Christian Brando, the eldest son of the movie legend Marlon Brando, has died today in Los Angeles. Christian, who was 49 year old, died of pneumonia at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, according to a statement released by David Seeley, an attorney representing Marlon Brando's estate.

According to Seeley, Christian Brando was admitted to the hospital on January 11. "This is a sad and difficult time for the family," Seeley said for The Associated Press. In a statement released for The People, Deborah Presley, Christian Brando’s ex wife, said that he was in a coma.

"His body was totally compromised," she told the magazine. "He'd lived so hard. ... This is just so sad." Representatives for Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center declined to comment.

Christian Brando was born in 1958, as the son of Marlon Brando and the Welsh actress Anna Kashfi. Marlon Brando married Anna in 1957, but they divorced two years later in 1959. Marlon Brando won the full custody of Christian in 1971, after a lenghty legal battle with Anna Kashfi. Marlon Brando had eleven children, three adopted and eight with his four wives. He died in 2004 at the age of 80.

As a child, Christian had played two small roles in movies The Secret Life of an American Wife and I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! and he tried to start an acting and producing career between 1980 and 1990.

However, he became famous in 1990, but not for his acting skills. Christian Brando, who was 22 years old in 1990, was convicted for voluntary manslaughter.

On May 16, 1990, Christian fatally shot Dag Drollet, the boyfriend of his half-sister, Cheyenne.

Tarita Cheyenne Brando was the daughter of Marlon Brando and Tarita Teriipia, Brando’s third wife, a Tahitian whom he met while filming Mutiny on Bounty. Cheyenne was their second child. In 1989, Cheyenne was forced to abandon her modeling career after a car accident.

In 1990, Cheyenne who was pregnant with Drollet’s child visited her father in Los Angeles. Allegedly, Christian Brando shot Dag Drollet at Marlon Brando's residence on Mulholland Drive, after Cheyenne confessed to him that Drollet was abusive.

After the murder, Marlon Brando had Cheyenne admitted into a hospital in Tahiti, where she gave birth to a son, Tuki Brando. Shortly after she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and lost the custody of her son, who was raised by Tarita Teriipia. Cheyenne committed suicide in 1995, by hanging herself. 

Christian Brando pled guilty to manslaughter and he was convicted to ten years in prison, but  he was released in 1996. He had always insisted the shooting was an accident - that the gun went off accidentally while the two struggled.

However, this was not the end of his legal troubles. In 2001, Robert Blake claimed that Christian Brando was involved in the murder of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley, who was shot in Los Angeles.

Christian Brando had dated Bonnie Lee Bakley and she claimed he was the father of a child she gave birth to in June 2000. She had named the baby girl Christian Shannon Brando, but a paternity test proved that Blake was the biological father.

Brando was called as a witness during Blake's subsequent civil trial but refused to testify and was ordered held in contempt of court.

In October 2004, Christian Brando married Deborah Presley, but few months after their wedding, Brando was charged with two counts of spousal abuse. He pleaded guilty and was placed on probation. The couple divorced in June 2005.