Feathers fly in the latest legal dust-up over Brando

Just about everyone knew about Marlon Brando’s dogs, the gigantic mastiffs that he kissed (along with Larry King) during one of his rare public interviews late in life. But who knew about his chickens?

Now an Internet website featuring photographs of Brando’s pet chickens has feathers flying.

Attorneys for the Brando estate have taken legal steps to shut down marlonbrando.com, as well as other Brando websites, saying it’s all part of an ongoing effort to develop the Marlon Brando name and likeness into a “brand package� that will be licensed by approved vendors.

That has Brando’s former business manager crying fowl ... er, foul.

Jo An Corrales of Kalama, Wash., who was a personal friend of the late actor for 40 years, is already locked in litigation with the estate over her claims that Brando sexually harassed her. As to the more recent fight, the actor personally gave her permission in 2002 to operate the website, even joking that he wanted her to list everyone he didn’t like on it. Corrales said Brando, who died of lung failure at 80 on July 1, 2004, also told her she could do with the website as she pleased.

So, the recently launched site has a photo gallery of Brando’s chickens, some of the 35 exotic and rare birds that he asked Corrales to buy back in 2001 and which she has raised from day-old chicks on her 12-acre orchard ever since. (Chickens, at least ones not destined for the dinner table, can live up to 12 years.)

Elizabeth A. Bawden, the attorney for the estate, said in a statement earlier this week that applications have been filed to register the Marlon Brando trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the estate is also in the process of acquiring Internet domain names that incorporate the Marlon Brando name.

But we digress.

Back at the farm, one of Brando’s roosters is named Capone, which became the pet of Christian Brando, the actor’s eldest son. Corrales said the chicken was trained to jump off a roof into Christian’s arms. “To me, the chickens represent not a fur coat or Hollywood or anything else except that Marlon loved this farm,� Corrales said in a telephone interview. “He came here every month for a year. He had his own guest house and these were his chickens.�

Corrales said it was Brando’s idea to buy them. He wanted 100; she bought only 35, and one died. That drew Brando’s wrath, she recalled.

“He said, ‘What do you mean you got 34 chickens?’ I was caught red-handed.... He said, ‘Well, I hope you’re happy because somebody probably bought the other 65 to eat.�

The chickens, she said, lay blue and green eggs and Brando was so tickled by the birds that he would telephone late at night, asking Corrales to walk outside with a portable phone and let him listen to them cluck.

“Marlon, when he was talking to someone -- it didn’t matter if it was Warren Beatty or the king of Siam -- he’d say, ‘Jo An, here is my friend so-and-so. I want them to hear the chickens.’ Now, I had to take a portable phone to the chicken pen and hang it over the pen so he could hear the chickens making all this noise. This went on for three years.�

Her Brando website also contains a photograph of a 92-pound English bulldog named Simba. Corrales said that when Brando was mad at her, he would call late at night and ask to talk to the dog instead. “He would call and say, ‘This is Marlon Brando. I’d like to talk to Simba. Simba, I just want to say ‘I love you’ and ‘Good night.’ And then he’d hang up and wouldn’t talk to me,� Corrales recalled.

Thus far, Corrales has registered the website marlonbrando.com, budbrando.com, marlonbrandojr.com and marlonbrandosr.com.

The main webpage contains a press release that states: “The estate of Marlon Brando is stepping up its efforts to ensure that anyone with an opinion that differs from theirs concerning the late great film actor is permanently silenced.� The website is maintained by Sean Fitzgerald of Cathlamet, Wash., who was the actor’s computer repair person from 2000 to 2004.

According to Bawden’s statement, the estate is simply following the formal process created to establish ownership of a particular name or trademark and, thus, the right to own the corresponding Internet domain names.

“Proceedings have already been initiated with respect to ‘marlonbrando.net’ and ‘marlonbrando.com,’ and others are being considered,� Bawden said in her statement.

Corrales’ webpage fired back, saying “the estate is using this lawsuit as a smokescreen for undermining the ability for us to speak candidly in a public forum and we are being singled out to keep quiet.�

Marlonbrando.com notes that among those expected to contribute to the website are a handful of Brando’s closest friends. They include Alice Marshak of Newport Beach, who was Brando’s personal assistant from 1955 to 1980 and continued on as a consultant to the actor.

“This website is meant to preserve the legacy of Mr. Brando by documenting the memories of some of his oldest and closest friends who are now up in years,� Fitzgerald said.

The website explains the mission this way: “All of those who are participating in the webpage, who have known Marlon Brando personally for decades as longtime confidents (sic), hope that you will enjoy fifty years of funny stories and questions you always wanted answered.

“We are facing many threats and controversies from various sources over the rights to this webpage. However, we will not be intimidated by those who did not know him at all, or by those who knew him so little.�

Brando removed Marshak and Corrales as executors of his will only weeks before he died last year. Last April, Corrales sued the estate for sexual harassment and wrongful termination, alleging that the star of “The Godfather� and “On the Waterfront� had subjected her to a hostile work environment. The suit, which is still pending, asks for 10% of the $5 million in residuals that Corrales says Brando received during the time of her employment. An earlier claim she filed with the estate in December, asking for $3.5 million, was rejected.

Fitzgerald said the next step in determining who owns the website will be arbitration, which will determine if the name is being used for “fair use,� also known as “cyber squatting,� the act of reserving a particular Internet domain name for the purpose of selling it at a higher price later. The website is not in violation of any trademark laws, according to Fitzgerald, since it deals solely with the intellectual properties of the individuals involved and not Brando himself.