Jocelyn Brando, the older sister of
Marlon Brando, was born Nov. 18, 1919, in
San Francisco, California, to
Marlon Brando Sr. and his wife, the
former Dorothy Pennebaker. Joceyln and Marlon and their sister Frances
grew up mostly on a farm near Evanston, Illinois, though the family
moved around during their childhoods. The bane of the children's
existence was the alcoholism of both parents, which was particularly
acute with their mother. Her brother's friend
Karl Malden believed that Jocelyn's
promising career was derailed by alcohol. Despite not living up to her
promise, she managed a career that spanned five decades in the theater,
film and television. Jocelyn Brando came to the stage naturally, first
appearing in a theatrical production under the direction of her mother,
who was a principal in an Omaha community theater group that included
Henry Fonda. She made her Broadway debut
soon after her 22rd birthday, appearing in "The First Crocus" at the
Longacre Theatre on January 2, 1942. The play was a resounding flop and
closed after five performances. Her next appearance on Broadway came
two months after her kid brother Marlon made theatrical history as
Stanley Kowalski in
Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar
Named Desire." On February 18, 1948, Jocelyn opened as Navy nurse Lt.
Ann Girard in support of family friend Henry Fonda as the eponymous
"Mister Roberts." The play was a smash hit, running just shy of three
years for a total of 1,157 performances. Jocelyn did not complete the
run of the play, appearing in the comedy "The Golden State" in the
1950-51 season, a flop that lasted but 25 performances. She rebounded
in a succès d'estime in
Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under
the Elms" in 1952, though the play only lasted 46 performances. One of
her co-stars was Colleen Dewhurst, who
would go on to rank as the greatest interpreter of O'Neill's female
characters. Jocelyn would later appear in support of Dewhurst in a
Broadway revival of O'Neil's "Mourning Becomes Electra", Back in
uniform as a military officer, Jocelyn made her film debut in
Don Siegel's war drama
China Venture (1953). When she
first arrived in Hollywood, she gave an interview with "The New York
Times" in which she commented on her brother's advice--or lack of
it--to the tyro film actress: "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." It was her
second film that was her best-known movie role: detective
Glenn Ford's doomed wife in
Fritz Lang's classic gangster movie
Gangsterikuningas (1953). Jocelyn's character was blown to cinematic
kingdom come in an off-camera explosion when she starts the family
automobile and detonates a bomb intended for screen hubby Ford. It
remains one of the most famous moments in cinema. She eventually
appeared in supporting roles in two of her brother's films,
Vaarallinen amerikkalainen (1963) and
The Chase (1966). While her career in
films never flourished, she had a healthy career in television from the
1940s through the 1980s, appearing in guest roles on scores of
television shows, including
Alfred Hitchcock esittää (1955),
Wagon Train (1957) and
Pieni talo preerialla (1974).
In the early 1970s she appeared as Mrs. Krakauer on the daytime TV soap
opera Love of Life (1951). She
also had a recurring role as Mrs. Reeves on the prime-time potboiler
Dallas (1978) for several years. Her last major film was _"Mommie
Dearest" (1981)_ ,
the Joan Crawford roman a clef.
Jocelyn vociferously defended her superstar brother in the press
throughout his half-century of celebrity, stressing his strong family
ties. She was with the great actor when he died at age 80 of lung
failure at his Los Angeles home on July 1, 2004 (the same disease h;ad
earlier claimed their sister Frances, who was a painter). Karl Malden,
in his 1997 autobiography "When Do I Start?", recounts how circa 1979
he cautioned his friend Marlon about his own intake of alcohol. Malden
reminded his younger friend, whom he had known at that point for 35
years, that alcohol had destroyed his mother's life, had compromised
that of his father and likely was the reason that Jocelyn never became
a major actress. Jocelyn Brando, who was twice married and had two
sons, died of natural causes at her Santa Monica, California, home on
November 20, 2005, two days after her 86th birthday. If we take Karl
Malden's word for it--who knew her and her work and her promise--but
for the fatal flaw that ran through the Brando-Pennebaker family, she
might have had a career that would have taken her out of the shadows
and elevated her to more than just a footnote in her brother's career.
