Marlon Brando

Our Neighbor Marlon Brando

During the 1960s Marlon Brando was a frequent visitor to Countryside Lake, and the island cottage originally built by Samuel Insull was the site of many social visits by the great American actor.

What was the Brando family farm still stands today on 40 acres on the north side of Hawley Road, kitty-corner from today’s entrance to the Steeple Chase subdivision. Marlon’s parents purchased the farm in 1949 and moved from Libertyville where Marlon had spent a great deal of his childhood. Marlon’s mother named the property Penny Poke Farm.

In the early 1950s Marlon’s sister, Frances, and her husband, Richard Loving, became the primary residents of the property. Marlon’s visits to the home were a well-kept secret since Frances feared being engulfed by hoards of Marlon’s fans who would likely appear

should her brother’s connection to the property be known.

Among the Brando family’s area acquaintances was Herb Lust, then-owner of Countryside Lake’s island cottage. Marlon’s son, Christian, lived at the family farm in 1965. Marlon, after divorcing Anna Kashfi and winning the fierce and much-publicized custody battle over their son, brought Christian to live with the Lovings as a refuge from the poisonous atmosphere of his parents’ battles. Christian and the Lust son were similar in age, and while Christian and young “Plunkett” Lust pursued boys’ activities, Marlon and Herb gave themselves up to more adult pursuits. It is said that Marlon’s visits to Countryside Lake often involved much drinking and carousing.

Soon after marrying his second wife, Movita, whom he had met on location for Mutiny on the Bounty in Tahiti, Marlon brought Movita to Hawley Road. He is said to have left her there watching the sun set over the farm fields while he went off on another lively

binge.

Upon his father’s death in, Marlon attempted to ship his father’s ashes to the farm from Los Angeles. Upon being told that human ashes could only be shipped to a cemetery, the package was addressed to Penny Poke Cemetery, Mundelein Illinois, where Marlon later scattered the ashes over the nearby fields.

After Frances Loving’s death, Marlon gave the farm to his nieces who eventually sold the property to it’s current owner, a developer. The farm buildings remain today.