Ray Brown

(b. Champaign, Illinois, 16/08/1874 – d. Los Angeles, 29/07/1939). American stage and film actor. Ray A. Brown (later Raymond Brown) was educated at the University of Kansas and apparently graduated with a law degree, but instead turned to the stage. In December 1917 he sailed for South Africa and appeared in plays and revues, including Follow My Leader at the Empire Palace of Varieties and Turn to the Right at His Majesty's Theatre, both in Johannesburg. H. Lisle Lucoque picked him to play Captain (later Commander) Good in King Solomon's Mines (1918) and Allan Quatermain (1919). This was followed by an unidentified role in With Edged Tools (1919), directed by Joseph Albrecht. Albrecht was also set to direct The Adventures of a Diamond, a planned 14-part serial, but this project seems to have been abandoned.

In July 1919 Brown returned to the United States via France and at first resumed his theatrical career. His first American film part seems to have been in Lady for a Day (1933), directed by Frank Capra, and he went on to act in numerous films. According to the IMDb his film career stretched from 1933 to 1939, which was the year he died. Although he usually played small, supporting roles in which he frequently went uncredited, the directors he worked with included the likes of W.S. Van Dyke, William Dieterle, Fritz Lang and Busby Berkeley. (FO)