Robert Brown (born Robin Adair MacKenzie Brown; November 17, 1926 – September 19, 2022) was an American film and television actor who was mostly active in the 1960s and 1970s.
Life and career
Brown was born in
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.[United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...]
during the mid-1940s.
Brown guest-starred on numerous
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
programs. He was cast in the role of Peter Coll in the two-part episode "The Mad Dog Coll Story" of the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
series
Series may refer to:
People with the name
* Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series
* George Series (1920–1995), English physicist
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Series, the ordered sets used in ...
''
The Lawless Years
''The Lawless Years'' is an American crime drama series that aired on NBC from April 16, 1959, to September 22, 1961. The series is the first of its kind, set during the Roaring 20s, having antedated American Broadcasting Company, ABC's far more ...
,'' which was transmitted on July 28 and August 4, 1961. He made three guest appearances on ''
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...
'': as Frank Sykes in the 1960 episode "The Case of the Larcenous Lady", as Goring Gilbert in the 1963 episode "The Case of the Reluctant Model" (both of which were as the murderer) and as Tracey Walcott in the 1964 episode "The Case of the Sleepy Slayer". He also appeared once on ''
Bewitched
''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...
'', playing the role of the come-alive
Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial
Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial (also known as: "Man at the Wheel" statue or "Fishermen's Memorial Cenotaph") is a historic memorial cenotaph sculpture on South Stacy Boulevard, near entrance of Stacy Esplanade in Gloucester, Massachusetts, built ...
statue in "Darrin on a Pedestal" which aired on October 22, 1970.
Brown had a starring role as the charismatic, fast-talking Jason Bolt in the 1968–70
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''
Here Come the Brides
''Here Come the Brides'' is an American comedy Western series from Screen Gems that aired on the ABC television network from September 25, 1968 to April 3, 1970. It was loosely based on Asa Mercer's efforts in the 1860s to import marriageable wom ...
''. He starred as Carter Primus in the 1971–1972 syndicated sea adventure television series ''
Primus''. In 1962, he was cast as a minister in an episode of the NBC western television series ''
Bonanza
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...
'' ("Blessed Are They"). Brown appeared as both of the two beings alternating in the character of Lazarus on the ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' episode "
The Alternative Factor
"The Alternative Factor" is the twenty-seventh episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek''. Written by Don Ingalls and directed by Gerd Oswald, it first aired on March 30, 1967.
In the episode, th ...
" (1967). He was cast at the last minute when
John Drew Barrymore
John Drew Barrymore (born John Blyth Barrymore Jr.; June 4, 1932 – November 29, 2004) was an American film actor and member of the Barrymore family of actors, which included his father, John Barrymore, and his father's siblings, Lionel and E ...
failed to appear for shooting. His only feature film credits are the
science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
''
The Flame Barrier
''The Flame Barrier'' is a 1958 American jungle adventure/ science fiction film produced by Arthur Gardner and Jules V. Levy, directed by Paul Landres, and written by Pat Fielder and George Worthing Yates. The film stars Arthur Franz, Kathleen ...
'' and the horror film ''
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
'' (1962). In 1975, Brown appeared as the son of the murder victim in the ''
Columbo
''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...
'' episode "Playback".
Brown was a close friend of
Carroll O'Connor
John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an American actor, producer, and director whose television career spanned over four decades. He became a lifelong member of the Actors Studio in 1971. O'Connor found widespread fame ...
and appeared in an episode of O'Connor's series ''
Archie Bunker's Place
''Archie Bunker's Place'' is an American television sitcom produced as a continuation of ''All in the Family''. It aired on CBS from September 23, 1979, to April 4, 1983. While not as popular as its predecessor, the show maintained a large enough ...
'' in 1979 and an episode of ''
In the Heat of the Night'' titled "Poor Relations," which aired in 1994.
Brown did voiceover work for radio and television. He was also a writer working on short stories and a novel.
Death
Brown died in
Ojai, California
Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...
, on September 19, 2022, at the age of 95.
References
External links
*
*
Robert Brown Profile at FocusOnTheMasters.Com
1926 births
2022 deaths
American male television actors
American male film actors
Actors from Trenton, New Jersey
Male actors from New Jersey
United States Navy personnel of World War II
American male radio actors
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American novelists
Novelists from New Jersey
20th-century American short story writers
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