John Brown
Brown had major roles in several popular radio shows: He was "John Doe" in the Texaco Star Theater's version of Fred Allen's Allen's Alley,[2] played Irma's love interest Al in My Friend Irma, both "Gillis" and Digby "Digger" O'Dell in The Life of Riley, (a role he reprised for the first incarnation of the television show), "Broadway" in The Damon Runyon Theatre, and "Thorny" the neighbor on the radio version of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Perhaps his most memorable piece of work is the ‘Broadway’ role; once heard, many find it impossible to think of the narrator of Damon Runyon’s stories as anyone else. It was a measure of Brown’s talent that this quintessentially American character was portrayed by an Englishman. Brown appeared in some notable films: as the inebriated professor in Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, uncredited), and The Wild One (1953); he supplied the voice of "Ro-Man" in the 1953 cult science fiction B-film Robot Monster.
Known For
Credits
- 1954 · Dixieland Droopy as Narrator / Pee Wee Runt (voice) (uncredited)
- 1953 · The Wild One as Bill Hannegan
- 1953 · The Bigamist as
- 1953 · Man Crazy as Mr. Duncan
- 1953 · Crazylegs as Keller
- 1953 · Jennifer as Service Station Attendant (uncredited)
- 1953 · Robot Monster as Ro-Man / Great Guidance (voice)
- 1952 · Hans Christian Andersen as Schoolmaster
- 1951 · I Love Lucy as Mr. Murdoch
- 1951 · Schlitz Playhouse of Stars as
- 1951 · The Day the Earth Stood Still as George Barley, boarder
- 1951 · Strangers on a Train as Prof. Collins
- 1951 · Symphony in Slang as The Hipster / Noah Webster (voice) (uncredited)
- 1950 · The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show as Harry Morton
- 1949 · The Life of Riley as Digger O'Dell
- 1946 · The Stranger as Passport Photographer (uncredited)
- 1945 · The Horn Blows at Midnight as Lou the waiter (uncredited)
- 1934 · A Peach of a Pair as John