John Brown

John Brown

Born: April 4, 1904
Died: May 16, 1957
in Hull, Yorkshire, England, UK
Brown had major roles in several popular radio shows: He was "John Doe" in the Texaco Star Theater's version of Fred Allen's Allen's Alley,[2] played Irma's love interest Al in My Friend Irma, both "Gillis" and Digby "Digger" O'Dell in The Life of Riley, (a role he reprised for the first incarnation of the television show), "Broadway" in The Damon Runyon Theatre, and "Thorny" the neighbor on the radio version of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Perhaps his most memorable piece of work is the ‘Broadway’ role; once heard, many find it impossible to think of the narrator of Damon Runyon’s stories as anyone else. It was a measure of Brown’s talent that this quintessentially American character was portrayed by an Englishman.

Brown appeared in some notable films: as the inebriated professor in Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, uncredited), and The Wild One (1953); he supplied the voice of "Ro-Man" in the 1953 cult science fiction B-film Robot Monster.

Movies for John Brown...

Dixieland Droopy
Title: Dixieland Droopy
Character: Narrator / Pee Wee Runt (voice) (uncredited)
Released: December 4, 1954
Type: Movie
John Pettibone (Droopy), a dog whose love of Dixieland music is not appreciated by those around him, has a lucky meeting with Pee-Wee Runt and his All-Flea Dixieland band at the circus.
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The Wild One
Title: The Wild One
Character: Bill Hannegan
Released: December 30, 1953
Type: Movie
The Black Rebels Motorcycle Club ride into the small California town of Wrightsville, eager to raise hell. Brooding gang leader Johnny Strabler takes a liking to Kathie, the daughter of the local lawman, as another club rolls into town.
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The Bigamist
Title: The Bigamist
Released: December 3, 1953
Type: Movie
San Francisco businessman Harry Graham and his wife and business partner, Eve, are in the process of adopting a child. When private investigator Mr. Jordan uncovers the fact that Graham has another wife, Phyllis, and a small child in Los Angeles, he confesses everything.
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Man Crazy
Title: Man Crazy
Character: Mr. Duncan
Released: December 2, 1953
Type: Movie
Three women come to Hollywood to break into the movies.
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Crazylegs
Title: Crazylegs
Character: Keller
Released: November 15, 1953
Type: Movie
The story of the life and career of football star Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch (who plays himself).
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Jennifer
Title: Jennifer
Character: Service Station Attendant (uncredited)
Released: October 25, 1953
Type: Movie
A young woman is hired to take care of an eerie old mansion, where she finds herself entangled with an enigmatic murderer.
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Robot Monster
Title: Robot Monster
Character: Ro-Man / Great Guidance (voice)
Released: June 25, 1953
Type: Movie
Ro-Man, an alien robot who greatly resembles a gorilla in a diving helmet, is sent to earth to destroy all human life. Ro-Man falls in love with one of the last six remaining humans, and struggles to understand how his programming can instruct him to kill her while his heart demands that he can't.
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Hans Christian Andersen
Title: Hans Christian Andersen
Character: Schoolmaster
Released: December 19, 1952
Type: Movie
A small-town shoemaker with a knack for spinning yarns, Hans encounters happiness and heartbreak on his road to becoming a full-fledged writer.
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Title: I Love Lucy
Character: Mr. Murdoch
Released: October 15, 1951
Type: TV
Cuban Bandleader Ricky Ricardo would be happy if his wife Lucy would just be a housewife. Instead she tries constantly to perform at the Tropicana where he works, and make life comically frantic in the apartment building they share with landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz, who also happen to be their best friends.
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Title: Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Released: October 5, 1951
Type: TV
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.
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The Day the Earth Stood Still
Title: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Character: George Barley, boarder
Released: September 28, 1951
Type: Movie
An alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destruction.
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Strangers on a Train
Title: Strangers on a Train
Character: Prof. Collins
Released: June 27, 1951
Type: Movie
Two strangers meet on a train. They’ve never met before. Both of whom have someone they’d like to murder. So, they swap murders. A psychopath shares this concept with tennis star Guy Haines, whose wife refuses to get a divorce. He agrees, thinking it is a joke. But now his wife is dead, Haines finds himself a prime suspect and the man wants Guy to kill his father.
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Symphony in Slang
Title: Symphony in Slang
Character: The Hipster / Noah Webster (voice) (uncredited)
Released: June 16, 1951
Type: Movie
At the gates of Heaven, the admitting officials have a hard time understanding a newcomer's life story with all his contemporary slang.
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The Life of Riley
Title: The Life of Riley
Character: Digger O'Dell
Released: April 16, 1949
Type: Movie
Inspired by the popular '40s radio show of the same title, director Irving Brecher's 1949 comedy stars William Bendix as a hard-working husband-and-father with no shortage of family problems.
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The Stranger
Title: The Stranger
Character: Passport Photographer (uncredited)
Released: July 2, 1946
Type: Movie
An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.
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The Horn Blows at Midnight
Title: The Horn Blows at Midnight
Character: Lou the waiter (uncredited)
Released: April 28, 1945
Type: Movie
A trumpet player in a radio orchestra falls asleep during a commercial and dreams he's Athanael, an angel deputized to blow the Last Trumpet at exactly midnight on Earth, thus marking the end of the world.
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A Peach of a Pair
Title: A Peach of a Pair
Character: John
Released: December 29, 1934
Type: Movie
Vaudeville performers Cook and Butler are mistaken for domestic servants; hilarity ensues.