Marcheline Bertrand

Marcheline got married to John Voight, a Hollywood actor, on 12 December 1971. The couple had two children, James Haven and Angelina Jolie, born on 11 May 1973 and 4 June 1975 respectively. James became an actor and Angelina Jolie went on to become one of Hollywood’s most illustrious actresses.

Marcheline split-up with Voight in 1976 owing to the latter’s adulterous affairs. Their separation became official in 1980.

After her divorce with John Voight, Marcheline Bertrand was in a relationship with documentary filmmaker Bill Day for and the two lived together for eleven years without getting married. Later on, she was also in a relationship with activist and musician John Trudell.

Marcheline Bertrand was born on 9 May 1950 in Blue Island, Illinois, to Rolland F. Bertrand and Lois June. She had a younger sister and brother, named Debbie and Raleigh respectively. She spent part of her childhood in Riverdale, a hamlet in Cook County.

Marcheline’s family relocated to Beverly Hills in California from Chicago in 1965. She went to Beverly Hills High School.

Marcheline Bertrand took her early training in acting under Lee Strasberg, a renowned film director who is regarded as the pioneer of ‘method acting’ and had trained several Hollywood actors and actresses.

She made her small screen debut in 1971 in the television show ‘Ironside’. She portrayed the character of Connie in the episode "Love, Peace, Brotherhood and Murder" on the fourth season of 'Ironside'.

About 11 years later in 1982, she appeared as a supporting cast in ‘Lookin’ to Get Out’ a comedy film directed by Hal Ashby, and co-written by John Voight, her ex-husband.

In 1983, she appeared in another comedy film, ‘The Man Who Loved Women’ sharing screen space with legendary Hollywood actors, Kim Basinger, Burt Reynolds, and Julie Andrews.

Incidentally, Marcheline’s appearance in the film ‘The Man Who Loved Women’ which was based on a French movie with an identical title was her swansong as an actress.

Marcheline Bertrand is also known for her humanitarian efforts that were chiefly directed towards the economic and cultural upliftment of the Native American tribesmen and women. She co-founded the charitable organization, ‘All Tribes Foundation’ with John Trudell mainly for improving the quality of life of the Native American population.

Within a few years of the establishment of All Tribes Foundation, the institution had doled out more than $ 8, 00,000 as donations for an array of reservation-oriented schemes. These reservation-based schemes were launched to improve the living standards of the native tribes as well as to secure their foreseeable future.

Trudell and Marcheline coordinated with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) for staging a concert on International Women’s Day in 2003. The proceeds from the philanthropic concert were handed over to exiled Afghan women, ravaged and devastated by the protracted war in Afghanistan.

A medical checkup that Marcheline went through in 1999 established that she was suffering from ovarian carcinoma. The diagnosis inspired her to set up ‘Give Love Give Life’ along with John Trudell with the benign purpose of increasing awareness about ovarian and gynecological cancers amongst the public through music.

’Give Love Give Life’ endorsed a gig in 2004 that was held in The Roxy Theater, a nightclub situated in the ‘Sunset Strip’ in West Hollywood.