Family feud over 'tacky' sale of Brando's property

A family feud has erupted over the auction of Marlon Brando's personal property, it emerged today.

The screen legend's 47-year-old son Christian is said to be furious over the way Brando's estate has handled the sale, due to take place at Christie's in New York on Thursday.

"There are many things I don't think his father wanted sold," Christian's lawyer, Theresa Bingham, told the New York Daily News.

"Christie's got first pick of the art and memorabilia while his children were still grieving."

Bingham demanded that Christie's pull Lot 150 - a 14 carat gold St Christopher's medallion that Christian's mother, Anna Kashfi, had given her son.

The auction house confirmed the heirloom had been returned but Christian, who was convicted of killing his sister's boyfriend in 1990, is reportedly after other lots, including his father's correspondence with Martin Luther King Jr.

"(The executors) are selling Brando's Medicare card - it's just too tacky," Bingham said.

Estate lawyer Elizabeth Bawden insisted all beneficiaries were being treated equally and that the estate had "gone to great lengths" to ensure Christian was taken care of.

"He and his siblings had nine months to inspect the items and retain what they wanted," she told the newspaper.

"Christian actually lived in Mr Brando's house after his death. He had every opportunity to see what was there."

Bawden also said Brando had left no instructions suggesting he would be uncomfortable with the sale.

A spokesman from the auction house said: "It is our understanding the executives provided the family with an opportunity to request items of personal property from the sales prior to the property being consigned for sale at Christie's."

Brando had 11 children of whom Christian was the eldest, and the only one born to the actor's first wife, Kashfi.

The Godfather star died last year aged 80.