 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: to believe it was Christian Brando. Christian pleaded the fifth 532 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 1: trial and was never charged. Robert Blake was acquitted on 533 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: criminal charges, but found guilty of wrongful death and civil court. 534 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 1: Christian Brandow married a woman who claimed without evidence that 535 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: she was an illegitimate child of Elvis Presley. The marriage 536 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,840 Speaker 1: ended after a year after Christian was cherished with domestic abuse, 537 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: cut off from his father's money, and kicked out of 538 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: the house a Mohammond by the people who convinced the 539 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: dying Marlin Brando to alder as well. Christian was homeless. 540 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,600 Speaker 1: He contracted pneumonia in two thousand and eight and was 541 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: admitted to the hospital's quote unquote indigen He had no insurance, 542 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: no money, But while he lay in a coma, his mother, 543 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: who hadn't seen in twenty years, argued with the executors 544 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:02,920 Speaker 1: of Brando's estate over who would pay for a memorial service. 545 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 1: In the end, no one did. Christian Brando was buried 546 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 1: without a ceremony. When his mother died a few years later, 547 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: her last wish was to be buried alongside him. Christian's 548 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: ex wife bought the adjacent burial plot to keep his 549 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: mother from getting her wish. Was a bizarre PostScript to 550 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: the epic tragedy of the Brando family, a story that 551 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: ought to be in pictures. I'm Jake Brennan and this 552 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: is Hollywood Land. 553 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,480 Speaker 3: Hollywood Land was created by years truly and is produced 554 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:53,360 Speaker 3: in partnership with double Elvis. Follow, like, rate, and review 555 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 3: hollywood Land wherever you get your podcasts, and get in 556 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 3: touch with us on social media at double Elvis. If 557 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 3: you like hollywood Land, I got my other show, the 558 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 3: award winning Disgraceland, which looks at the world of music 559 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:04,800 Speaker 3: through the lens. 560 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 2: Of true crime. 561 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,080 Speaker 1: Just search for Disgraceland or wherever you get your podcasts. 562 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:15,200 Speaker 2: Good, there's a lab