Clarence Brown

For other people with similar names, see Clarence Brown (disambiguation).

Clarence Brown
Brown in 1922
Born	Clarence Leon Brown (1890-05-10)May 10, 1890 Clinton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	August 17, 1987(1987-08-17) (aged 97) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Education	Knoxville High School University of Tennessee
Years active	1915–1953
Spouses	Paula Herndon Pratt ​ ​ (m. 1913; div. 1920)​ Ona Wilson ​ ​ (m. 1922; div. 1927)​ Alice Joyce ​ ​ (m. 1933; div. 1945)​ Marian Spies ​ ​ (m. 1946)​
Children	1

Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director.^[1]

Early life

Born in Clinton, Massachusetts,^[2] to Larkin Harry Brown, a cotton manufacturer, and Katherine Ann Brown (née Gaw), Brown moved to Tennessee when he was 11 years old. He attended Knoxville High School^[3]and the University of Tennessee, both in Knoxville, Tennessee, graduating from the university at the age of 19 with two degrees in engineering.^[4]An early fascination in automobiles led Brown to a job with the Stevens-Duryea Company, then to his own Brown Motor Car Company in Alabama.^[5]He later abandoned the car dealership after developing an interest in motion pictures around 1913. He was hired by the Peerless Studio at Fort Lee, New Jersey, and became an assistant to the French-born director Maurice Tourneur.^[6]

Career

Clarence Brown in 1921

After serving as a fighter pilot and flight instructor in the United States Army Air Service during World War I,^{[7][8][9][10][11]}Brown was given his first co-directing credit (with Tourneur) for The Great Redeemer (1920). Later that year, he directed a major portion of The Last of the Mohicans after Tourneur was injured in a fall.

Brown moved to Universal in 1924, and then to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he remained until the mid-1950s. At MGM he was one of the main directors of their major female stars, he directed Joan Crawford six times and Greta Garbo seven.

Brown was nominated five times for six films (see below) for an Academy Award as a director, but he never received an Oscar. However, he won Best Foreign Film for Anna Karenina, starring Garbo at the 1935 Venice International Film Festival.

Brown's films gained a total of 38 Academy Award nominations and earned nine Oscars. Brown himself received five Academy Award nominations for six films and in 1949, he won the British Academy Award for the film version of William Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust.

In 1957, Brown was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.^[12]Brown retired a wealthy man due to his real estate investments, but refused to watch new movies, as he feared they might cause him to restart his career.

The Clarence Brown Theater, on the campus of the University of Tennessee, is named in his honor.^[13]He holds the record for most nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director without a win, with six.

Personal life

Clarence Brown was married four times. His first marriage was to Paula Herndon Pratt in 1913, which lasted until their divorce in 1920.^[14]The couple produced a daughter, Adrienne Brown.^[15]

His second marriage was to Ona Wilson, which lasted from 1922 until their divorce in 1927.^[16]

He was engaged to Dorothy Sebastian^[17]and Mona Maris, although he did not marry either of them, with Maris later saying she ended their relationship because she had her "own ideas of marriage then."^[18]

He married his third wife, Alice Joyce, in 1933 and they divorced in 1945.^[19][20]

His last marriage was to Marian Spies in 1946, which lasted until his death in 1987.^[20]

Death

Brown died at the Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California from kidney failure on August 17, 1987, at the age of 97.^[8]He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.^[21]

On February 8, 1960, Brown received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1752 Vine Street, for his contributions to the motion pictures industry.^[22][23]

Selected filmography

Journalist Dorothy Thompson is entertained on the set of The Rains Came (1939) by director Clarence Brown (left) and Louis Bromfield, author of the novel on which the film was based.

Director

• Trilby (1915)
• The Law of the Land (1917)
• The Blue Bird (1918)
• The Great Redeemer (1920)
• The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
• The Foolish Matrons (1921)
• The Light in the Dark (1922)
• Don't Marry for Money (1923)
• The Acquittal (1923)

• The Signal Tower (1924)
• Butterfly (1924)
• The Eagle (1925)
• The Goose Woman (1925)
• Smouldering Fires (1925)
• Flesh and the Devil (1926)
• Kiki (1926)
• A Woman of Affairs (1928)
• The Trail of '98 (1929)
• Navy Blues (1929)
• Wonder of Women (1929)
• Anna Christie (1930) – Academy Award nomination for Best Director^[a]
• Romance (1930) – Academy Award nomination for Best Director^[b]
• Inspiration (1931)
• Possessed (1931)
• A Free Soul (1931) – Academy Award nomination for Best Director
• Emma (1932)
• Letty Lynton (1932)
• The Son-Daughter (1932)
• Looking forward (1933)
• Night Flight (1933)
• Sadie McKee (1934)
• Chained (1934)
• Anna Karenina (1935)
• Ah, Wilderness! (1935)
• Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
• The Gorgeous Hussy (1936)
• Conquest (1937)
• Of Human Hearts (1938)
• Idiot's Delight (1939)
• The Rains Came (1939)
• Edison, the Man (1940)
• Come Live with Me (1941)
• They Met in Bombay (1941)
• The Human Comedy (1943) – Academy Award nominations for Best Director and for Best Picture
• The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)
• National Velvet (1944) – Academy Award nomination for Best Director
• The Yearling (1946) – Academy Award nomination for Best Director
• Song of Love (1947)
• Intruder in the Dust (1949)
• To Please a Lady (1950)
• Angels in the Outfield (1951)
• When in Rome (1952)
• Plymouth Adventure (1952)

Actor

• The Signal Tower (1924) – Switch Man
• Ben-Hur (1925) – Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
• Navy Blues (1929) – Roller Coaster Rider (uncredited)
• Possessed (1931) – Man on Merry-Go-Round (uncredited) (final film role)

Notes

1. In 1929/1930, Brown received one Academy Award nomination for two films. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "As allowed by the award rules for this year, a single nomination could honor work in one or more films."
2. In 1929/1930, Brown received one Academy Award nomination for two films. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "As allowed by the award rules for this year, a single nomination could honor work in one or more films."

References

1. Little, Lexie (July 10, 2019). "A Roustabout Career: The Forgotten Celebrity of Clarence Brown". Torchbearer. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
2. Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. (2007). 501 Movie Directors. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 54. ISBN 9781844035731. OCLC 1347156402.
3. John Shearer, Famous alumni from Knoxville High School, Knoxville News Sentinel, May 28, 2010
4. "Clarence Brown Collection – Special Collections – Libraries – The University of Tennessee, Knoxville". lib.utk.edu. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
5. "Clarence Brown Collection – Special Collections – Libraries – The University of Tennessee, Knoxville". lib.utk.edu. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
6. "Clarence Brown – About This Person – Movies & TV". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2014. Archived from the original on May 5, 2014. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
7. Hollywood's Forgotten Master Gets His Due Directors Guild of America. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
8. Clarence Brown, Director of Garbo, Gable, Dies at 97 Los Angeles Times via Internet Archive. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
9. Clarence Brown, FILMMAKER, UT Knoxville, 1910 University of Tennessee. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
10. Clarence Brown, American filmmaker Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
11. Classic Director Spotlight -Clarence Brown www.storyenthusiast.com. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
12. Tarbell, Molly. "George Eastman Award". George Eastman Museum. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
13. "History | Clarence Brown Theatre". clarencebrowntheatre.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
14. Young, Gwenda (September 13, 2018). Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813175966.
15. Young, Gwenda (September 13, 2018). Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813175966.
16. Young, Gwenda (September 13, 2018). Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813175966.
17. Young, Gwenda (September 13, 2018). Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813175966.
18. Young, Gwenda (September 13, 2018). Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813175966.
19. Young, Gwenda (September 13, 2018). Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813175966.
20. Young, Gwenda (September 13, 2018). Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813175966.
21. Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2. McFarland & Company (2016) ISBN 0786479922
22. "Clarence Brown | Hollywood Walk of Fame". www.walkoffame.com. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
23. "Clarence Brown". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 16, 2016.

Bibliography

• Brownlow, Kevin. "Clarence Brown" in The Parade's Gone By New York: Knopf (1968)
• Estrin, Allen. "The Hollywood Professionals, Vol. 6: Frank Capra, George Cukor, Clarence Brown", AS Barnes (1980)
• Bastarache, A.J. An Extraordinary Town, How one of America's smallest towns shaped the world – A Historical Marketing Book by A. J. Bastarache.
• Young, Gwenda. 'Clarence Brown: From Knoxville to Hollywood and Back'. Journal of East Tennessee History', pp. 53–73 (2002)
• Young, Gwenda (April 2003). "Star Maker: The Career of Clarence Brown". Sight and Sound. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on May 14, 2007.
• Young, Gwenda. Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2018
• Neely, Jack. "Clarence Brown: The Forgotten Director", Metro Pulse (March 2008)

External links

• Clarence Brown at IMDb
• "An Extraordinary Town – Clinton, Massachusetts" (a book on Brown's birthplace, with an extensive section on Brown), extraordinarytown.com
• Information available on the actual dates and nominations, plus commentary on the nominations for multiple roles/films in 1929/1930 Archived March 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, oscars.org
• Clarence Brown profile, virtual-history.com