Christian Brando dies of pneumonia

Brando died from complications of pneumonia at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, said David J. Seeley, an attorney for Marlon Brando's estate.

The legal proceedings against Brando for the killing of Dag Drollet caused a firestorm of media attention. His legendary actor father used his estate near Coldwater Canyon to post the $2 million bond for his son and later offered rambling and emotional testimony pleading for leniency for the oldest of his nine children.

Christian Brando, then 32, eventually pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of the 26-year-old Drollet, Cheyenne Brando's lover and the father of her unborn child. Brando was given a 10-year prison sentence but ended up serving nearly five years at the California Men's Colony at San Luis Obispo. He was also sentenced to three years probation.

Years later, the younger Brando would be called to court in another high-profile legal case, the civil trial of Robert Blake in the murder of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

Christian Brando was born in Los Angeles on May 11, 1958. His mother was Marlon Brando's first wife, the Calcutta-born actress Anna Kashfi. But Christian was still a toddler when the couple separated and divorced. A protracted custody battle ensued.

Kashfi was initially awarded custody of her son, but that order was removed five years later when a judge declared that her "reliance on drugs and alcohol" contributed to an uncontrollable temper. The court ordered that Christian, then 6, live with the actor's older sister. By 1972, Marlon Brando -- who by that time had married twice more and had three more children -- was granted custody of Christian, who was raised by nannies and sent to boarding school in Ojai.

But while the actor was out of the country filming "Last Tango in Paris," Kashfi allegedly kidnapped Christian and took him to Baja. The boy was eventually found living in a tent and ill with bronchitis.

Kashfi continued to press for custody but gave up her struggle in 1974 when her ex-husband pledged that she would get reasonable visitation rights with her son.