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  • BIRTH 10/05/1890
  • DEATH 17/08/1987
  • Country United States
  • MOVIES 2
  • DIRECTOR 17
  • PRODUCTION 9

Clarence Brown

Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director.

After serving as a fighter pilot and flight instructor in the United States Army Air Service during World War I, Brown was given his first co-directing credit (with Tourneur) for The Great Redeemer (1920). 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 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he remained until the mid-1950s. At MGM he was one of the main directors of their major female stars, he directed Joan Crawford six times and Greta Garbo seven.

Brown was nominated five times for six films (see below) for an Academy Award as a director, but he never received an Oscar. However, he won Best Foreign Film for Anna Karenina, starring Garbo at the 1935 Venice International Film Festival.

Brown's films gained a total of 38 Academy Award nominations and earned nine Oscars. Brown himself received five Academy Award nominations for six films and in 1949, he won the British Academy Award for the film version of William Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust.

In 1957, Brown was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film. 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.

The Clarence Brown Theater, on the campus of the University of Tennessee, is named in his honor. He holds the record for most nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director without a win, with six.

Clarence Brown

Movies (2)

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
The Signal Tower
The Signal Tower
Switch Man

Director (17)

Anna Christie
Anna Christie
The Yearling
The Yearling
National Velvet
National Velvet
Angels in the Outfield
Angels in the Outfield
Intruder in the Dust
Intruder in the Dust
A Woman of Affairs
A Woman of Affairs
Possessed
Possessed
Romance
Romance
Chained
Chained
Kiki
Kiki
Wife vs. Secretary
Wife vs. Secretary
Ah, Wilderness!
Ah, Wilderness!
The Signal Tower
The Signal Tower
The Eagle
The Eagle
Emma
Emma
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
Flesh and the Devil
Flesh and the Devil

Production (9)

National Velvet
National Velvet
Ah, Wilderness!
Ah, Wilderness!
Wife vs. Secretary
Wife vs. Secretary
Chained
Chained
Romance
Romance
Possessed
Possessed
Intruder in the Dust
Intruder in the Dust
Kiki
Kiki
Angels in the Outfield
Angels in the Outfield