'Penniless' Brando left millions

Marlon Brando was once Hollywood's highest-paid actor

Movie icon Marlon Brando left behind a fortune worth about $21.6m, his lawyer says, contradicting rumours that the reclusive actor died in penury.

There had been speculation that Brando lived his last years deeply in debt, surviving on a pension and hand-outs.

Brando, once Hollywood's highest-paid star, died on 1 July, aged 80.

His lawyer said the actor's wealth had been mainly invested in property, including a Tahitian atoll and an estate in California.

Scripts and sketches

Attorney David Seeley was speaking after filing a petition for probate in a Los Angeles court - marking the start of the legal process by which a dead person's assets are distributed.

Mr Seeley said other belongings of Brando had yet to be valued.

These include a potential goldmine of original film scripts, paintings and sketches.

The probate documents filed in Los Angeles also show Mr Brando's estate had an annual income of $500,000.

All Brando's living offspring - said to number 10, with ages between 10 and 46 years - are mentioned in the will, but a grand-child and an adopted child have been left out.

Secret cremation

In the years before his death, rumours abounded that the actor was on the brink of destitution, having exhausted his fortune on lawyers for his son, who was convicted of killing his sister's boyfriend in 1990.

Payments to the actor's many lovers and offspring were also thought to have been a drain on his finances.

Brando is best remembered for films such as On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, Last Tango in Paris and The Godfather, in which his performances were marked by fierce emotional honesty and an intense physical grace.

He was cremated at a secret ceremony in Los Angeles last week.