Search: in
Clarence Brown
Clarence Brown Encyclopedia
  Tutorials     Encyclopedia     Dictionary     Directory  
Clarence_Brown Email this to a friend      Clarence_Brown

Clarence Brown

Clarence Brown (May 10, 1890August 17, 1987) was an American film director. Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to a cotton manufacturer, Brown moved to the South when he was eleven.

He attended the University of Tennessee, graduating at the age of 19 with two degrees in engineering. An early fascination in automobiles led Brown to a job with the Stevens-Duryea Company, then to his own Brown Motor Car Company in Alabama. He later abandoned the car dealership after developing an interest in motion pictures around 1913. He was hired by the Peerless Studio at Fort Lee, New Jersey, and became an assistant to the great French-born director Maurice Tourneur.

After serving in World War I, Brown was given his first co-directing credit (with Tourneur) for 1920s The Great Redeemer. Later that year, he directed a major portion of The Last of the Mohicans after Tourneur was injured in a fall.

Brown moved to Universal in 1924, and then to MGM, where he stayed until the mid-1950s. At MGM he was one of the main directors of their female stars–he directed both Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo five times. Garbo referred to Brown as her favorite director.

He not only made the difficult transition from silent cinema to sound cinema, but thrived there, proving himself to be a "actor's director": listening to his actors', respecting their instincts, and often incorporating their suggestions into scenes. In doing so, Brown created believable, under-played, naturalistic dialogue scenes stripped of melodrama, pulsing with the honest rhythms of real-life conversation. He was nominated five times (see below) for the Academy Award as a director, and once as a producer, but never received an Oscar. However, he did win Best Foreign Film for Anna Karenina at the 1935 Venice International Film Festival.

Brown retired a wealthy man due to his real estate investments, but refused to watch new movies, as he feared they might cause him to restart his career. In the 1970s, Brown became a much-sought guest lecturer on the film-festival circuit, thanks in part to his connection with Garbo.

The Clarence Brown Theater, on the campus of the University of Tennessee, is named in his honor.

Filmography

NOTE: In 1929/1930, Brown received one Academy Award nomination for two films. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "As allowed by the award rules for this year, a single nomination could honor work in one or more films."

References

  • An Extraordinary Town, How one of America's smallest towns shaped the world - A Historical Marketing Book by A. J. Bastarache. Featuring a comprehensive section on Clarence Brown.

External links

de:Clarence Brown eu:Clarence Brown fr:Clarence Brown it:Clarence Brown nl:Clarence Brown ja:?????????? tr:Clarence Brown





Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article



Related Links in Clarence Brown

Search for Clarence Brown in Tutorials
Search for Clarence Brown in Encyclopedia
Search for Clarence Brown in Dictionary
Search for Clarence Brown in Open Directory
Search for Clarence Brown in Store
Search for Clarence Brown in PriceGig



Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a Site - Open Directory Project - Become an Editor

Advertisement

Advertisement



Clarence Brown
Clarence_Brown top Clarence_Brown

Home - Add TutorGig to Your Site - Disclaimer

©2008-2009 TutorGig.com. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement