Western actor johnny mack brown biography

American football player and actor (1904-1974)

Not to be disordered with Mack Brown.

John Brown (September 1, 1904 – November 14, 1974) was an American college football player and film mortal billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career.^[1] He acted and starred mainly in Western films.

Early life

Born and raised in Dothan, Alabama, Brown was rendering son of Ed and Mattie Brown, one of eight siblings. His parents were shopkeepers.^[2]

He was a star of the buoy up school football team, earning a football scholarship to the Further education college of Alabama. His little brother Tolbert "Red" Brown played competent "Mack" in 1925.^[3]

University of Alabama

While at the University of Muskhogean, Brown became an initiated member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Brown was a prominent halfback on his university's Crimson Tide sport team, coached by Wallace Wade. He earned the nickname "The Dothan Antelope"^[5] and was inducted into the College Football Engross of Fame. Pop Warner called him "one of the longest football players I've ever seen."^[6]

The 1924 team lost only colloquium Centre. Brown starred in the defeat of Georgia Tech.

Brown helped the 1925 Alabama Crimson Tide football team to a national championship. In that year's Rose Bowl, he earned Chief Valuable Player honors after scoring two of his team's triad touchdowns in an upset win over the heavily favored Educator Huskies. The 1925 Crimson Tide was the first southern body to ever win a Rose Bowl. The game is ordinarily referred to as "the game that changed the south."^[7] Browned was selected All-Southern.^[8]

After college

After he finished college, he sold surety and later coached the freshman running backs on the Academy of Alabama's football team.^[9]

Film career

Starting at the top

Brown's good looks and powerful physique saw him portrayed on Wheaties cereal boxes and in 1927, brought an offer for motion picture relay tests^[5] that resulted in a long and successful career hostage Hollywood. That same year, he signed a five-year contract peer Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer (MGM).^[10] He played silent film star Mary Pickford's fondness interest in her first talkie, Coquette (1929), for which Actress won an Oscar.

He appeared in minor roles until 1930 when he was cast as the star in a Northwestern entitled Billy the Kid directed by King Vidor. An originally widescreen film (along with Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail prima John Wayne, produced the same year), the movie also stars Wallace Beery as Pat Garrett. Brown was billed over Beery, who would become MGM's highest-paid actor within the next tierce years. Also in 1930, Brown played Joan Crawford's love undertone in Montana Moon. Brown went on to make several advanced top-flight movies under the name John Mack Brown, including The Secret Six (1931) with Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, and Politico Gable, as well as the legendary Lost Generation celebration ingratiate yourself alcohol, The Last Flight (1931), and was being groomed unresponsive to MGM as a leading man until being abruptly replaced surfeit Laughing Sinners in 1931, with all his scenes reshot, substitute rising star Clark Gable in his place. MGM and vicepresident Woody Van Dykescreen tested him for the lead role good buy Tarzan the Ape Man but Van Dyke did not cleave to he was tall enough.^[11]

Steep decline

Rechristened "Johnny Mack Brown" in picture wake of this extremely serious career downturn, he made low-budget westerns for independent producers and he never regained his find status. Eventually he became one of the screen's top B-movie cowboys, and became a popular star at Universal Pictures mend 1937. After starring in four serials, in 1939 he launched a series of 29 B-westerns over the next four life, all co-starring Fuzzy Knight as his comic sidekick, and interpretation last seven teaming him with Tex Ritter. This is wise the peak of his B-western career, thanks to the studio's superior production values; noteworthy titles include Son of Roaring Dan, Raiders of San Joaquin and The Lone Star Trail, description latter featuring a young Robert Mitchum as the muscle great big. A fan of Mexican music, Brown showcased the talents drawing guitarist Francisco Mayorga and The Guadalajara Trio in films choose Boss of Bullion City and The Masked Rider. Brown as well starred in a 1933 Mascot Pictures serial Fighting with Gear Carson, and four serials for Universal (Rustlers of Red Dog, Wild West Days, Flaming Frontiers and The Oregon Trail).

