biography
Johnny Mack Brown was born in Dothan, Alabama, on September 1, 1904, to parents who owned a local clothing store. His early aspirations were more athletic
than theatrical, as Brown was an All-American halfback for the University of Alabama in the 1920s. But rather than pursuing professional football as a
career, he signed a five-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in late 1926. After just a few small roles at MGM, Brown became a star during the waning days
of silent films. Teamed with MGM's biggest female stars, such as Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Norma Shearer, Brown emerged as a leading man, usually
billed as John Mack Brown. Brown was also loaned out to other studios such as Fox and RKO during this period. Although he is today best known for his
westerns, most of Johnny Mack Brown's silent films were dramas and comedies. 
LEFT: Mid 1920s photo of Brown during his football days. CENTER: Late 1920s arcade card. RIGHT: Late 1920s photo with silent star Charles Farrell
After just a few small roles at MGM, Brown became a star during the waning days of silent films. Teamed with MGM's biggest female stars, such as Joan Crawford,
Greta Garbo, and Norma Shearer, Brown emerged as a leading man, usually billed as John Mack Brown. Brown was also loaned out to other studios such as Fox and
RKO during this period. Although he is today best known for his westerns, most of Johnny Mack Brown's silent films were dramas and comedies. With the advent
and studio acceptance of synch-sound pictures, Brown's star began to fade at MGM, as studio executives thought his strong southern accent was not becoming of
a leading man. However, his accent proved to be an asset in westerns with the October 1930 release of Billy the Kid, in which Brown has the title role;
in this film, he is billed as Johnny Mack Brown and would usually be billed as such for the remainder of his career. While Brown had become a big star at MGM
in the late 1920s, MGM let him go the end of his contract in 1932.Brown rolled with the punches and acted in films at Paramount, Warner Brothers, and Universal between 1932 and 1935; however, he generally served as a supporting actor in these films. Longing for starring roles in films, in 1935 he signed with the poverty-row studio Supreme Pictures to do a string of low-budget westerns. Supreme's shaky fortunes were enhanced by a distribution deal with Republic Studios, which was newly formed by Herbert Yates after he foreclosed on Monogram and Mascot studios, both heavily in debt to Yates' Consolidated Film Laboratories film processing company. Although a poverty-row independent, Republic was in better financial shape than most small studios in the mid 1930s, and Brown's career began to flourish again. He became so identified with westerns that, beyond the mid 1930s, Brown rarely appeared in a non-western film.    
LEFT: A rare 1940s shot of Johnny Mack Brown. CENTER: Promotional photos from Monogram. RIGHT: Johnny Mack Brown was featured in a Dell Comic Book series in the 1950s |
the films of johnny mack brownThe Fair Co-Ed (1927)
A very young Johnny Mack Brown is at the center rear of this still from the MGM Marion Davies comedy The Fair Co-EdOur Dancing Daughters (1928)
With Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters, the film that made Crawford a starThe Single Standard (1929) 
Brown with Greta Garbo in The Single StandardEveryman's Law (1936)
As the Dog Town Kid in the poverty-row western Everyman's LawWild West Days (1937)
With Robert McClung and George Shelley in the Universal thirteen-chapter western serial Wild West DaysBoss of Bullion City (1940)
With sidekick Fuzzy Knight and Maria Montez in the Universal western Boss of Bullion CityThe Lost Trail (1945)
With Raymond Hatton in Monogram's The Lost TrailTexas City (1952)
With Lois Hall and Lorna Thayer in the Monogram western Texas Citylater yearsThe era of the B western ended in the early 1950s, as competition from television brought the curtain down on the genre. Brown had proved very popular as a western hero through the early 1950s, but with the death of B movie oaters, he retired from the screen. Brown remained popular when many of his old films were sold into TV syndication packages in the 1950s, and Dell was inspired to produce a comic book series. Dell published more than 20 in this series through 1959. He came out of retirement in the mid 1960s for supporting roles in the films Requiem for a Gunfighter (1965), The Bounty Killer (1965), and Apache Uprising (1966), which was his final film. After a long career during which he acted in more than 150 films, Brown passed away from kidney failure on November 14, 1974, at the age of 70. He was survived by his wife and four children. |
filmographyFILM
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