Marcheline Bertrand
Encyclopedia
Marcia Lynne "Marcheline" Bertrand (May 9, 1950 – January 27, 2007) was an American actress and producer. She also co-founded the All Tribes Foundation, to culturally and economically benefit Native Americans, and the Give Love Give Life organization, to raise public awareness of women's cancers. Bertrand was the former wife of actor Jon Voight
and the mother of actress Angelina Jolie
. She died of ovarian cancer
at the age of 56.
, Illinois, Bertrand was brought up in the nearby small town of Riverdale
. Her parents were Lois June (née Gouwens; 1928–1973) and Rolland F. Bertrand (1923–1985). She had two younger siblings: a sister, Debbie, and a brother, Raleigh. Bertrand was of French Canadian, Dutch, and German descent. She also claimed to be of Iroquois
ancestry, although her former husband, Jon Voight
, once said that Bertrand was "not seriously Iroquois." According to her daughter, Angelina Jolie
, Bertrand was often wrongly identified as a French actress, with Jolie saying, "My mom is as far from French Parisian as you can get. She grew up in a bowling alley that my grandparents owned." In 1965, Bertrand's family moved from the Chicago area to Beverly Hills, California, where she attended Beverly Hills High School
from sophomore year through graduation.
. In 1971, she played Connie in the episode "Love, Peace, Brotherhood and Murder" on the fourth season of the television show Ironside
. In 1982, she appeared in a minor role in Lookin' to Get Out
, a film co-written by and starring her former husband, Jon Voight
. The following year, Bertrand played her final film role in the comedy The Man Who Loved Women, a remake of the 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 Santee Sioux musician and activist John Trudell
. Trudell was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival
and the Tribeca Film Festival
, and won the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival
.
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 in 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 in February 2007, a month after Bertrand passed away from cancer.
, whom she married on December 12, 1971. Following a miscarriage in 1972, Bertrand and Voight had two children, James Haven (born May 11, 1973) and Angelina Jolie
(born June 4, 1975). Both their children are actors; Jolie credits her mother rather than her famous father with getting her involved in acting. Bertrand and Voight separated in 1976 as a result of Voight's adultery. She filed for divorce in 1978, which was finalized in 1980.
Following her divorce from Voight, Bertrand began a relationship with documentary-filmmaker Bill Day. Bertrand and Day lived together for eleven years, but never married. At the time of her death in January 2007, Bertrand was in a relationship with musician and activist John Trudell
.
Bertrand had three grandchildren by her daughter, Maddox, Zahara, and Shiloh. Just before her death, she chose the name Pax for her fourth grandchild, who was adopted by her daughter in March 2007. Her granddaughter Vivienne, born July 2008, received the middle name Marcheline in honor of Bertrand.
after an almost-eight-year battle with ovarian cancer
. Her children were with her at the time of her death. Bertrand's daughter stated that her mother's side of the family tended not to be long-lived, saying, "There is no longevity on my mother's side of the family. My grandmother also died young so my mother always thought it could happen to her."
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
and the mother of actress Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
. She died of ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary. Symptoms are frequently very subtle early on and may include: bloating, pelvic pain, difficulty eating and frequent urination, and are easily confused with other illnesses....
at the age of 56.
Early life
Born at St. Francis Hospital in Blue IslandBlue Island, Illinois
Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois. The population was 22,556 at the 2010 census. Blue Island was established in the 1830s as a way station for settlers traveling on the Vincennes Trace, and the settlement prospered because it was conveniently situated a day's journey outside of Chicago...
, Illinois, Bertrand was brought up in the nearby small town of Riverdale
Riverdale, Illinois
Riverdale is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,055 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Riverdale is located at ....
. Her parents were Lois June (née Gouwens; 1928–1973) and Rolland F. Bertrand (1923–1985). She had two younger siblings: a sister, Debbie, and a brother, Raleigh. Bertrand was of French Canadian, Dutch, and German descent. She also claimed to be of Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
ancestry, although her former husband, Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
, once said that Bertrand was "not seriously Iroquois." According to her daughter, Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
, Bertrand was often wrongly identified as a French actress, with Jolie saying, "My mom is as far from French Parisian as you can get. She grew up in a bowling alley that my grandparents owned." In 1965, Bertrand's family moved from the Chicago area to Beverly Hills, California, where she attended Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...
from sophomore year through graduation.
Film career
During her early years as an actress, Bertrand studied with Lee StrasbergLee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
. In 1971, she played Connie in the episode "Love, Peace, Brotherhood and Murder" on the fourth season of the television show Ironside
Ironside (TV series)
Ironside is a Universal television series which ran on NBC from September 14, 1967 to January 16, 1975. The show starred Raymond Burr as the wheelchair-using Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside. The character's debut was in a TV-movie on March 28, 1967. The original title of the show in the...
