Jocelyn Brando

Jocelyn Brando (November 18, 1919 – November 27, 2005) was an American actress, best known for her role as Katie Bannion in the film noir The Big Heat. She was the sister of Marlon Brando.

Early life Brando was born in San Francisco, California, to Marlon Brando Sr. and Dorothy Pennebaker. Her father was a salesman who often travelled out-of-state and her mother was a stage actress, often away from home. She was the older sister of actor Marlon Brando and of Frances. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Career 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. Her mother, Dorothy Brando, had given Henry Fonda his start in theater in this same group in October 1925 in the play "You and I". She made her Broadway debut in The First Crocus

But even before that, in the fall of 1947, Jocelyn and Marlon became two of the first 50 or so members of New York's newly formed Actors Studio, Jocelyn studying with Elia Kazan, Marlon with Robert Lewis.

On February 18, 1948, she appeared in her second role on Broadway. She played Navy nurse Lieutenant Ann Girard in Mister Roberts, which starred family friend Henry Fonda in the title role. The play was a smash hit, running about three years (1,157 performances).

Brando did not complete the run of the play, appearing in the comedy The Golden State in the 1950–51 season, a flop that lasted only 25 performances, followed by a critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful 1952 revival of Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms, which ran for only 46 performances. Brando later appeared in a Broadway revival of O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra.

Back in uniform as a military officer, she made her film debut in Don Siegel's war drama China Venture (1953). When she first arrived in Hollywood, she gave an interview in which she commented on her brother's advice, or lack of it, 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."

Personal life and death Brando was divorced from actor Don Hanmer on April 4, 1950. On April 13, 1950, she married author Eliot T. Asinof in Tarrytown, New York. She had two sons, Gahan Hanmer and Martin Asinof.