She is one of the most celebrated beauties of her generation.

And it is clear where Angelina Jolie’s astonishing good looks come from.

In never-before-seen pictures, the actress is shown as a 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 with her late mother Marcheline Bertrand, who looks hauntingly like an adult Angelina.

Good genes: Rare 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 pictures show Angelina Jolie with her look-alike mother Marcheline Bertrand, provided by Marcheline’s goddaughter Marie Miles

The Oscar-winning actress sports a blonde mop of hair in the pictures, which show her with her mother and brother James.

In one snap, Angelina is seen sitting on her mother’s lap as Marcheline – who died of ovarian cancer in 2007 – gazes at the camera with a half smile.

Marcheline wore her brown hair long and straight over her shoulders, much like Angelina’s hairstyle of choice nowadays.

A mother’s love: In another snap, Angelina is seen giggling on her mother’s lap while her older brother James stands nearby

Family time: Marcheline called herself ‘blessed’ for being given the opportunity share her life with such ‘beautiful human beings’ as her 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren

Famous pout: Angelina already displayed the striking features that would one day make her a household name

Make believe: Angelina is seen in one picture playing with her dolls, looking adorable in a pink hat and floral dress

Marcheline’s goddaughter Marie Miles released the photos and spoke for the first time about her close bond with Angelina’s family.

Marie also shared cherished letters and Christmas cards, sent by Marcheline to her family in Chicago, detailing her split from Jon Voight as well as touching details of her daughter’s upbringing.

In one particularly poignant passage, Marcheline, then aged 27, wrote: ‘Angie is two-and-a-half and she’s 𝓈ℯ𝓍y and beautiful and funny and very, very cunning.’

Doting mother: Marcheline called her 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren ‘so wonderful’ in a letter to Marie

‘Jamie is now four-and-a-half years old,’ wrote Marcheline, referring to her son James. ‘He is a source of love in its purest form for me.’

‘They sleep back-to-back and hold each other slow dancing. Jamie starts piano lessons in January and Angie is going to be an actress. Yesterday they told me what they were going to give me for Christmas.’

‘Jamie is building me “a bed that is a sled so I can sleep on the snow when we go to the mountains,” and Angie said she is giving me “flowers that will never die.” They are so wonderful. Every night I thank God for allowing me to share my life with these two beautiful human beings,’ she wrote.

Life’s a beach: Marcheline is seen tenderly holding her little girl against an ocean backdrop

Shall we race? Marcheline looks completely enamored with her son James as they frolic together on the sand

Friends in high places: Angelina is pictured as a tiny 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 with her mother’s close friend and actress Jacqueline Bisset

Little Angelina and James are also both seen playing with Jon Voight in the photos, which paint a vivid picture of their early family life. In one photo a 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 Angelina is seen with actress Jacqueline Bisset, who was her godmother and a close friend of Marcheline.

Marcheline’s pained words about the breakdown of her marriage after her husband cheated give the first real insight into their divorce – which triggered a difficult relationship between Angelina and her father to this day.

Retro: Father Jon Voight sported a blonde bob in the pictures, a fashionable hairstyle for men in those days

Look at me, Dad! Little Angelina holds a big plastic ball as her father smiles proudly beside her

In the 1977 letter Marcheline wrote: ‘My God, so much has happened this year! I almost feel like I died and was re𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 again, but somehow I know deep in my heart that is how I’m supposed to be feeling.

‘Jon and I are still separated, but at this moment in time it’s for the best. I am much stronger now and the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren and I are going to survive and be just fine. I’m trying to eliminate all confusion and negativity in my life, accept any changes and grow from them.’

Remarkably forgiving, Marcheline even praises Jon’s acting, writing: ‘[His] new film Coming Home, which will be released this spring, is wonderful and going to be a huge success for him. His performance is brilliant and he should definitely be nominated.’

Close friends: The pictures were provided by Marcheline’s goddaughter Marie Miles, who told InTouch that Angelina inherited a ‘good soul’ from her mother

Marcheline also writes about studying acting under famed teacher Lee Strasberg and at one point compares herself to a character from Chekov’s Nina in The Seagull.

She wrote: ‘The character I enjoyed working on the most this year was Chekov’s Nina in the Seagull.

‘Both Nina and Marcheline tried to hold on to something they loved with the last fragment of their strength. Both of us have learned the lesson of letting go and how not to fear the insecure feeling of being suddenly alone.’

Tough time: Marcheline wrote in a letter that Jon’s affair was ‘very difficult’ for her but that she had found the ‘necessary courage’ to go forward for her and her 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren

Happy family: Marcheline glows with happiness while enjoying time on the swings with Angelina and Jon

Ironically in a 1975 Christmas card Marcheline was positive about her family life and signs it from ‘Jon, Marcheline, Jamie Haven and Angelina Jolie Voight’.

She wrote: ‘It’s times like Christmas when I wish we didn’t live so far away from you. I miss you all very much and we hope to be in Chicago the end of the summer. Jon is doing Hamlet in March and a film in April. I of course am very busy with my two 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren but every moment is a joy and every day a new adventure’.

According to Andrew Morton’s 2007 biography of Angelina, Jon had an affair with young student actress Stacey Pickren, who played Ophelia to his Hamlet, during that very production which took place at the University of California in Northridge, where he was artist-in-residence.

Aspiring actress: Marcheline showed off her slender figure and striking features in an acting card from the prestigious William Morris Agency

Flawless beauty: Marcheline was fresh-faced and gorgeous in this acting card shot

The strain of the affair is evident in a 1977 Christmas card in which she writes: ‘This has been a very difficult year for me, and I am just now beginning to come out of it with the necessary courage and strength to go forward for me and my 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren.’

She adds: ‘I’m not worrying anymore because I have accepted this is all part of God’s plan for me.’

Signed ‘Marcheline, Jamie and Angelina’, she added a postscript: ‘and a special kiss for my sweet and lovely Marie.’

Like mother, like daughter: Angelina and her late mother could have passed for sisters, pictured together in LA in 2001

Marcheline filed for divorce from Jon in 1978 after eight years of marriage and it was finalised in 1980.

Marie’s and Marcheline’s families were inseparable growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois where a teenage Marcheline dated Marie’s elder brother Wayne at High School.

When Marcheline and her family moved to Hollywood the two families kept in touch via letters and phone calls, as well as the occasional visit.

The mother-of-six, pictured with Zahara, Vivienne and Pax in 2012 in New Orleans, recently underwent a preventative mastectomy after finding out she carried the same faulty cancer gene that 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed her mother

Speaking from her home in rural Illinois, Marie decided to speak out for the first time to declare how proud she is of Angelina, particularly after she told the world about having her breasts removed after testing positive for the faulty BRCA1 cancer gene.

‘The kindness is part of her genetics,’ said Marie, referring to Angelina’s charity work.

‘I just think she was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 with a good soul from her mother and is very giving and caring and generous.’

Angelina underwent a preventative double mastectomy in February after discovering she was carrying the defective gene, the same gene that 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed her mother.

Doctors told the mother-of-six that she had an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and a 50 per cent chance of ovarian cancer as a result.

Writing in the New York Times in May, Angelina paid an emotional tribute to Marcheline.

‘My mother fought cancer and died at 56,’ she said. ‘She held out long enough to meet the first of her grand𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren and to hold them in her arms.

‘But my other 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.’

Source: dailymail