. In 1982, she appeared in a minor role in Lookin' to Get Out
Lookin' to Get Out
Lookin’ to Get Out is a 1982 film directed by Hal Ashby and written by Al Schwartz and Jon Voight, who also stars. Voight's daughter, Angelina Jolie, then six years old, briefly appears as the Voight character's daughter near the end of the movie. The film also stars Ann-Margret and Burt...
, a film co-written by and starring her former husband, Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
. The following year, Bertrand played her final film role in the comedy The Man Who Loved Women, a remake of the French film of the same name
The Man Who Loved Women (1977 film)
The Man Who Loved Women is a 1977 French comedy/drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Charles Denner, Brigitte Fossey and Nelly Borgeaud. In 1983, it was remade in Hollywood under the same title. The film had a total of 955,262 admissions in France. -Plot:Montpellier: December 1976...
.
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 Santee Sioux musician and activist John Trudell
John Trudell
John Trudell is a Native American-Mexican author, poet, actor, musician, and former political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz...
. Trudell was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
, and won the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
.
Humanitarian work
Bertrand and her partner John TrudellJohn Trudell
John Trudell is a Native American-Mexican author, poet, actor, musician, and former political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz...
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
International Women's Day
International Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...
in 2003, Bertrand and Trudell produced a benefit concert for Afghan women refugees in conjunction with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
.
Bertrand, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary. Symptoms are frequently very subtle early on and may include: bloating, pelvic pain, difficulty eating and frequent urination, and are easily confused with other illnesses....
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 in 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
Johanna's Law
Johanna's Law, also known as "Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act," promotes the education of women to increase awareness of ovarian cancer, its risk factors and symptoms. Often, ovarian cancer is far advanced before detection. Increased awareness could lead to earlier detection and...
, 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
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...
, a second Give Love Give Life concert was held at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles in February 2007, a month after Bertrand passed away from cancer.
Personal life
In 1971, Bertrand met actor Jon VoightJon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
, whom she married on December 12, 1971. Following a miscarriage in 1972, Bertrand and Voight had two children, James Haven (born May 11, 1973) and Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
(born June 4, 1975). Both their children are actors; Jolie credits her mother rather than her famous father with getting her involved in acting. Bertrand and Voight separated in 1976 as a result of Voight's adultery. She filed for divorce in 1978, which was finalized in 1980.
Following her divorce from Voight, Bertrand began a relationship with documentary-filmmaker Bill Day. Bertrand and Day lived together for eleven years, but never married. At the time of her death in January 2007, Bertrand was in a relationship with musician and activist John Trudell
John Trudell
John Trudell is a Native American-Mexican author, poet, actor, musician, and former political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz...
.
Bertrand had three grandchildren by her daughter, Maddox, Zahara, and Shiloh. Just before her death, she chose the name Pax for her fourth grandchild, who was adopted by her daughter in March 2007. Her granddaughter Vivienne, born July 2008, received the middle name Marcheline in honor of Bertrand.
Death
Towards the end of her life, Bertrand preferred to keep a low profile and did not grant interviews. She died at the age of 56 on January 27, 2007 at Cedars-Sinai Medical CenterCedars-Sinai Medical Center
Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...
after an almost-eight-year battle with ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary. Symptoms are frequently very subtle early on and may include: bloating, pelvic pain, difficulty eating and frequent urination, and are easily confused with other illnesses....
. Her children were with her at the time of her death. Bertrand's daughter stated that her mother's side of the family tended not to be long-lived, saying, "There is no longevity on my mother's side of the family. My grandmother also died young so my mother always thought it could happen to her."
Filmography
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ironside Ironside (TV series) Ironside is a Universal television series which ran on NBC from September 14, 1967 to January 16, 1975. The show starred Raymond Burr as the wheelchair-using Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside. The character's debut was in a TV-movie on March 28, 1967. The original title of the show in the... |
1971 | Connie | TV series Episode: "Love, Peace, Brotherhood and Murder" |
| Lookin' to Get Out Lookin' to Get Out Lookin’ to Get Out is a 1982 film directed by Hal Ashby and written by Al Schwartz and Jon Voight, who also stars. Voight's daughter, Angelina Jolie, then six years old, briefly appears as the Voight character's daughter near the end of the movie. The film also stars Ann-Margret and Burt... |
1982 | Girl in Jeep | |
| 1983 | Girl |