Marcheline Bertrand Biography
Marcheline Bertrand(born as Marcia Lynne Bertrand) was an American actress and humanitarian. She was the former wife of actor Jon Voight and the mother of actors Angelina Jolie and James Haven.Marcheline Bertrand is also known for her humanitarian efforts that were chiefly directed towards the economic and cultural upliftment of the Native American tribesmen and women. She co-founded the charitable organization, ‘All Tribes Foundation’ with John Trudell mainly for improving the quality of life of the Native American population.
Marcheline Bertrand Age
She was born on 9th May 1950 in Blue Island, Illinois, United States and died on 27th January 2007 in Los Angeles, California, United States at the age of 56.
Marcheline Bertrand Death|Marcheline Bertrand Cause of Death
After a nearly eight-year battle with ovarian and breast cancer, she died aged 56 on January 27, 2007, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in the company of her children. Bertrand’s mother and sister also died of cancer.
Marcheline Bertrand Parents
Marcheline Bertrand was born on May 9, 1956, to parents Lois June and Rolland F. Bertrand in Blue Island, Illinois. Marcheline Bertrand was often mistaken for a Parisian French due to her name, but actually, she had no ancestry ties to France. Marcheline Bertrand had Dutch, Germany, and French-Canadian ancestry. Marcheline Bertrand had two siblings, one sister, and a brother. She lived a quiet life with her family in a small town of Riverdale (a typical middle-class family image), but moved twice, once to Chicago until the family settled down in Beverly Hills, California. Marcheline Bertrand attended Beverly Hills High School from her sophomore year until graduating.
Marcheline Bertrand Husband|Marcheline Bertrand Divorce
Marcheline Bertrand shared her love and life with her husband Jon Voight. Jon Voight and wife Marcheline Bertrand were married on December 12, 1971. Being the wife of Jon Voight was not easy on Marcheline Bertrand. The relationship and responsibilities of being wife and mother took its toll on Marcheline Bertrand. After their marriage, Marcheline Bertrand and Jon Voight attempted at starting a family in 1972, but the pregnancy ended with a miscarriage. After the miscarriage, the couple tried again and welcomed son James Haven into the family on May 11, 1973. Soon after, Marcheline Bertrand and Jon Voight welcomed their daughter Angelina Jolie to the family on June 4, 1975. The couple shared short-lived family life, as the pressures related to being the wife of famous actor Jon Voight continued to take a toll on Marcheline Bertrand. This resulted in the couple divorcing in 1978. Angelina Jolie was only three years old when her parents separated to never be together again.
Following her divorce, Marcheline Bertrand was known to have dated Bill Day, a documentary filmmaker, for eleven years. The couple never married and raised Angelina Jolie and James Haven as a family. The couple later separated however and Marcheline Bertrand was once again single. Before her death, Marcheline Bertrand dated activist and musician John Trudell. Marcheline Bertrand through her love interest portrayed a woman of strength and a sound mind.
Marcheline Bertrand Grandchildren
Marcheline Bertrand was able to witness the births of three of her many grandchildren. Angelina Jolie had adopted son Maddox from Cambodia in 2001 and later adopted daughter Zahara Marley in 2005 from Ethiopia. Marcheline Bertrand welcomed her third grandchild and first to be naturally born to Angelina Jolie, Shiloh Nouvel. After grandma Marcheline Bertrand’s death, Angelina Jolie adopted Pax Thien and later Angelina Jolie graced her mother with the birth of twins Knox Léon, and a daughter, Vivienne Marcheline (named after her grandmother).
Marcheline Bertrand Acting
During her early years as an actress, Bertrand studied with Lee Strasberg.[7] In 1971, she played Connie in the episode “Love, Peace, Brotherhood and Murder” in the fourth season of the television show Ironside. A decade later, she appeared in a minor role in 1982’s Lookin’ to Get Out, a film was co-written by and starring her former husband, Jon Voight. The following year, Bertrand played her final film role in the 1983 comedy The Man Who Loved Women, a remake of the 1977 French film of the same name.
Bertrand then turned her attention toward producing. In 1983, she founded Woods Road Productions with her then-partner, Bill Day. In 2005, Bertrand was the executive producer of the documentary Trudell, which chronicles the life and work of her partner, John Trudell, a Santee Sioux musician and activist. Trudell was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival, and it won the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival.
Marcheline Bertrand’s Photo
Marcheline Bertrand Ironside
She made her small screen debut in 1971 in the television show ‘Ironside’. She portrayed the character of Connie in the episode “Love, Peace, Brotherhood and Murder” in the fourth season of ‘Ironside’.
