Robert Brown: Personal Bio

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Did you know Robert started his career as a theatre actor?

We are going to take a trip back in time to Robert's early life and even further than that to the lives of his grandfather and parents.

Contrary to popular belief Robert was not born in Scotland. He was born and raised in the eastern United States. His mother, however, was born in Scotland on the Isle of Skye, located in the Inner Hebrides islands off Scotland's west coast. His father was Welsh, but was born in the borough of Kent, east of London. Robert's father attended a private school in England until his own father was killed fighting in the Boer War (the conflict between the English and Dutch over South Africa,1899-1902). As a result the death of Robert’s grandfather, the family’s circumstances were reduced and Robert’s father was forced to drop out of school, and find work to help his mother. Robert's father moved to the United States in 1912, and fought in World War I. After the war he found employment working as a butler to various people, most notably Theodore Roosevelt. It was here that Robert's father met his mother, who had left Scotland as a paid traveling companion.

Being raised in an environment among America's aristocrats and his exposure to his father's English accent and his mother's lovely Scots accent helped give Robert his distinctive and remarkable voice, which he says sounds mostly like his father's voice. Being raised in an environment among America's aristocrats and his exposure to his father's English accent and his mother's lovely Scots accent helped give Robert his distinctive and remarkable voice, which he says sounds mostly like his father's voice.

Robert was born in Trenton, but spent much of his childhood in New York. Early jobs included working as a delivery boy for a drug store, and as an usher in a theatre. Perhaps it was that experience that first whetted his appetite for acting, for after a stint serving in the Pacific in the Navy in World War II, Robert decided to attend drama school.

Professional Biography

Robert Brown began his acting career in New York City at a golden time in the history of American theatre. Robert had a chance to study and work with some legendary actors and directors. He studied at Erwin Piscator's Dramatist Workshop at the New School for Social Research. In New York he studied with the likes of Rod Steiger and Walter Matthau. His first job on Broadway was in Skipper Next to God starring John Garfield and directed by Lee Strasberg. Maxwell Anderson hired Mr. Brown to play Socrates' son in The Playwrites Co. production of Barefoot in Athens. The distinguished American director Guthrie McClintock saw him in the play and cast him in the coveted starring role opposite Dame Judith Anderson in Come of Age. For some time thereafter many poetic roles were offered to Mr. Brown. He started with Morgan Evens in The Corn is Green (co starring Ann Harding), and followed that with several Shakespearean roles, including Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona; Ferdinand in The Tempest (with Sam Jaffe) and the Dauphin in King John. Other roles included Teddy Lutin in Somerset Maugham’s The Circle with Helen Hayes; the Joseph Papp production of Montjoy Prison; and A Member of the Wedding starring Ethel Waters. Mr. Brown joined the company of The Dark is Light Enough starring Katherine Cornell, directed by her husband Guthrie McClintock in which he "stood by" for actor Christopher Plummer.

Tryouts that never reach Broadway are a part of the life of any professional actor, and Robert was no exception. The play Head of the House with Lee Remick got lost on its way to town. The Theatre Guild's production of Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra starring Franchot Tone and Susan Strasberg, with Mr. Brown playing Apollodoris toured major cities but ran out of speed on the road.

One of the performances of which he is most proud is his creation of the role of Stephen Daedelus in the critically acclaimed Ulysses in Nigh Town, adapted from James Joyce's epic novel Ulysses. The production also starred Zero Mostel and was directed by Burgess Meredith. Mr. Brown later played the Daedelus character in Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, and Stephen Hero directed by Phoebe Brand. Another important role in Robert Brown’s career was the much heralded of Rolf Hochhuth's The Deputy. After closing in Los Angeles, the play toured the major cities. Mr. Brown played the leading role of the heroic priest Richard Fontana S.J.

This was during the 1950s and the golden age of television as at its zenith. Kraft and Philco Playhouse, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Camera Three and others offered Mr. Brown a great variety of roles, which was the wonderful live TV training-ground; stretching the actor's range and talent. Robert appeared in episodes of Perry Mason, and in television dramas including Colossus, on The Dick Powell Theatre, written by Richard Alan Simmons and also starring William Shatner. That appearance was a pilot, and there were others, too Yellow Bird for Selig Seligman, and Banana Company for CBS and O'Connor-Becker Co.

Then in 1968 came the chance to star in the popular ABC prime time series Here Come the Brides with Joan Blondell and David Soul. Here Come the Brides ran for two years, and was followed soon after by another series for NBC. In Primus Brown played the title role of Carter Primus, underwater explorer and deep-sea troubleshooter. After a season, Brown was back on the stage in a production of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes with Carroll O'Connor, Lee Grant and Burgess Meredith. He has done many television guest star appearances including Archie Bunker's Place, Colombo, Star Trek, and Police Story. His films include A Man Alone with Melinda Dillon and Kathy Jurado, and Tower of London with Vincent Price.

In recent years Mr. Brown has been dividing his time between a busy schedule doing voiceovers for radio and television and writing short stories and a novel. Asked whether he preferred theatre work or television work, Robert commented "That is like asking which child of yours you love the best!"