Angelina Loses Mother

Actor Marcheline Bertrand, former wife of Jon Voight and mother to Angelina Jolie, succumbs to cancer at age 56

By Marcus Errico Jan 28, 2007 10:42 PMTags

Angelina Jolie is mourning the loss of her mother.

The Oscar winner announced Sunday that her mom, former actor Marcheline Bertrand, has died of cancer.

Bertrand passed away Saturday afternoon at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, surrounded by Jolie, her brother, actor-filmmaker James Haven, and Brad Pitt.

Bertrand had reportedly battled the disease for the past seven years. She was 56, per Internet biographies.

Born in Chicago, Bertrand studied under famed acting coach Lee Strasberg, but her career was put on hold following her marriage to Jon Voight in 1971. The couple had two children, Haven and Jolie, before an acrimonious split in 1976. The divorce was finalized two years later.

Bertrand largely raised the children by herself, and Jolie and Voight were estranged for years. (After a brief reconciliation and a costarring gig in Tomb Raider, Jolie and Voight had a falling-out and haven't spoken in several years.)

Although she had only three credits listed on IMDb—bit parts in the 1980s films The Man Who Loved Women with Burt Reynolds and Lookin' to Get Out, along with a 1971 episode of Ironside—Jolie has said she got the acting bug from her mother, not her Oscar-winning father.

There was no immediate comment Sunday from Voight.

Jolie indicated that a private funeral was being planned and asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Women's Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai.