Jocelyn Brando

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Jocelyn Brando (November 18, 1919 – November 27, 2005) was an American actress best known for playing Katie Bannion in the 1953 film noir The Big Heat. She was Marlon Brando’s older sister.

She was born in San Francisco to Marlon Brando Sr., a traveling salesman, and Dorothy Pennebaker, a stage actress. Growing up around acting, she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She began on stage with her mother and made her Broadway debut in The First Crocus in 1942. In the late 1940s, she and Marlon were among the first members of New York’s Actors Studio.

Her Broadway credits included Mister Roberts (1948), The Golden State (1950–51), a 1952 revival of Desire Under the Elms, and Mourning Becomes Electra. She made her film debut in China Venture (1953), then landed her best-known role in The Big Heat. She later appeared in The Ugly American (1963) and The Chase (1966). On television, she acted in Love of Life in the late 1960s and had a recurring role on Dallas, among other appearances. Her last film was Mommie Dearest.

Brando was married twice. She first married actor Don Hanmer, divorcing in 1950, then married writer Eliot T. Asinof in 1950; they later divorced in 1955. They had two sons, Gahan Hanmer and Martin Asinof.

Jocelyn Brando died of natural causes at her Santa Monica home, aged 86.