All About Angelina Jolie’s Late Mom Marcheline Bertrand

Angelina Jolie’s mother died in 2007 from cancer.

Angelina Jolie and her mother Marcheline Bertrand at the film premiere ‘Original Sin’ in July 2001 in West Hollywood, California.

Angelina Jolie’s late mom, Marcheline Bertrand, was her best friend and her biggest supporter.

Bertrand was born in 1950 and raised in Chicago, but as a teenager, her family relocated to Los Angeles.

While pursuing an acting career, a then-20-year-old Bertrand met actor Jon Voight, and the pair began dating.

In 1971, they got married, and during their union, the couple welcomed two children — Jolie and her brother James Haven.

Five years after exchanging wedding vows, Bertrand and Voight separated before finalizing their divorce in 1978.

She would go on to be a single mother to Jolie and Haven, fostering a tight-knit relationship with them that lasted throughout her life.

Bertrand was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1999, and she was later diagnosed with breast cancer.

She died on Jan. 27, 2007, at the age of 56, in L.A. from cancer.

Speaking to Vanity Fair the following year, Jolie opened up about how her mom’s death impacted her and her views on motherhood.

(Jolie has six children of her own, whom she shares with ex-husband Brad Pitt.).

“When [my mother] passed, I realized that somebody who lives life with that kind of dedication to their family is the most noble,” she said.

“In her passing she reminded me what matters.

And what’s most fun — to put yourself aside for these other little people you’re raising.”

Here’s everything to know about Angelina Jolie’s late mom, Marcheline Bertrand.

Bertrand was born and raised in Illinois

Marcheline Bertrand at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, California.
Bertrand was born on May 9, 1950, and “raised Catholic on the South Side of Chicago,” according to Jolie’s 2020 op-ed for The New York Times.

She was one of three children, which included her sister Debbie and her brother Raleigh.

Jolie shared that Bertrand’s father, a World War II veteran, ran a bowling alley.

“Before my grandparents moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s, they ran a bowling alley.

Their parents before them ran a bar,” the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider actress wrote.

In a 2010 interview with Parade, she added that Bertrand was skilled at the game, saying, “She could bowl like nobody’s business.”.

Bertrand was a teenager when her family relocated to L.A., where she attended Beverly Hills High School.

According to Jolie, she “hung out on the Sunset Strip, was a hippie [and] loved the Rolling Stones.”

There, she developed a passion for acting and began taking classes with The Actors Studio director Lee Strasberg.

She married Voight in 1971

Marcheline Bertrand and Jon Voight share an embrace in New York City in March 1971.

While pursuing acting in Los Angeles, Bertrand met Voight, who had recently earned his first Oscars nomination for Best Actor for Midnight Cowboy in 1970.

At the time, Bertrand was 20 years old, and Voight was 12 years her senior.

Bertrand and Voight began dating and officially tied the knot on Dec. 12, 1971.

She welcomed two children

Jon Voight with daughter Angelina Jolie and son James Haven at the 1988 Academy Awards.

Following their nuptials, the couple became pregnant in 1972 but unfortunately experienced a miscarriage.

Voight spoke about the experience decades later, expressing how it had affected them.

“My wife and I lost a child during pregnancy.

It was a great, great loss. It was a great trauma for my wife,” Voight shared with Page Six in 2021.

“She was very disturbed by that.

There has been a sadness for the rest of my life, so it’s a serious thing.”.

The next year, Bertrand gave birth to their son, James Haven, on May 11, 1973. The couple welcomed Jolie to the family on June 4, 1975.

Bertrand was a single mother

Angelina Jolie and her brother James Haven at an event in October 2005 in New York City.
A year after Jolie was born, Bertrand and Voight separated before divorcing in 1978.

In her New York Times op-ed piece, Jolie said that her mom was forever changed by what she claims was Voight’s infidelity during their marriage.

“When my father had an affair, it changed her life.

It set her dream of family life ablaze.

But she still loved being a mother,” the Maleficent star wrote.

Following the split, Bertrand focused on being a mom, raising her children mostly on her own in Palisades, New York, and L.A.

While Jolie admitted that things weren’t easy and the family often faced “financial troubles” and were “always conscious of money,” there was no shortage of love.

“There was very much that home feeling when we came back from school.

Angie and I would walk in and comment on how we could smell things cooking and baking in the kitchen,” Haven told the Daily Mail in 2007.

He continued, “My mom was methodical in making sure we did our homework perfectly.

She would do outlines to help us.

When we were younger, she used flashcards.

Or she’d be in the middle of cooking and pick up a carrot and teach us about the vegetable or the fruit so that it was visual as well.”.

In the final moments of her life, Jolie recalled to Parade that Bertrand told her that “her greatest success was being a mother.”.

She was an aspiring actress

Before becoming a mother, Bertrand had a short-lived acting career.

She appeared in an episode of NBC’s crime drama TV show Ironside and later was cast in the films Lookin’ To Get Out and The Man Who Loved Women — the former also starred Voight as the main lead.

While she dreamed of becoming an actress, Jolie says her mother gave it all up to raise her children.

“Her dreams of being an actor faded as she found herself, at the age of 26, raising two children,” she wrote in her New York Times op-ed.

“After she died, I found a video of her acting in a short film.

She was good.

It was all possible for her.”.

Despite this, Jolie also shared that Bertrand revealed that her acting aspirations weren’t entirely hers.

“Before her death, she told me that dreams can simply change shape,” the Salt star added.

“Her dream to be an artist was in fact her mother’s dream.

And later she hoped it would be mine.”.

“I think of how true that must be for so many women before us, whose dreams have taken generations to realize,” she continued.

Bertrand focused on producing later in her career

Angelina Jolie and her mother Marcheline Bertrand in Los Angeles, California.Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty

After taking a step back from acting, Bertrand decided to start her own production company, Woods Road Production, according to NBC News.

While not much is known about her work as a producer, Bertrand helped fund the 2005 documentary Trudell, based on the life of her then-partner, Native American poet and activist John Trudell, per PBS.

Jolie also funded and executive-produced the award-winning film.

She was a dedicated humanitarian

Angelina Jolie and her mother Marcheline Bertrand at the film premiere ‘Original Sin’ in July 2001 in West Hollywood, California.
Throughout her life, Bertrand was dedicated to helping those less fortunate and needing assistance.

In 2001, Bertrand, alongside Jolie and Trudell, founded the All Tribes Foundation to support Indigenous communities both culturally and economically.

Over several years, the foundation issued over $800,000 in grants.

Bertrand also founded the Give Love, Give Life organization to raise awareness about gynecological cancers through music.

In 2004, she hosted a benefit concert at the Roxy in Los Angeles and later helped campaign for the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act to be signed into law.

Also known as Johanna’s Law, the legislation aimed to fund research on gynecological cancers and raise awareness.

Shortly after Bertrand’s death, a second Give Love, Give Life benefit concert was held, featuring performances from Trudell, Willie Nelson and Jackson Browne.

Jolie later shared that it was her mother who inspired her own philanthropic work.

While being honored with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2013 Governors Awards, Jolie paid tribute to Bertrand.

“She was very clear that nothing would mean anything if I didn’t live a life of use to others,” she said.

“I will do as my mother asks, and I will do the best I can with this life to be of use.

And to stand here today means that I did as she asked.

And if she were alive, she’d be very proud.”