In August of 1969, Rolling Stones guitarist/songwriter Keith Richards and his girlfriend, model/actress Anita Pallenberg, welcomed their first child, a baby boy. They named him Marlon.
Why Marlon?
In his 2010 memoir Life, Richards explained:
Marlon’s full name is Marlon Leon Sundeep. Brando called up while Anita was in hospital, to compliment her on [her role in the movie] Performance. “Marlon, that’s a good name. Why don’t we call him Marlon?”
It’s a curious that they chose “Marlon” given the fact that, during the filming of the 1968 movie Candy, Marlon Brando had tried to seduce Anita, “and, when that failed, tried to seduce Anita and me together.” Maybe the choice had more to do with the timing of the phone call…?
In any case, Richards and Pallenberg (who also had a role in the movie Barbarella) would go on to have two more children: daughter Dandelion Angela in 1972, and son Tara in 1976.
Sources:
- Richards, Keith and James Fox. Life. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2010.
- Keith Richards – Wikipedia
Image: Keith Richards 1965 by Olavi Kaskisuo
