Jocelyn Brando

Jocelyn Brando
Jocelyn Brando in The Big Heat (1953)
Born	(1919-11-18)November 18, 1919 San Francisco, California, United States
Died	November 27, 2005(2005-11-27) (aged 86) Santa Monica, California, USA
Years active	1942–1983
Spouse(s)	Don Hanmer (?–?) (divorced) 1 child Eliot Asinof (1950–1955) (divorced) 1 child

Jocelyn Brando (November 18, 1919 – November 27, 2005) was an American film, stage and television actress.

Her film debut came in the war movie China Venture (1953) with Edmond O'Brien and Barry Sullivan. Her best-known movie role was as detective Glenn Ford's wife in the film noir The Big Heat (1953).

Jocelyn Brando, the older sister of Marlon Brando, was born in San Francisco, California, to Marlon Brando, Sr., and Dorothy Julia Pennebaker Brando. Jocelyn and Marlon Brando and their sister Frances grew up mostly in the Midwest—in Omaha, Nebraska, Evanston and Libertyville, Illinois, though the family also spent time in California. The bane of the children's existence was the alcoholism of both parents, which was particularly acute with their mother, who later became a leader in Alcoholics Anonymous. Although Jocelyn, a talented actress, was blacklisted for having signed a peace petition, 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. Her mother, Dorothy Brando, had given Henry Fonda his start in theater in this same group. She made her Broadway debut soon after her 22nd birthday, appearing in The First Crocus at the Longacre Theatre on January 2, 1942; the play closed after five performances. Her next appearance on Broadway came two months after her younger brother began his role as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.