Who Inherited Marlon Brando's Fortune? One Unexpected Actor Was Named In His Will

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Marlon Brando was one of the 20th century's most iconic stars. He started in theater, playing Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1947, a role he'd play on film in 1951. Brando was the first actor to ever earn $1 million for a movie; he got it for the role of Fletcher Christian in the 1962 film "Mutiny on the Bounty." His career hit a lull, but in 1972, his role as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" was one of the greatest celebrity comeback moments. The iconic role earned him his second Oscar, though he declined the award, creating one of the Oscars' most controversial moments. 

The screen legend died in 2004 at 80, and some reports indicated that even after decades of work as an actor, he was broke and in debt. However, his estate was actually worth $21.6 million andone of the people named in his will was, unexpectedly, Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg wrote in her 2024 memoir "Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me" about being named in Brando's will. Unbeknownst to her, Brando left her a piece of his island in the South Pacific. Note: while Goldberg refers to the island as being in Fiji, Brando's private island was actually in Tahiti. 

Goldberg didn't end up keeping her bequeathed part of the island. She said that a lawyer contacted her to see if she'd be OK with not actually claiming it. This was because Goldberg wasn't the only person to whom Brando promised parts of the island, and the lawyer told Goldberg that "if everybody keeps theirs, there won't be an island left," via Entertainment Weekly.

While Whoopi Goldberg has given up her claim on the island, she and the rest of the world can still experience it firsthand. Marlon Brando's private island is Teti'aroa in the Society Islands of French Polynesia, and it's now home to The Brando, a luxury resort. He first came across Teti'aroa while he was working on "Mutiny on the Bounty." 

If its connection to the famous actor isn't reason enough to stay, it was also frequently visited by Tahitian royalty, and it's now a popular spot for celebrities to vacation. The island was the bulk of Brando's estate; it was worth an estimated $18.6 million at the time of his death. His will named 10 of his children as his beneficiaries. Brando had at least 11 children with four different women. He's rumored to have had multiple other unacknowledged children who got nothing after his passing.

As for why Goldberg was named in Brando's will, the two of them were friends and had been since the early 1990s. Goldberg told the story of their first meeting on "The Kelly Clarkson Show." It started with Goldberg's agent calling her to say that Brando wanted to meet her, which Goldberg didn't believe at first. Their first face-to-face meeting involved Brando simply walking into her house and starting to play the piano. Goldberg heard the sound of the piano from outside, and knowing that no one else was at home and that the housekeeper couldn't play, she thought someone had broken in. She came up to the house with a bat in hand to find Brando tickling the ivories. The gate had been open, so he just let himself inside.