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

Mini Biography

Clarence Leon Brown was the son of Larkin Harry and Catherine Ann (Gaw) Brown of Clinton, Massachusetts. His family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee when he was twelve years old. He graduated from Knoxville High School in 1905 and from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in mechanical and electrical engineering in 1912. After graduation, Brown settled in Alabama, where he operated a Stevens Duryea dealership called the Brown Motor Car Company. He soon tired of the business and, fascinated by the movies, moved to New Jersey to study with French director Maurice Tourneur at Peerless Studios. During his career, Brown directed or produced more than fifty widely-acclaimed full length motion pictures and worked with many of the film industry's most illustrious performers. He also maintained close ties with the University of Tennessee, donating the money necessary to construct the institution's Clarence Brown Theatre during the 1970s and adding an additional $12 million dollars after his death.

IMDb Mini Biography By: EGD

Spouse

Marian Ruth Spies	(1946 - 17 August 1987) (his death)
Alice Joyce	(31 March 1933 - 3 October 1945) (divorced)
Ona Wilson	(22 October 1922 - March 1927) (divorced)
Paul Herndon Pratt	(12 May 1913 - ?) 1 child

Trivia

Clarence Brown had one daughter, Adrienne (sometimes given as Arabella), by his first wife in 1917.

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

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.

Tied with Robert Altman and Alfred Hitchcock for the most nominations for best director (5) at the academy awards without a single win. Martin Scorsese had been part or this group before his win for the Departed on his 6th nomination.

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.

[on Greta Garbo] She has this great appeal to the world because she expresses her emotions by thinking them. Garbo does not need gestures and movements to convey happiness, despair, hope and disappointment, joy or tragedy. She registers her feelings literally by radiating her thoughts to you.

Salary

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