Anna Kashfi, a multifaceted actress, has made a lasting impact in the film industry through her appearances in notable movies such as The Mountain (1956) alongside Spencer Tracy and Battle Hymn (1957) alongside Rock Hudson.
However, Kashfi is perhaps most famously known for her marriage to Marlon Brando, a renowned actor, and her claim to being of Indian descent. Despite several newspapers contradicting this assertion, stating that she is actually the daughter of a Welsh factory worker, William Callaghan, Kashfi continued to insist on her Indian heritage in her 1979 memoir.
She claimed that she was the product of an "unregistered alliance" between Selma Ghose and an Indian architect named Devi Kashfi, and that William Callaghan was her stepfather. This intriguing backstory has led many to question the authenticity of her Indian roots.
Kashfi's personal life was marked by a tumultuous relationship with Brando, which began in 1955 at the Paramount commissary. Despite their on-again, off-again romance, the couple ultimately married in 1957, with Brando claiming that he only did so because Kashfi had become pregnant. The couple had a son, Christian, in May 1958, who would go on to make headlines in 1990 for his involvement in a tragic crime.
Kashfi and Brando divorced in 1959, and she remarried James Hannaford, a Los Angeles businessman, in 1974. Unfortunately, Hannaford passed away in 1987. Kashfi outlived both her first husband, Marlon Brando, who died in 2004, and her son Christian, who died in 2008.
Anna Kashfi's life came to a close on August 16, 2015, at the age of 80, due to natural causes in Washington State, USA. Despite the controversy surrounding her Indian heritage, Kashfi's legacy as an actress and her complex personal life continue to fascinate audiences to this day.
