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Brando's Bride
In October 1957 Marlon Brando married an Indian actress called Anna Kashfi. He was thirty-three and at the pinnacle of his fame, having recently won an Oscar for On the Waterfront. He could, and did, have any woman he wanted.
Anna Kashfi was twenty-three and pregnant. The day after the wedding, a factory worker living in Wales, William O’Callaghan, claimed that the woman who called herself Anna Kashfi was in fact his daughter, Joan O’Callaghan. He said she was a butcher’s assistant from Cardiff. This book sets out to discover who was telling the truth and who was lying—and, perhaps more importantly, why?
Anna Kashfi was twenty-three and pregnant. The day after the wedding, a factory worker living in Wales, William O’Callaghan, claimed that the woman who called herself Anna Kashfi was in fact his daughter, Joan O’Callaghan. He said she was a butcher’s assistant from Cardiff. This book sets out to discover who was telling the truth and who was lying—and, perhaps more importantly, why?
- GenresBiography
180 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 16, 2019
I’m a bit of a film nerd and Marlon Brando has always been a bit of a favourite of mine but I have to admit to being very unaware of this period in his life and that meant I was incredibly intrigued to find out more! And this book really did deliver a richly researched and detailed account of this marriage, without the scandalous and gossipy voice of the celebrity reporting that usually creeps in!
Anna Kashfi was very young (her early twenties) went she went off to Hollywood to start her acting career. Her acting profile stated that she was an Indian princess and she appeared in a few major productions before catching the eye of film star and heartthrob Marlon Brando. She was very much his “type” with her beautiful dark skin and eyes and they dated for a couple of years before she got pregnant and they decided to marry. But the marriage got off to a rather rocky start immediately when Anna’s family told the press that far from being Indian royalty, she was actually called Joan O’Callaghan and was from Cardiff! Now I don’t know why anyone was really that surprised as it seemed to be the norm in Hollywood at that time to reinvent yourself with a new name and backstory in the search for success in the movie business. But Brando never really recovered from what he saw as Anna making a fool of him and the marriage was doomed from that point onwards! This book delves deeply into the truth about Anna’s supposed deception and her family background but does show that there is no cut and dried answer! Even so it is a fascinating investigation into a situation that ended many relationships and had a far reaching affect on all those involved.
Sarah Broughton really brings Anna to life here as she gives a detailed picture of her life before, during and after her marriage. She was lucky enough to be able to interview Anna face to face as well and to be able use their rapport to delve deeper into her past. I actually felt quite sorry for her as her Hollywood dream didn’t develop into the happy ever after that she had expected. But there was a huge mystery surrounding why Anna looked the way that she did and many things didn’t add up about her family history so I felt sorry that she was the one who had to deal with a fallout that wouldn’t happen nowadays.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it well written and researched but also very entertaining. Sarah Broughton has an involving writing style that draws you in with an almost voyeuristic intensity and I would certainly read more books by this author if they were written in a similar way. Highly recommended.
October 21, 2019
I think if this happened in the 21st century there would be a better understanding of why Anna, her parents and Marlon reacted the way they did. In general there is more information and clarification about the stigma and racism, which is why Anna's story imploded the way it did.
Her parents were eager to hide behind their initial lies, because they didn't want to be rejected by society. That rejection must have appeared to be a far worse fate than the disowning their daughter. The same could be said for Anna of course, who was left to her own devices after the studio helped her to build a story around her Anna Kashfi Anglo-Indian persona.
Then there is Marlon Brando - a man already convinced and consumed by his massive aura and ego. The fact his feeling of embarrassment was more important than his relationship with Anna frankly says a lot more about him than he probably would like people to know.
I think it is fair to say he was enamoured by the idea that the world knew Brando the great had an exotic woman on his arm. In a way his choices in women were more than just being attracted to a certain type of woman. It was about cementing his image as an activist in the civil rights and for the Native American movements.
Anna came from a world and a time in history when reinventing yourself by becoming bog standard white, English and Anglican was a choice made to protect, as opposed to trying to deceive.
It's a well-researched biography, which Broughton approaches with empathy and respect. She gives Anna a voice - a voice she needed many decades ago. Not a piece written by those willing to feed the readers hungry for gossip and wanting to disparage someone. A voice speaking for the women who were used by the film industry as examples of exotic beauty, and then cast aside when they became too troublesome or threatened to bring scandals to their doors.
