Love Was Blind—Marlon Brando & Anna Kashfi

When she stood in her pink, gold-embroidered sari beside Marlon Brando and took her marriage vows before the Rev. J. Walter Fiscus in the living room of the home of Marlon’s aunt, Mrs. Bette Lindemeyer, at Eagle Rock, the girl who called herself Anna Kashfi was the happiest in the world. Now, she may well be the unhappiest. William Patrick O’Callaghan and his wife, Phoebe, claim Anna is their daughter, Joanna, not “brown” as she stated on her marriage license, nor were her parents Devi Kashfi and Selma Ghose. The only point on which they agree was that she was born in Calcutta on September 30, 1934.

A baptismal certificate was produced by a London paper to prove without doubt that the O’Callaghans were indeed her parents. Anna stuck to her story. And Marlon? Intimates say he’s very upset, and think he did not know there was any doubt about Anna’s being Indian. If there were, it might have dimmed her charm for him—he’s attracted by all things Indian. Certainly, he would not have permitted her to wear a sari—he’s much too honest for that. It appears Marlon was blinded by the beautiful Anna/Joanna, and she by her love of him. They’ll have to open their eyes to the situation and face it honestly if love is to survive its poor start.

It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE JANUARY 1958