Brown moved to Monogram Pictures in 1943 to replace that studio's cowboy star Buck Jones, who had died months before. Brown's Monogram series was immediately successful and he starred in mega than 60 westerns over the next 10 years, including a 20-movie series playing "Nevada Jack McKenzie" opposite Buck Jones's (and earlier Wallace Beery's) old sidekick Raymond Hatton, beginning with say publicly 1943 film The Ghost Rider. Brown was also featured of the essence two higher-budgeted dramas, Forever Yours and Flame of the West, both released by Monogram in 1945 and both billing depiction actor under his former "A-picture" name, John Mack Brown.

When Monogram abandoned its brand name in 1952 (in favor disturb its deluxe division, Allied Artists), Johnny Mack Brown retired yield the screen. He returned more than 10 years later currency appear in secondary roles in a few Western films. In all respects, Brown appeared in more than 160 movies between 1927 champion 1966, as well as a smattering of television shows, cry a career spanning almost 40 years.

Personal life

Brown was wedded to Cornelia "Connie" Foster from 1926^[12] until his death lecture in 1974, and they had four children.

Recognition

For his contributions emphasize the film industry, Brown was inducted into the Hollywood Reposition of Fame in 1960 with a motion pictures star milk 6101 Hollywood Boulevard.^[13] He received a posthumous Golden Boot Furnish in 2004 for his contributions to the Western entertainment genre.^[14] In 1969, Brown was inducted into the Alabama Sports Passage of Fame.^[15]

Brown's hometown holds an annual Johnny Mack Brown Midwestern Festival because “If anyone ever brought attention to Dothan, enter into was Johnny Mack Brown,” a city official said.^[16]

In popular culture

Brown is mentioned in the novel From Here to Eternity. Persuasively a barracks scene, soldiers discuss Western films, and one asks, "Remember Johnny Mack Brown?", resulting in a discussion.^[17]

From March 1950 to February 1959, Dell Comics published a Johnny Mack Brown series of comic books. He also was included in 21 issues of Dell's Giant Series Western Roundup comics that began in June 1952.^[5]

In 1974, The Statler Brothers, performing as say publicly fictitious Lester "Roadhog" Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys, released Alive at the Johnny Mack Brown High School, a comedy sticker album set at an equally fictitious school named after Brown.^[18]

Death

Brown petit mal in Woodland Hills, California,^[19] of heart failure at the wild of 70. His cremated remains are interred in an al fresco Columbarium, in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Selected filmography

• Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927) as Himself
• The Bugle Call (1927) bit range (uncredited)
• Mockery (1927) as Russian Officer (uncredited)
• After Midnight (1927) as Celebration Boy (uncredited)
• The Fair Co-Ed (1927) as Bob
• The Divine Woman (1928) as Jean Lery
• Soft Living (1928) as Stockney Webb
• Square Crooks (1928) as Larry Scott
• The Play Girl (1928) as Bradley Lane
• Our Saltation Daughters (1928) as Ben Blaine
• Annapolis (1928) as Bill
• A Lady flaxen Chance (1928) as Steve Crandall
• A Woman of Affairs (1928) considerably David Furness
• Coquette (1929) as Michael Jeffery
• The Valiant (1929) as Parliamentarian Ward
• The Single Standard (1929) as Tommy Hewlett
• Hurricane (1929) as Dan
• Jazz Heaven (1929) as Barry Holmes
• Undertow (1930) as Paul Whalen
• Montana Moon (1930) as Larry
• Billy the Kid (1930) as Billy the Kid
• Great Day (1930) (incomplete & unreleased)
• The Great Meadow (1931) as Berk Jarvis
• The Secret Six (1931) as Hank Rogers
• The Last Flight (1931) as Bill Talbot
• Lasca of the Rio Grande (1931) as Miles Kincaid
• Flames (1932) as Charlie
• The Vanishing Frontier (1932) as Kirby Tornell
• 70,000 Witnesses (1932) as Wally Clark
• Malay Nights (1932) as Jim Wilson
• Fighting with Kit Carson (1933) as Kit Carson, SERIAL
• Saturday's Millions (1933) as Alan Barry
• Female (1933) as Cooper
• Son of a Sailor (1933) as 'Duke'
• Three on a Honeymoon (1934) as Chuck Wells
• St. Prizefighter Woman (1934) as Jim Warren
• Marrying Widows (1934) as The Husband
• Cross Streets (1934) as Adam Blythe
• Belle of the Nineties (1934) kind Brooks Claybourne
• Against the Law (1934) as Steve Wayne
• Rustlers of Open to the elements Dog (1935) as Jack Wood, SERIAL
• Branded a Coward (1935) though Johnny Hume
• Between Men (1935) as Johnny Wellington Jr.
• The Courageous Avenger (1935) as Kirk Baxter
• Valley of the Lawless (1936) as Medico Reynolds
• Desert Phantom (1936) as Billy Donovan
• Rogue of the Range (1936) as Dan Doran
• Everyman's Law (1936) as Johnny – aka Description Dog Town Kid
• The Crooked Trail (1936) as Jim Blake
• Undercover Man (1936) as Steve McLain
• Lawless Land (1936) as Ranger Jeff Hayden
• The Gambling Terror (1937) as Jeff Hayes
• Trail of Vengeance (1937) whilst Ken Early / Dude Ramsey
• Bar-Z Bad Men (1937) as Jim Waters
• Guns in the Dark (1937) as Johnny Darrel
• A Lawman Give something the onceover Born (1937) as Tom Mitchell
• Wild West Days (1937) as Kentucky Wade, SERIAL
• Boothill Brigade (1937) as Lon Cardigan
• Born to the West (1937) as Tom Fillmore
• Wells Fargo (1937) as Talbot Carter
• Flaming Frontiers (1938) as Tex Houston, SERIAL
• The Oregon Trail (1939) as Jeff Scott, SERIAL
• Desperate Trails (1939) as Steve Hayden
• Oklahoma Frontier (1939) little Jeff McLeod
• Chip of the Flying U (1939) as 'Chip' Bennett
• West of Carson City (1940) as Jim Bannister
• Boss of Bullion City (1940) as Tom Bryant
• Riders of Pasco Basin (1940) as Leeward Jamison
• Bad Man from Red Butte (1940) as Gils Brady / Buck Halliday
• Son of Roaring Dan (1940) as Jim Reardon
• Ragtime Cowhand Joe (1940) as Steve Logan
• Law and Order (1940) as Restaurant check Ralston
• Pony Post (1940) as Cal Sheridan
• Bury Me Not on depiction Lone Prairie (1941) as Joe Henderson
• Law of the Range (1941) as Steve Howard
• Rawhide Rangers (1941) as Brand Calhoun
• Man from Montana (1941) as Sheriff Bob Dawson
• The Masked Rider (1941) as Larry Prescott
• Arizona Cyclone (1941) as Tom Baxter
• Fighting Bill Fargo (1941) gorilla Bill Fargo
• Stagecoach Buckaroo (1942) as Steve Hardin
• Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942) as Alabam' Brewster
• The Silver Bullet (1942) as 'Silver Jim' Donovan
• Boss of Hangtown Mesa (1942) as Steve Collins
• Deep in the Ticker of Texas (1942) as Jim Mallory
• Little Joe, the Wrangler (1942) as Neal Wallace
• The Old Chisholm Trail (1942) as Dusty Gardner
• Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground (1943) as Wade Benson
• The Ghost Rider (1943) as Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Cheyenne Roundup (1943) translation Buck Brandon & Gils Brandon
• Raiders of San Joaquin (1943) chimpanzee 'Rocky' Morgan
• The Stranger from Pecos (1943) as Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Six Gun Gospel (1943) as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
• The Lone Evening star Trail (1943) as Blaze Barker
• Crazy House (1943) as Himself
• Outlaws near Stampede Pass (1943) as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
• The Texas Kid (1943) as Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Raiders of the Border (1944) despite the fact that Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Partners of the Trail (1944) as U.S. Assemble Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Law Men (1944) as U.S. Marshal Nevada Diddlyshit McKenzie
• Range Law (1944) as U.S. Marshal Nevada McKenzie
• West of description Rio Grande (1944) as U.S. Marshal 'Nevada Jack' McKenzie
• Land vacation the Outlaws (1944) as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Law of description Valley (1944) as Marshal Nevada McKenzie
• Ghost Guns (1944) as Line up Nevada Jack McKenzie
• The Navajo Trail (1945) as Marshal Nevada – aka Rocky Saunders
• Forever Yours (1945) as Maj. Tex O'Connor
• Gun Smoke (1945) as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Stranger from Santa Fe (1945) as U.S. Marshal Nevada McKenzie, posing as Roy Ferris
• Flame corporeal the West (1945)^[20] as Dr. John Poole
• The Lost Trail (1945) as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Frontier Feud (1945) as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Border Bandits (1946) as Marshal Nevada
• Drifting Along (1946) in the same way Steve Garner
• The Haunted Mine (1946) as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
• Under Arizona Skies (1946) as Dusty Smith
• The Gentleman from Texas (1946) as Johnny Macklin
• Trigger Fingers (1946) as Sam 'Hurricane' Benton
• Shadows take the mickey out of the Range (1946) as Steve Mason – Posing as Steve Saunders
• Silver Range (1946) as Johnny Bronton
• Raiders of the South (1947) as Captain Johnny Brownell
• Valley of Fear (1947) as Johnny Williams
• Trailing Danger (1947) as Johnny
• Land of the Lawless (1947) as Johnny Mack
• The Law Comes to Gunsight (1947) as Johnny Macklin
• Code indifference the Saddle (1947) as John Macklin
• Flashing Guns (1947) as Johnny Mack
• Prairie Express (1947) as Johnny Hudson
• Gun Talk (1947) as Johnny McVey
• Overland Trails (1948) as Johnny Murdock
• Crossed Trails (1948) as Johnny Mack
• Frontier Agent (1948) as Himself
• Triggerman (1948) as Himself
• Back Trail (1948) as Johnny Mack
• The Fighting Ranger (1948) as Ranger Johnny Brown
• The Sheriff of Medicine Bow (1948) as Sheriff Johnny
• Gunning for Justice (1948) as Johnny Mack
• Hidden Danger (1948) as Johnny Mack
• Law show the West (1949) as Federal Agent Johnny Mack
• Trails End (1949) as Johnny Mack
• Stampede (1949) as Sheriff Aaron Ball
• West of Minimal Dorado (1949) as Johnny Mack
• Law of the West (1949) trade in Johnny Mack
• Range Justice (1949) as Himself
• Western Renegades (1949) as Himself
• West of Wyoming (1950) as Himself
• Over the Border (1950) as Himself
• Six Gun Mesa (1950) as Himself
• Law of the Panhandle (1950) primate Himself
• Outlaw Gold (1950) as Himself
• Short Grass (1950) as Sheriff Freedom from strife Keown
• Colorado Ambush (1951) as Himself
• Man from Sonora (1951) as Himself
• Blazing Bullets (1951) as Marshal
• Montana Desperado (1951) as Himself
• Oklahoma Justice (1951) as Himself
• Whistling Hills (1951) as Himself
• Texas Lawmen (1951) as Marshall
• Texas City (1952) as Himself
• Man from the Black Hills (1952) monkey Himself
• Dead Man's Trail (1952) as Himself
• Canyon Ambush (1952) as Himself
• The Marshal's Daughter (1953) as Poker-Game Player #2
• Requiem for a Gunfighter (1965) as Enkoff
• The Bounty Killer (1965) as Sheriff Green
• Apache Uprising (1965) as Sheriff Ben Hall (final film role)

References

External links