While a number of movies have been filmed in Tahiti, no American actor is so inextricably linked to this island nation as the late Marlon Brando, who not only made a movie there, but fell in love, fathered children, and owned an entire island. Here are the highlights of her experiences at her foster home in French Polynesia:
• Marlon Brando first visited Tahiti in 1960 to explore filming locations and then film “Mutiny on the Bounty,” in which he played the rebellious sailor Fletcher Christian. During filming, Brando fell in love with his Tahitian co-star Tarita Teriipaia. They had two children together, a son, Teihotu, and a daughter, Cheyenne.
• In 1966, the Tahiti government granted Brando a 99-year lease to the island of Tetiaroa, making it its sole owner. Located about 30 miles from the main island of Tahiti, Tetiaroa is actually a group of approximately 12 motus (or islets) measuring approximately 27 square miles and surrounded by a lagoon, Tetiaroa had until then been the private residence of a succession of the ruling families of Tahiti. Coincidentally, its first European visitors were three deserters from the HMS Bounty, who visited the island in 1789.
In 1904, the Pomare royal family of Tahiti had ceded the island to the dentist Johnston Walter Williams and then went through several private owners before Brando was able to secure the lease.
• Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, Brando visited Tetiaroa whenever he could, sometimes spending months on the island, where he even built the so-called Hotel Tetiaroa Village, which consisted of an airstrip and some cabins with roofs of straw for visiting tourists looking for an adventure.
• In the 1990s, a series of tragic events soured Brando’s love for Tahiti: In 1991, his son Christian (with actress Anna Kashfi) pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to shooting Dag Drollet, his Tahitian boyfriend. half sister Cheyenne. Harassed by mental illness, Cheyenne later committed suicide at her mother’s home in Tahiti.
• Brando died in Los Angeles in 2004 at the age of 80.
Tetiaroa said
Tetiaroa has grown into a luxury eco-resort named, appropriately, The Brando, which opened in late 2012. With access provided by private jet, the resort offers carefree luxury amid unspoiled nature.
The all-inclusive resort features 35 luxury villas, each with its own private beach area, private pool, and windows as large as doors that allow guests to enjoy the sun, breeze and lagoon views. The wooden walls of the villa and the native gardens are surrounded by exquisite landscapes. The complex has been designed around clean and renewable energy sources, to protect this island paradise for generations to come.
The resort’s restaurants feature Polynesian and French cuisine. Guests will also enjoy a luxurious Polynesian spa, lagoon-view bar, beach bar, pool, organic garden, library, boutique, and water sports. The Brando is unique in concept and scope, combining environmental purity, luxury and Polynesian charm in an enriching experience.
Brando developer Richard Bailey of Pacific Beachcomber, SC, has also developed and operated six resorts in Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora, including the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa, the InterContinental Moorea Resort & Spa, and the InterContinental Tahiti Resort. .
Edited by John Fischer
