Biography for
Clarence Brown (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 May 1890, Clinton, Massachusetts, USA

Date of Death

17 August 1987, Santa Monica, California, USA (kidney failure)

Birth Name

Clarence Leon Brown

Spouse

Marian Spies	(1946 - 17 August 1987) (his death)
Alice Joyce	(1933 - 1945) (divorced)
Mona Maris	(? - ?) (divorced)

Trivia

Was married 4 times. The name of his first wife is unknown; his second wife was Ona Brown; his third wife was Alice Joyce and his fourth wife was Marian Spies, whom he widowed. He also had a daughter, probably by his first wife, born in 1918 and named Adrienne.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 63-66. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

Prior to becoming a director, he was a used-car salesman.

Directed 10 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Greta Garbo, Lionel Barrymore, Norma Shearer, Marie Dressler, Beulah Bondi, Charles Boyer, Mickey Rooney, Anne Revere, Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman. Barrymore and Revere won Oscars for their performances in one of Brown's movies.

Was good friends with Erich von Stroheim

Was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War I.

Personal Quotes

A star is when someone says, "To hell with it, let's leave the dishes in the sink and go see Joan Crawford in a movie".

First I want everything an actress knows. I get her interpretation, then we talk.

Maurice Tourneur was my god. I owe him everything I've got in the world. For me, he was the greatest man who ever lived. If it hadn't been for him, I'd still be selling automobiles.

Salary

The Goose Woman (1925)	$12,500
Smouldering Fires (1925)	$12,500
Butterfly (1924)	$12,500
The Signal Tower (1924)	$12,500
The Acquittal (1923)	$12,500
Exile (1917)	$30/week
The Cub (1915)	$30/week

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