Jocelyn P. Brando

From The Boston Daily Globe, of Tuesday, April 17, 1951:

Jocelyn Brando, at Brattle Hall, often mistaken for Radcliffe girl by Marjory Adams

Jocelyn Brando, who plays the wife in the world premiere of Donald Ogden Stewart's "The Kidders" at Brattle Hall, often is mistaken for a Radcliffe junior. A Cambridge bartender refused to believe she was mature enough for an after-the-show bottle of ale and she had to bring out a birth certificate to prove she is 31. She was been married twice, has a 7-year-old son who thinks she is as old as Methuselah's wife, and is the older sister of that idol of the teenage set, Marlon Brando.

Ever since Jocelyn has been in Boston rehearsing for the new play, bobby-soxers and their older sisters have written and phoned begging for Marlon's telephone number, his street address, or any information she can supply.

"We have a set rule in our family," says Jocelyn. "Nobody knows where the rest of us are. And most of the time, it's really true about Marlon. He's now in his way to Mexico where he is to appear in 'Zapata,' which Elia Kazan will direct, but I can't tell you his address."

Miss Brando, whose married name is Mrs. Eliot Asinof (her husband combines manufacturing clothing with writing), undoubtedly set her mind on acting as a career when she was 6 years old. Dorothy Brando, having become the mother of three children - Jocelyn, Marlon, and little Frances - went on the stage for five years.

Appeared with Henry Fonda

Young Jocelyn first attended the theater to watch her mother in the leading role in "Pygmalion". Mrs. Brando appeared with Henry Fonda and the 6-year-old child was enchanted because her mother climbed under a piano and made funny noises, which is how Cockney dialect sounded to a youngster born in San Francisco and brought up in Omaha.

At the intermission, Hank Fonda held Jocelyn in his lap and the whole afternoon was a delightful event.

Some years later, Jocelyn was to get a job through Henry Fonda's interest in her and it was as the nurse in "Mister Rogers" that Jocelyn remained for 2-1/2 years on the New York stage.

Indeed, when Jocelyn read the part for the first time, it was decided to rewrite the dialogue to make it conform with her interpretation. But another and prettier girl was chosen for the role despite Jocelyn's intelligent understanding of what was wanted.

All was not lost. The girl may have been beautiful but she didn't know what was needed for the nurse's role. They called up Jocelyn again. On Saturday, she dyed her hair blonde, on Sunday she ran through her role, and on Monday she was in New Haven for the first performance of "Mister Roberts" on any stage.

Amusing things are always happening to this slight, boyish-looking Jocelyn, with her bright hazel eyes, her bangs, her horse-tail coiffure and her casual air of good fellowship.

During the war, she followed her air cadet husband down to Americus, Georgia, along with dozens of other wives.

"We could see our husbands only on weekends, so we all got jobs," said Jocelyn. "Some of us were in five and ten cent stores; others were waitresses. I found a place in a soft drink establishment. My work was to sit on a stool and watch bottles go by all day long, eight hours a day. I was all alone in the room and very bored. So I began reciting poetry, going through old roles I had learned, anything at all that took my mind off the empty room."

Started doing "Claudia"

"Finally I started doing 'Claudia' - I had understudied Dorothy McGuire in this play and been on tour for 10 months in it. I went through the first act. Then came the second and during the third, as I recited dramatically, 'O, David, how i miss my mother,' with tears running down my face, there was an apologetic cough behind me.

"It was the manager. He patted my shoulder and said, 'Poor child. I'm sorry you miss her.' And he wouldn't believe my story that I was merely rehearsing a role. He made me go out for a cigarette and he sat down and watched the bottles himself. He was wonderfully kind thereafter, believing I was merely being brave when I said I didn't particularly miss my parents back in Libertyville, Illinois, from whom I had been separated by the stage for some time."

Her 7-year-old David isn't too sure he relishes an actress mother. When she goes away from a tryout, he usually ignores her for some time after she comes back. He has been known to say, "Jocelyn, why can't you by the kind of mother who stays home and cooks?" He found out she was 31 and remarked, "Wow - THAT old," as if he couldn't understand why she didn't totter along with the aid of a cane.

But her husband, who has never acted himself, has evidently been sold on the stage. He is writing his first play.

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From The (Sonora CA) Union Democrat, of Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005:

Jocelyn Brando, Marlon's sister, dies

Santa Monica (AP) - Actress Jocelyn Brando, who appeared in more than a dozen films, including two with her younger brother, Marlon, has died. She was 86.

Brando, whose married surname was Pennebaker, died Sunday of natural causes at her Santa Monica home, said her son, Martin Asinof of Tillamook, Oregon.

Brando, who often defended and praised her better-known and controversial brother, made her Broadway splash in the late 1940s as the leading nurse in "Mister Rogers."

She appeared in more than a dozen major motion pictures, beginning with Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat" with Glenn Ford, in 1953, and ending with "Mommie Dearest," which starred Faye Dunaway as mercurial actress Joan Crawford in 1981.

Brando appeared with her brother in two mid-1960s releases, "The Ugly American" and "The Chase".

She also appeared in more than 50 television programs, including "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "The Virginian", "Little House on the Prairie", and "Kojak", and had a recurring role as Mrs. Reeves in episodes of "Dallas".

In a 1953 interview with the Los Angeles Times, she described her brother as a sweet, hardworking man.

"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," she said.

She was at her brother's side when he died at 80 of lung failure in Los Angeles on July 1, 2004. In addition to Asinof, Brando is survived by another son, Grahan Hanmer of Escondido.

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From The (Toledo OH) Blade, of Friday, Dec. 2, 2005:

Correction

An article about the deceased actress Jocelyn Brando, the sister of Marlon Brando, was incorrect in Wednesday's Peach Plus. Pennebaker was Ms. Brando's mother's maiden name.