Brando's Troubled Firstborn Dies

Christian, no stranger to courts, dies at 49 from pneumonia
By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 26, 2008 7:44 PM CST
Brando's Troubled Firstborn Dies
Actor Marlon Brando, left, smiles with his son, Christian, during a news conference after Christian was released on $2 million bail in Los Angeles, in this Aug. 15, 1990, file photo. Brando has died from pneumonia at a Los Angeles hospital. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)   (Associated Press)

Christian Brando, the eldest of the late Godfather's nine children, died today from pneumonia at 49. Brando, the product of his iconic father's first marriage, earned the media limelight in 1990 for shooting to death his sister's boyfriend, he LA Times reports. But he was in and out of the court system for much of his troubled life.

Marlin Brando and his first wife divorced when Christian was 5 months old, then fought a much-publicized custody battle for 16 years. Christian had long since dropped out of high school and developed a substance abuse problem when he was charged with killing Dag Drollet. He claimed it was accidental and served five years. He resurfaced later as the one-time lover of Robert Blake's murdered wife. (More Christian Brando stories.)

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