[Mb-hair] 'Penniless' Brando left millions BBC

[Michael Butler]

 'Penniless' Brando left millions
 Movie icon Marlon Brando left behind a fortune worth about $21.6m, his
lawyer says, contradicting rumours that the reclusive actor died in penury.

 There had been speculation that Brando lived his last years deeply in debt,
surviving on a pension and hand-outs.

 Brando, once Hollywood's highest-paid star, died on 1 July, aged 80.

 His lawyer said the actor's wealth had been mainly invested in property,
including a Tahitian atoll and an estate in California.

 Scripts and sketches

 Attorney David Seeley was speaking after filing a petition for probate in a
Los Angeles court - marking the start of the legal process by which a dead
person's assets are distributed.

 Mr Seeley said other belongings of Brando had yet to be valued.

 These include a potential goldmine of original film scripts, paintings and
sketches.

 The probate documents filed in Los Angeles also show Mr Brando's estate had
an annual income of $500,000.

 All Brando's living offspring - said to number 10, with ages between 10 and
46 years - are mentioned in the will, but a grand-child and an adopted child
have been left out.

 Secret cremation 

 In the years before his death, rumours abounded that the actor was on the
brink of destitution, having exhausted his fortune on lawyers for his son,
who was convicted of killing his sister's boyfriend in 1990.

 Payments to the actor's many lovers and offspring were also thought to have
been a drain on his finances.

 Brando is best remembered for films such as On the Waterfront, A Streetcar
Named Desire, Last Tango in Paris and The Godfather, in which his
performances were marked by fierce emotional honesty and an intense physical
grace.

 He was cremated at a secret ceremony in Los Angeles last week.

 Story from BBC NEWS:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/3882281.stm

 Published: 2004/07/10 07:20:24 GMT

 © BBC MMIV