*I received a courtesy copy*
Her parents were eager to hide behind their initial lies, because they didn't want to be rejected by society. That rejection must have appeared to be a far worse fate than the disowning their daughter. The same could be said for Anna of course, who was left to her own devices after the studio helped her to build a story around her Anna Kashfi Anglo-Indian persona.
Then there is Marlon Brando - a man already convinced and consumed by his massive aura and ego. The fact his feeling of embarrassment was more important than his relationship with Anna frankly says a lot more about him than he probably would like people to know.
I think it is fair to say he was enamoured by the idea that the world knew Brando the great had an exotic woman on his arm. In a way his choices in women were more than just being attracted to a certain type of woman. It was about cementing his image as an activist in the civil rights and for the Native American movements.
Anna came from a world and a time in history when reinventing yourself by becoming bog standard white, English and Anglican was a choice made to protect, as opposed to trying to deceive.
It's a well-researched biography, which Broughton approaches with empathy and respect. She gives Anna a voice - a voice she needed many decades ago. Not a piece written by those willing to feed the readers hungry for gossip and wanting to disparage someone. A voice speaking for the women who were used by the film industry as examples of exotic beauty, and then cast aside when they became too troublesome or threatened to bring scandals to their doors.
*I received a courtesy copy*
October 16, 2019
The life of Anna Kashfi, the ‘forgotten’ first wife of Hollywood star Marlon Brando, is one such troubled life, and her story is given the treatment it deserves in Brando’s Bride, a biography by writer and researcher Sarah Broughton.
According to her studio biography, and the story she would most often relate about her own life, the ‘exotic’ Anna Kashfi was the daughter of Indian parents Devi Kashfi and Selma Ghose. Born and raised in India, she moved to Wales only when her mother met and married an Englishman, William Patrick O’Callaghan, living there briefly before setting off to London, where she came to the attention of a Hollywood producer and landed her first film role in The Mountain (1955), staring alongside Robert Wagner and Spencer Tracy.
According to Patrick O’Callaghan, his daughter was an English woman called Joan and was the daughter of his wife, Phoebe. Neither of them was Indian. In fact, they didn’t have a drop of Indian blood in the family at all. Phoebe’s family were, in fact, French.
So who was telling the truth?
As with most stories, the truth lies somewhere in the middle of these two accounts, a complex tale of Anglo-Indian heritage, personal shame, and Hollywood gloss. Broughton carefully fits together these pieces, picking apart the motivations behind the studios’ portrayal of Kashfi as an ‘exotic’ young actress, and examining why her parents; now assimilated into life in a Cardiff suburb, would distance themselves from their Anglo-Indian heritage – and why their daughter might wish to reclaim it.
It’s a fascinating tale even before Anna’s involvement with Marlon Brando. In fact, I preferred the book when the focus was on Anna. Whilst her tempestuous and short-lived marriage to Brando might be what she is most famous for, it is, in many ways, the least interesting thing about her.
Instead, I enjoyed the parts of Brando’s Bride that focused upon Anna’s acclimatisation into Hollywood, examining the creation and maintenance of identity within the studio system. The intense control that the studio’s maintained over their stars and starlets – and the carefully crafted versions of themselves that they wanted portraying – is really quite frightening, and it’s easy to see why so many young stars became deeply troubled figures in later life. The chapter on Anna’s contemporaries Pier Angeli, Belinda Lee, and Gia Scala, is both fascinating and poignant, as are glimpses into Brando and Anna’s own addictions, and the impact of these upon their son, Christian.
Broughton has clearly spent a great deal of time researching Anna’s life, although her prose wears this research lightly and Brando’s Bride benefits from this investigative, personal style. Whilst the book is largely sympathetic to Anna, Broughton also manages to maintain enough distance from her subject to cast a critical eye on the less salubrious aspects of her life, such as her continuing refusal to speak to, see, or even acknowledge her parents, and the bitterness that followed in the wake of her divorce from Brando.
Told with empathy, warmth, and insight, Brando’s Bride casts light onto one of the hidden histories of Hollywood. Although I had never heard of Anna Kashfi before – and cannot even claim to be a particular fan of Brando and his work – I found this to be a fascinating glimpse into the world that lies behind the glamour.