The series revolved around former San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr), a veteran of more than 20 years of police service, forced to retire from the department after a sniper’s bullet to the spine paralyzed him from the waist down, resulting in him having to use a wheelchair. In the pilot episode, a television movie, Ironside shows his strength of character and gets himself appointed a “special department consultant” by his good friend, Police Commissioner Dennis Randall. He does this by calling a press conference and then tricking Commissioner Randall into meeting his terms. In the pilot, Ironside eventually solves the mystery of the ambush. He requests Ed Brown and Eve Whitfield to be assigned to him.
Supporting characters on Ironside included Det. Sgt. Edward “Ed” Brown (Don Galloway) and a young socialite-turned-plainclothes officer, Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson). Besides, there was delinquent-turned assistant Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell), who subsequently attends and graduates from law school (night classes were mentioned from early on), joins the San Francisco Police Force himself in the sixth season, then marries late in the run of the series. Commissioner Randall was played by Gene Lyons who died in 1974.
After the program’s fourth season, Anderson left for personal reasons and her character was then replaced by another young policewoman Fran Belding (Elizabeth Baur), who filled much the same role for four more years.
Ironside uses a fourth-floor room (for living and office space) in the old San Francisco Hall of Justice building, which housed the city’s police headquarters. He recruits the angst-filled black ex-con Mark Sanger to be his assistant after Sanger is brought in as a suspect who wanted to kill Ironside. Ironside acquires a specially equipped, former fleet-modified 1940 1½-ton Ford police patrol wagon. This is replaced in the episode titled “Poole’s Paradise” after the van is destroyed by Sergeant Brown as part of a way to trick a corrupt sheriff. At the end of the episode, the patrol wagon is replaced by a one-off fully custom modified 1969 1-ton Ford Econoline Window Van. The show became a success as Ironside depended on brains and initiative in handling cases. Although Ironside was good-hearted and honest, he maintained a gruff persona.
The series enjoyed a seven and a half-season run on NBC, drawing respectable, if not always high, ratings. As the shortened eighth and final season began (only 16 of 19 episodes produced were aired by NBC), Universal released a syndicated rerun package of episodes from earlier seasons under the title The Raymond Burr Show, reflecting the practice of that time to differentiate original network episodes from syndicated reruns whenever possible. After NBC’s mid-season cancellation, however, the syndicated episodes reverted to the Ironside title.
Marcheline Bertrand Philanthropy
Bertrand and her partner, John Trudell, founded the All Tribes Foundation, to support the cultural and economic survival of Native peoples. By 2007, the foundation had issued over $800,000 in grants to reservation-based programs that strengthen tribal ways of life and safeguard a future for Native communities.
On International Women’s Day in 2003, Bertrand and Trudell produced a benefit concert for Afghan women refugees in conjunction with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Bertrand, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1999, also founded the Give Love Give Life organization with Trudell; their objective was to raise public consciousness about ovarian and other gynecological cancers through the use of music. The first Give Love Give Life concert was held on February 2004 at The Roxy in West Hollywood. Bertrand and Trudell worked to organize strategic support in the music and film community for Johanna’s Law, legislation to fund national outreach and education about the signs and symptoms of gynecological cancers, which was signed into law on January 12, 2007. To benefit the Women’s Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a second Give Love Give Life concert was held at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles on February 2007, a month after Bertrand died from cancer.
Marcheline Bertrand and Angelina Jolie
Actress Bertrand married actor Jon Voight in 1971 and the couple had two children together; James Haven and Angelina Jolie. The actors divorced in 1980 but Angelina spoke about her mother often in interviews, citing her as a huge influence in her life.
Sadly, Marcheline passed away due to ovarian cancer in 2007 at the age of 56. Angelina spoke openly about how much she misses her mother and how much she regrets that she is not here as a grandmother to her six children -Madox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Vivienne and Knox.
Angelina’s mother was such a great source of inspiration as a parent to her as she raised both Angelina and James by herself after divorcing Voight.
Angelina had managed her career, humanitarian work and family life with Brad and their six children for over 11 years, leading the press to publicize them as an iconic example of a perfect family.
Sadly though, the 41-years-old actress separated from her husband and fellow actor in 2016.
Brad recently spoke to GQ Style after it was reported that he was under investigation for child abuse, of which he has since been cleared. He told the magazine:
I was really on my back and chained to a system when Child Services was called. And you know, after that, we’ve been able to work together to sort this out.
“We’re both doing our best. I heard one lawyer say, ‘No one wins in court—it’s just a matter of who gets hurt worse’. And it seems to be true, you spend a year just focused on building a case to prove your point and why you’re right and why they’re wrong, and it’s just an investment in vitriolic hatred.
“I just refuse. And fortunately, my partner in this agrees. It’s just very, very jarring for the kids, to suddenly have their family ripped apart.”Angelina has followed in her mother’s footsteps when it comes to humanitarian work; she is a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador for years now, helping in community development, child immigration and education, and human and women’s rights.
In her time, Marcheline founded the All Tribes Foundation with partner John Trudell to support the cultural and economic survival of Native peoples and the Give Love Give Life organization in 1999, to raise consciousness about ovarian cancer through music.
Cancer that sadly affected both herself and her daughter.
Angelina underwent a preventive double mastectomy in 2013. She wrote a New York Times piece called “My Medical Choice” where she wrote:
“My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.”
Angelina Jolie recently paid another tribute to her late Mother through becoming the new Guerlain muse for their Mon Guerlain perfume, her Mother’s favorite. A beautiful and symbolic homage. The actress told Marie Claire magazine about the Guerlain perfume and what it meant for her French-American mother and herself as well, as she used to live in the South of France with her children and husband.
Angelina donated her entire benefits from the perfume to one of her charities. The actress is more than a celebrity ambassador, she gives a lot of herself in everything she does.
Her mother gave her a love of helping others and the actress tries to do it with her children as well: She also shares wise advice about listening to your children:
But the only way I know to raise them is to listen. It’s perhaps the most important thing any parent can do. Angelina, of course, misses her mother and all that she could have brought to her and her family. Marcheline Bertrand was already proud of what her daughter and Brad Pitt had accomplished at the time. She revealed how proud of them she was to People in 2007, shortly after her grand-daughter Shiloh was born.
Angelina’s actions and wise words about parenting, love, and legacy are inspiring just like her. Her honesty and sincerity opening up about her mother is touching and reminds us how important our mothers are in our lives.
Marcheline Bertrand Movies
- Ironside 1971 Connie TV series
- Episode: “Love, Peace, Brotherhood, and Murder”
- Lookin’ to Get Out 1982 Girl in Jeep
- The Man Who Loved Women 1983 Girl (final film role)
- Trudell 2005 N/A Documentary
- Executive producer
Marcheline Bertrand and Jon Voight
Voight has been married and subsequently divorced twice during his life. He met his first wife, fellow actress Lauri Peters when they were both casts in the Broadway production of The Sound of Music. They married in 1962 but divorced in 1967. He then went onto marry his second wife, Marcheline Bertrand in 1971. With rumors of extra-marital affairs on Jon’s part during their marriage, they went onto separate in 1976 before divorcing two years later and Jon leaving their family home.
Marcheline Bertrand is the mother of Jon’s two children, both famous for their work, Angelina Jolie and James Haven. At the time of their marriage, Marcheline was 21 and an aspiring actress. However, when Jolie was just a year old, her parents divorced. Angelina has accused her father of cheating on her mother and abandoning the family, creating a strenuous relationship between Voight and his two children. Angelina also claims her mother “gave up on her dreams” of being an actress by marrying her father.
Angelina Jolie and James Haven grew up with their mother, developing a strong relationship with her until her death. Voight believes the hurt he caused their mother, and the ramifications their divorce had on their family, is the reason his relationship with his two children has always been so tumultuous. He has stated, “It comes from their inability to let go of years of programmed anger from their mother, who understandably felt quite hurt when we divorced”.
Following the death of Jon’s ex-wife, Marcheline Bertrand, the information from her will was revealed. Bertrand died in 2007 following a long-term battle with cancer. In her will, she claimed that Voight owed her $180,000 in spousal support in which he never paid. Jon spoke out against this claim, stating he did not owe any of this money. Rather he insists that he always tried to help his ex-wife and children financially.
A year after the release of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2002, the pair were no longer on speaking terms. Jon claimed that his daughter had “serious mental issues” and also said that “she was never normal.” This resulted in backlash from Angelina towards her father’s comments, where she then criticized the star for his affair during his marriage to her mother. Consequently, the pair stopped speaking and their relationship was under strain, which resulted in a very long-term feud.
Marcheline Bertrand Never to Be Forgotten
There’s no doubt that Marcheline Bertrand lived a remarkable life, one could only imagine what she’d become inspired to do if she’d lived to modern-day. The wife, a mother, working professional, and grandmother that was Marcheline Bertrand will never be forgotten. She changed the depth of conversation between patient and doctor regarding gynecological cancer. Marcheline Bertrand will always be known for her triumph on screen and in the lives of the modern women who followed her as an artist and woman. Though she died a wealthy woman, the changes she brought to the lives of all women is priceless in net worth.