Phil Brown
Born: 1916-04-30 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Died: 2006-02-09
Known For: Acting
Biography
Philip Brown was an American actor. Brown was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After majoring in dramatics at Stanford University where he was a Brother of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, Brown played some of his earliest stage roles as part of New York's Group Theater. When it folded, he and other Group Theatre veterans headed to Hollywood, where Brown worked in motion pictures and helped found the fabled Actors' Laboratory. In 1946, he played Ernest Hemingway's famous protagonist Nick Adams in Robert Siodmak's version of The Killers, alongside William Conrad and Charles McGraw as the titular "killers". His association with the Lab came back to haunt him later in the decade, when its members fell under the scrutiny of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Although he was not a communist, Brown was blacklisted in 1952, and was eventually compelled to relocate with his family to England between 1953 and 1993. Overseas he was able to resume acting on stage, TV and films; he also directed for the stage and TV. He was best known for his role as Luke Skywalker's uncle, Owen Lars, in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977). He returned to the United States in the 1990s and in later years made the rounds of autograph shows. Phil Brown died of pneumonia on February 9, 2006 at the age of 89.
Filmography
2001
- Starwoids as Self
1999
- Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming as Council Elder
1992
- Chaplin as Projectionist
1989
- Bomber Harris as Lord Beaverbrook
1988
1980
- Oppenheimer as Lewis Strauss
- The Martian Chronicles as Narrator
1979
- Tales of the Unexpected as F. Milton Willis
1978
- Superman as State Senator
- Maneaters Are Loose! as Kevin Pennington
1977
- Star Wars as Uncle Owen
- The Professionals as Callahan
- Twilight's Last Gleaming as Rev. Cartwright
1976
- The Pink Panther Strikes Again as Virginia Senator
1975
- The Romantic Englishwoman as Mr. Wilson
1973
- Scalawag as Sandy
1972
- The Protectors as Adam Markos
- The Gangster Show: The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui as Clark
- Ooh...You Are Awful as American Man
- The Curse of a Faithful Wife
1971
- Valdez Is Coming as Malson
1970
- Tropic of Cancer as Van Norden
- Togetherness as Everett
1969
- The Adding Machine as Don
- Land Raiders as Sheriff John Mayfield
1968
- Journey to the Unknown
- Operation Cross Eagles as Sgt. Turley
1967
- Bomb at 10:10 as Professor Pilich / Profesor Pilić
1965
- The Bedford Incident as Chief Hospitalman Mckinley - Sick Bay
1962
- The Counterfeit Traitor as Harold Murray (uncredited)
1961
- Ghost Squad ... (Director)
1959
- Interpol Calling as Brownley
- John Paul Jones as Sentry
1958
- The Camp on Blood Island as Lt. Peter Bellamy
- Dial 999
1957
- Theatre Night as Sam Grassman
- A King in New York as Headmaster
- White Hunter
1956
- Colonel March of Scotland Yard as Dr. Bryan Hayes
1955
- The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel as Frank Rawlinson
1951
- Schlitz Playhouse of Stars ... (Director)
1949
- Obsession as Bill Kronin
1948
- Moonrise as Elmer - Soda Jerk
- The Luck of the Irish as Tom Higginbotham
- If You Knew Susie as Joe Collins
1947
- Johnny O'Clock as Phil, Hotel Clerk
1946
- The Killers as Nick Adams (uncredited)
1945
- State Fair as Harry Ware
- Over 21 as Frank MacDougal
- The Jungle Captive as Don Young
1944
- Weird Woman as David Jennings
- The Impatient Years as Henry Fairchild
1942
- Calling Dr. Gillespie as Roy Todwell
- Hello, Annapolis as Kansas City
- Pierre of the Plains as Val Denton
1941
- H.M. Pulham, Esq. as Joe Bingham
- I Wanted Wings as Jimmy Masters