NB: This is an edited version of a review that first appeared on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpre... as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
According to her studio biography, and the story she would most often relate about her own life, the ‘exotic’ Anna Kashfi was the daughter of Indian parents Devi Kashfi and Selma Ghose. Born and raised in India, she moved to Wales only when her mother met and married an Englishman, William Patrick O’Callaghan, living there briefly before setting off to London, where she came to the attention of a Hollywood producer and landed her first film role in The Mountain (1955), staring alongside Robert Wagner and Spencer Tracy.
According to Patrick O’Callaghan, his daughter was an English woman called Joan and was the daughter of his wife, Phoebe. Neither of them was Indian. In fact, they didn’t have a drop of Indian blood in the family at all. Phoebe’s family were, in fact, French.
So who was telling the truth?
As with most stories, the truth lies somewhere in the middle of these two accounts, a complex tale of Anglo-Indian heritage, personal shame, and Hollywood gloss. Broughton carefully fits together these pieces, picking apart the motivations behind the studios’ portrayal of Kashfi as an ‘exotic’ young actress, and examining why her parents; now assimilated into life in a Cardiff suburb, would distance themselves from their Anglo-Indian heritage – and why their daughter might wish to reclaim it.
It’s a fascinating tale even before Anna’s involvement with Marlon Brando. In fact, I preferred the book when the focus was on Anna. Whilst her tempestuous and short-lived marriage to Brando might be what she is most famous for, it is, in many ways, the least interesting thing about her.
Instead, I enjoyed the parts of Brando’s Bride that focused upon Anna’s acclimatisation into Hollywood, examining the creation and maintenance of identity within the studio system. The intense control that the studio’s maintained over their stars and starlets – and the carefully crafted versions of themselves that they wanted portraying – is really quite frightening, and it’s easy to see why so many young stars became deeply troubled figures in later life. The chapter on Anna’s contemporaries Pier Angeli, Belinda Lee, and Gia Scala, is both fascinating and poignant, as are glimpses into Brando and Anna’s own addictions, and the impact of these upon their son, Christian.
Broughton has clearly spent a great deal of time researching Anna’s life, although her prose wears this research lightly and Brando’s Bride benefits from this investigative, personal style. Whilst the book is largely sympathetic to Anna, Broughton also manages to maintain enough distance from her subject to cast a critical eye on the less salubrious aspects of her life, such as her continuing refusal to speak to, see, or even acknowledge her parents, and the bitterness that followed in the wake of her divorce from Brando.
Told with empathy, warmth, and insight, Brando’s Bride casts light onto one of the hidden histories of Hollywood. Although I had never heard of Anna Kashfi before – and cannot even claim to be a particular fan of Brando and his work – I found this to be a fascinating glimpse into the world that lies behind the glamour.
NB: This is an edited version of a review that first appeared on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpre... as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
November 16, 2019
This is such an extraordinary book, which is much more than a memoir.
The book delves into the ex wife Marlon Brando, Anna Kashfi. The author has done extensive research as the story moves from Hollywood and India to Wales. Who was Anna Kashfi? How did she end up in Hollywood married to one of their biggest stars?
By discovering Anna’s story the author also gives the reader an insight into how Hollywood worked at that time, the way the studios used the actors and actresses. There is also insight into India and Wales too.
Anna’s story is very poignant and it was interesting to read the interview the author did with her before her death.
An excellently written and researched book.
The book delves into the ex wife Marlon Brando, Anna Kashfi. The author has done extensive research as the story moves from Hollywood and India to Wales. Who was Anna Kashfi? How did she end up in Hollywood married to one of their biggest stars?
By discovering Anna’s story the author also gives the reader an insight into how Hollywood worked at that time, the way the studios used the actors and actresses. There is also insight into India and Wales too.
Anna’s story is very poignant and it was interesting to read the interview the author did with her before her death.
An excellently written and researched book.
December 23, 2020
A curious book about Anna Kashif just another workaday actress who gained more notorioty through her marriage to Marlon Brando then her few films.the new biography the studio gave her plus her own version of her background help to muddy the waters.i surprised to find out which few films she had been in,and then her total disregard for her parents.never a fan of Brando's Anna was the sort of woman he deserved.i felt sorry for the children.well done to the author for digging deeper than most,and uncovering a genuine intrigue.pity their is not a compendium of the stars big and small with their real bios held up against the studio forged one.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews