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Brando for Breakfast
A compassionate and angry account of Anna Kashfi's and Marlon Brando's life together shows how Brando's sexual compulsions, inner torments, overreaching ambitions, and eccentricity strained their marriage and illuminates the connections between Brando the man and the actor
277 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 12, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 6, 2015
I may not have been wise in my decision to read a biography written by an ex-wife of one of my favorite actors. I tried to get past the first 50 pages, I really really did, however I only got to page 32 before I started thinking about what I could eat for lunch.
March 9, 2008
A mean spirited trash account of Brando's excesses from a livid ex-wife. Not worth the paper it's printed on, unless you want to read about Brando having sex with chickens along w/perv Roger Vadim. Detritus to the max. (Probably why I read it in one sitting - I admit sheepishly.. yes I shame EVEN MYSELF upon occasion!)
May 1, 2020
"Anna, I am informed that your behind has become gigantic. Let me tell you how pleased this makes me. I know, because of your sensitive nature, you will find it difficult to allow me to push the wheelbarrow that your behind will rest on, but I am happily looking forward to the exercise."
March 5, 2009
This one’s pretty bad and nowhere near salacious as indicated. It is a straight biography of Brando with tiny bits of commentary married to a revisionist work of self-imagination that is tiresome if well-written.
It sort of goes like this: Sometimes a guy is at the bar and sees an exotic woman across the way. He is immediately enticed by her and thrilled when he has a chance to talk to her. Talking to her, though, reveals she’s a bit off her rocker. But who cares? Because she’s exotic, she must be eccentric; because she’s beautiful, she’s probably smart too. Trouble is, every guy before this guy has done the same dance with her – confusing his attraction to her for some commentary on the quality of her mind and spirit – and worse yet, every guy before this guy has also made the mistake of giving voice to this confusion, and now, tragically enough, the exotic girl believes these things others have told her about herself.
That’s about where I was by the middle of this book. Marlon Brando got attracted to the exotic girl who believed some wacky things about herself, and because it was in the moment and he was having fun, he kind of went along with the charade, secretly accusing the exotic girl of being ironical. I mean, she couldn't really believe all this silliness, could she?
Oops! Turns out she did believe all these things about herself. Worse yet, in her imaginary spiritual place, she was actually the star and the true star was simply an imagined thing cooked up by “Brandoleters”. In this way, the opening chapter is interesting for revealing how batty its author is. She does this whole amatuer-psychologist, er, spiritual, appraisal of the Superman complex and her part in it – mostly as an outsider.
After that, pretty evidently, the ghostwriter takes the reins of the book and tries to make a Brando biography of it, occasionally calling the “author” for opinions about various Brando movies. She supplies the sort of deep insight one expects from “People” magazine. Then she goes back to supplying, chapter and verse, every legal tangle she engaged in with the greatest American actor.
This book doesn’t rise to the level of a guilty pleasure. There’s just not enough pleasure. Forgo “Breakfast with Brando”, in other words, and try “Brando Unzipped”. That’s my plan, anyway.
It sort of goes like this: Sometimes a guy is at the bar and sees an exotic woman across the way. He is immediately enticed by her and thrilled when he has a chance to talk to her. Talking to her, though, reveals she’s a bit off her rocker. But who cares? Because she’s exotic, she must be eccentric; because she’s beautiful, she’s probably smart too. Trouble is, every guy before this guy has done the same dance with her – confusing his attraction to her for some commentary on the quality of her mind and spirit – and worse yet, every guy before this guy has also made the mistake of giving voice to this confusion, and now, tragically enough, the exotic girl believes these things others have told her about herself.
That’s about where I was by the middle of this book. Marlon Brando got attracted to the exotic girl who believed some wacky things about herself, and because it was in the moment and he was having fun, he kind of went along with the charade, secretly accusing the exotic girl of being ironical. I mean, she couldn't really believe all this silliness, could she?
Oops! Turns out she did believe all these things about herself. Worse yet, in her imaginary spiritual place, she was actually the star and the true star was simply an imagined thing cooked up by “Brandoleters”. In this way, the opening chapter is interesting for revealing how batty its author is. She does this whole amatuer-psychologist, er, spiritual, appraisal of the Superman complex and her part in it – mostly as an outsider.
After that, pretty evidently, the ghostwriter takes the reins of the book and tries to make a Brando biography of it, occasionally calling the “author” for opinions about various Brando movies. She supplies the sort of deep insight one expects from “People” magazine. Then she goes back to supplying, chapter and verse, every legal tangle she engaged in with the greatest American actor.
This book doesn’t rise to the level of a guilty pleasure. There’s just not enough pleasure. Forgo “Breakfast with Brando”, in other words, and try “Brando Unzipped”. That’s my plan, anyway.
November 13, 2013
The book made me feel sorry for all three of the main people involved in this story. Brando, Ana and their son. Even though I can understand Anna being upset at Brando's infidelities while they were married, I think her behavior after she left him looked pretty crazy. She was divorced from Brando and shows up at his house uninvited and walks into his bedroom and catches him with another woman? I mean really did she think a divorced man would lead a celibate life?
I also think Brando needed professional help because of his childhood and his past.. That was probably one the reasons why he did some of the things he did.. Brando did show some good restraint though in not reciprocating violence towards Ana during their marriage when she hit him or threw things at him, some men might not have. She sounded pretty violent in most of her recounts of what happened during her marriage to Brando and for years after they were divorced.
I also don't understand why Anna wouldn't forgive Brando and try for the sake of their child to bury her resentment. Brando seems to have been very generous towards her for years after their divorce and my guess is this was his attempt at trying to be on friendly terms for the sake of their son.. In her book she says Brando paid for a month vacation in Tahiti for her and she returned the favor by insulting his third wife Terita while she was in Tahiti..
The things their poor son had to see probably did some emotional damage to Christian and I feel sorry for him for that. Sadly both Anna's son and Brando are now passed on and Anna still has bitter feelings towards Brando, but in any news articles, including the most recent ones, Anna doesn't admit any blame for how her own behavior could have had any negative impact on their son.
What a tragedy this story is and in my opinion if they all got some good professional help, maybe they would have all had a better outcome?
Too much of the book focused on Brando's career too and the ramblings on and on about that made her look a little envious as well as a bit crazy. The book was kind of depressing and left me feeling sad the most for Ana that she basically seems to have a problem letting go of her anger.
I also think Brando needed professional help because of his childhood and his past.. That was probably one the reasons why he did some of the things he did.. Brando did show some good restraint though in not reciprocating violence towards Ana during their marriage when she hit him or threw things at him, some men might not have. She sounded pretty violent in most of her recounts of what happened during her marriage to Brando and for years after they were divorced.
I also don't understand why Anna wouldn't forgive Brando and try for the sake of their child to bury her resentment. Brando seems to have been very generous towards her for years after their divorce and my guess is this was his attempt at trying to be on friendly terms for the sake of their son.. In her book she says Brando paid for a month vacation in Tahiti for her and she returned the favor by insulting his third wife Terita while she was in Tahiti..
The things their poor son had to see probably did some emotional damage to Christian and I feel sorry for him for that. Sadly both Anna's son and Brando are now passed on and Anna still has bitter feelings towards Brando, but in any news articles, including the most recent ones, Anna doesn't admit any blame for how her own behavior could have had any negative impact on their son.
What a tragedy this story is and in my opinion if they all got some good professional help, maybe they would have all had a better outcome?
Too much of the book focused on Brando's career too and the ramblings on and on about that made her look a little envious as well as a bit crazy. The book was kind of depressing and left me feeling sad the most for Ana that she basically seems to have a problem letting go of her anger.
December 16, 2015
Lurid tell all. Breezy read.
February 8, 2025
Anna Kashfi is the modern equivalent of a “gold-digger.” She’s similar to Johnny Depp’s ex-wife in the way she manipulates public opinion, distorts the truth, and presents the abuser as the victim. This woman is both malicious and clever in her own way, and she even managed to deceive Brando for a while. Of course, because she was both wicked and foolish, her ending wasn’t a happy one. Her malice and stupidity are evident in this ridiculous book she wrote. It’s essentially an attempt to cover up her dark past while trying to latch on to the fame of others.
Is this book supposed to be a joint memoir or a biography? You would think it’s a shared account of their lives, but it turns out to be a biography of Brando, detailing his life from childhood to1980s. As his ex-wife, she’s writing about parts of his life she wasn’t even involved in—why is she, an unauthorized outsider, the one telling his story? It’s clear this was ghostwritten, piecing together second-hand information. This has to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever read—a total waste of time.
Some facts: Brando’s friends at the time advised him against marrying Anna Kashfi, warning him that she was just a gold-digger. And she wasn’t merely a little materialistic—she was a fraud, pretending to be Indian, which is widely known. She even lied about her father’s death to gain sympathy before marrying Brando. At the time, she might have been the woman Brando loved the most—he was infatuated with her, as shown in his letters and in interviews with Truman Capote. If she had been a good person, this could have been a fairytale: Brando, the notorious womanizer, settling down with her. But in reality, she was a compulsive liar, manipulating relationships—between Brando and his friends, between him and his secretary—while constantly stirring up trouble. Brando eventually regretted marrying her and wanted to call it off, but she used the media to create public pressure. After they married, she acted like a lunatic, frequently violent and abusive. One of the worst instances was when she abandoned their child in a car and stormed into Brando’s office to physically attack him. While taking care of the child, she drank excessively and used drugs (this is why she eventually lost custody). She even put alcohol in the child’s bottle. In the end, she orchestrated their divorce to extract a large sum of money from Brando.
After her second marriage, when her second husband passed away, she chose to continue exploiting Brando by writing this disgusting book. She had already scammed a huge amount of alimony from him, yet somehow she ended up living in a trailer, utterly destitute. How did she go from exploiting Brando for cash to ending up in such a dire situation? You can see just how stupid she really was in this book. The most disgusting part is how she negatively impacted Brando—her influence on him was truly toxic.
Is this book supposed to be a joint memoir or a biography? You would think it’s a shared account of their lives, but it turns out to be a biography of Brando, detailing his life from childhood to1980s. As his ex-wife, she’s writing about parts of his life she wasn’t even involved in—why is she, an unauthorized outsider, the one telling his story? It’s clear this was ghostwritten, piecing together second-hand information. This has to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever read—a total waste of time.
Some facts: Brando’s friends at the time advised him against marrying Anna Kashfi, warning him that she was just a gold-digger. And she wasn’t merely a little materialistic—she was a fraud, pretending to be Indian, which is widely known. She even lied about her father’s death to gain sympathy before marrying Brando. At the time, she might have been the woman Brando loved the most—he was infatuated with her, as shown in his letters and in interviews with Truman Capote. If she had been a good person, this could have been a fairytale: Brando, the notorious womanizer, settling down with her. But in reality, she was a compulsive liar, manipulating relationships—between Brando and his friends, between him and his secretary—while constantly stirring up trouble. Brando eventually regretted marrying her and wanted to call it off, but she used the media to create public pressure. After they married, she acted like a lunatic, frequently violent and abusive. One of the worst instances was when she abandoned their child in a car and stormed into Brando’s office to physically attack him. While taking care of the child, she drank excessively and used drugs (this is why she eventually lost custody). She even put alcohol in the child’s bottle. In the end, she orchestrated their divorce to extract a large sum of money from Brando.
After her second marriage, when her second husband passed away, she chose to continue exploiting Brando by writing this disgusting book. She had already scammed a huge amount of alimony from him, yet somehow she ended up living in a trailer, utterly destitute. How did she go from exploiting Brando for cash to ending up in such a dire situation? You can see just how stupid she really was in this book. The most disgusting part is how she negatively impacted Brando—her influence on him was truly toxic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2019
Great narrative of Anna Kashfi’s marriage to Marlon. Was wild, sorrowful, and at times, romantic memories.
July 14, 2023
I am not usually a fan of biographies, and going in I knew very little about the cinematic world during Brando’s time. However, as a major fan of Streetcar, I wanted to learn more about the man who made it famous.
This biography was fine. I think the most compelling part of it was the fire and intimacy behind Anna Kashfi Brando’s storytelling. I genuinely would’ve been bored out of my mind had it not been written by Marlon’s ex-wife. Since she isn’t a writer, however, it often came across as rambling and confusing.
Despite the rambling, Kashfi provided a look into Marlon’s life that very few individuals would’ve been able to do otherwise. Her passion for her own life, their child, and the hurt she felt as a result of their relationship really shone through. Would recommend if you’re a film (specifically Brando-era) fan or looking to learn more about his crazy life- otherwise not much of a recommendation.
This biography was fine. I think the most compelling part of it was the fire and intimacy behind Anna Kashfi Brando’s storytelling. I genuinely would’ve been bored out of my mind had it not been written by Marlon’s ex-wife. Since she isn’t a writer, however, it often came across as rambling and confusing.
Despite the rambling, Kashfi provided a look into Marlon’s life that very few individuals would’ve been able to do otherwise. Her passion for her own life, their child, and the hurt she felt as a result of their relationship really shone through. Would recommend if you’re a film (specifically Brando-era) fan or looking to learn more about his crazy life- otherwise not much of a recommendation.
May 9, 2007
This is a very amusing hatchet job on Brando written by his bitter ex wife Ana Kashfi. Great accounts of madness on sets of Mutiny on the Bounty and One Eyed Jacks. Not very high browed stuff but worth a read if you are in a trashy dirt digging mood.
September 21, 2008
I suppose this is the type of book most ex-wives might write about their famous ex husbands. Some insights; much anger.
April 26, 2009
i like brando, but he's a bit off i guess...this was the story from his 1st wife
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews