John Brown

Acting

Born April 4, 1904, 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.

Filmography

• 1954Dixieland Droopy — Narrator / Pee Wee Runt (voice) (uncredited)
• 1953Crazylegs — Keller
• 1953Jennifer — Service Station Attendant (uncredited)
• 1953Man Crazy — Mr. Duncan
• 1953Robot Monster — Ro-Man / Great Guidance (voice)
• 1953That's My Pup! — Spike (voice) (uncredited)
• 1953The Bigamist
• 1953The Wild One — Bill Hannegan
• 1952Hans Christian Andersen — Schoolmaster
• I Love Lucy — Mr. Murdoch
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
• 1951Strangers on a Train — Prof. Collins
• 1951Symphony in Slang — The Hipster / Noah Webster (voice) (uncredited)
• 1951The Day the Earth Stood Still — George Barley
• The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show — Harry Morton
• 1949The Life of Riley — Digger O'Dell
• The Life of Riley — Digger O'Dell
• 1946The Stranger — Passport Photographer (uncredited)
• 1945The Horn Blows at Midnight — Lou the waiter (uncredited)
• 1934A Peach of a Pair — John
• Heritage — Narrator