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Dee Brown
Dee Alexander Brown was born in Louisiana on Feb. 28, 1908. His family moved to Arkansas when he was five years old. Dee Brown attended Arkansas State Teachers College and then received a Bachelor of Library Science degree from George Washington University (Washington, D.C.). He earned the master's degree from the University of Illinois.
He worked as a librarian in Washington, D.C., first for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1934-42) and then for the U.S. War Department (1945-48). Then he became a professor and the head librarian at the University of Illinois for many years. Upon retiring he moved to his native Arkansas to write full-time. He was the recipient of the Western Writers of America "Saddleman Award" in 1984, honoring his lifetime of contributions to the study of the American West.
Brown is the author of 12 novels and 11 nonfiction books. His first book was a novel based on the life of Davy Crockett, and Wave High the Banner (1942) was published in more than 20 languages. His other books include Fighting Indians of the West (1948, with M. Schmitt as co-author), Trail Driveing Days (1952), Grierson's Raid (1954), Women of the Old Wild West (1958), They Went Thataway (1960), Fort Phil Kearny (1962), Showdown at the Little Big Horn (1964), and the famous Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee:An Indian History of the American West (Henry Holt, 1970).
In addition, Dee Brown authored Creek Mary's Blood (Henry Holt, 1980), Conspiracy of Knaves (Henry Holt), Teepee Tales of the American Indians (Henry Holt, 1979), The Westerneres (Holt, 1974), Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans (Putnam, 1972), Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: Railroads in the West (Holt, 1977), and Killdeer Mountain (Henry Holt, 1983).
In 2000 Brown's adopted homestate honored him by naming a library after him. That is the Dee Brown Branch Library at 6325 Baseline Road in Little Rock, AR.
On Oct. 8, 1988, Dee Brown was presented the Distinguished Alumni Award on Homecoming Day at the University of Central Arkansas.(Brown was profiled by Jean Mead in the April, 1985 issue of The Roundup, p. 213-25.)
Dee Brown died of heart disease at his home in Little Rock, at the age of 94, on Dec. 12, 2002.
A personal note: my wife and I had the honor of having dinner with Dee Brown a couple of times at different conventions of the Western Writers of America. The occasion I remember most vividly was at Sheridan, Wyoming. He joked about how many times he had sold the movie rights to Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, with none of the claimants getting the book even near the silver screen. He laughed and said, "I guess I ought to write another book and title it, 'Bury My Heart in Hollywood'." --Stan Paregien
Irene Bennett Brown
Irene Bennett Brown was born in Topeka, Kansas on Jan. 31, 1932. She graduated from high school at Brownsville, Oregon in 1950. She and Bob were married in 1951, and they have three grown children and a daughter who is a college student.She is the author of several books for children and young adults, including Answer Me, Answer Me (Antheneum, 1985), Before the Lark (Macmillan, 1982), Just Another Gorgeous Guy (Macmillan, 1984; Fawcett paperback, 1985), Morning Glory Afternoon (Macmillan, 1981), To Rainbown Valley (1969), Run From a Scarecrow (Concordia), Skitterbrain (Nelson/Dutton & Scholastic), Willow Whip (Atheneum), and I Loved You, Logan McGee! (Atheneum/Viking, 1987).
Irene Bennett Brown won a Spur at the 1983 Western Writers of America Convention for her book, Before the Lark. It was also a Junior Literary Guild selection, was listed as a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year, and was nominated for the 1985 Mark Twain Award. Answer Me, Answer Me was nominated for the 1989 Nevada Young Reader's Choice Award.
In 1988 she won the Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award given to the person who has made a significant contribution to the children of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest in the fields of literature and/or library services.
Irene's articles have appeared in Westways, Northwest Living, Oregon Journal, Scholastic News Trails, Merry-Go-Round, Friends, Fun for Middlers, Rainbow, and Junior Trails. He is the former women's editor of the Capitol Press, an Oregon farm weekly.
Irene Bennett Brown served as the chairman of the 1989 WWA Convention in Portland, Oregon. Brown is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Conference and the Author's Guild. (See Jean Mead's profile of Brown in the October, 1984 issue of The Roundup.)
Johnny Mack Brown
(Deceased)
Johnny Mack Brown, cowboy movie star, was born on Sept. 1, 1904 in Dothan, AL. He was an "All American" halfback at the University of Alabama who became the hero of his teams win in the Rose Bowl in 1926. He turned down professional football offers in favor of trying his hand in Hollywood.He started out in silent films and easily made the transition to talkies, where he became one of the top cowboy movie stars.
Johnny Mack Brown's first Western film was "Billy the Kid" in 1930, and it was a big hit. Brown had found his element. He went on to appear in more than 150 Western films.
Some of Brown's Westerns included "Lasca of the Rio Grande" (1931), "Vanishing Frontier" (1932), "Fighting with Kit Carson" (1933), "Rustlers of Red Dog" (1951), "Rogue of the Range" (1936), "A Lawman is Born" (1937. NOTE: He made 10 movies this year, alone), "Oklahoma Frontier" (1939), "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (1940), "Range Riders" (1941), "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (1942), "The Texas Kid" (1943), "Oklahoma Justice" (1951), and "The Marshal's Daughter" (1953).
Brown retired in 1953 when the glory days of the "B-Westerns" were ending. But he returned to the big screen three last times for cameo appearances in "Requim for a Gunfighter" (1965), "The Bounty Killer" (1965) and "Apache Uprising" (1966).
Johnny Mack Brown died of a heart condition on Nov. 14, 1974 in Woodland Hills, CA. He is buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery (Court of Freedom, Columbarium of Heavenly Peace) in Glendale, CA.
CLICK HERE to view the complete filmography of Johnny Mack Brown.
Lew Brown
Lew Brown, actor, was born Lew Gene Brown on March 18, 1925 in Goltry, Oklahoma.
Brown joined the U.S. Marine Corps when World War II broke out. He was wounded at Iwo Jima and earned the Purple Heart. He went on to graduate from the University of Oklahoma School of Drama. There he was a friend of classmates Dennis Weaver, Guy Williams ("Zorro") and Rance Howard, each of whom were destined to success in Hollywood.
In fact, in was Lew Brown who helped friend Dennis Weaver practice for his audition for the role of "Chester" in the TV Western, Gunsmoke. He helped Weaver to perfect the voice he would use, as well as the limp, which many people thought was real.
Lew Brown wound up with over 150 television and movie appearances. His Western TV movies included Kenny Rogers as The Gambler (1980) and Tales of the Apple Dumpling Gang (1982). He made numerous appearances on such TV Westerns as Gunsmoke, Maverick, Laramie, Two Faces West, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, The Virginian, Stoney Burke, Death Valley Days, Cimarron Strip, The Wild Wild West, The High Chaparral, Alias Smith and Jones, and Little House on the Prairie.
At last report, Lew Brown is now retired and living in Maui, Hawaii.
CLICK HERE to go to the official Lew Brown web site featuring many photographs.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Lew Brown.
Peter Brown
Peter Brown, actor, was born as Pierre de Lappe on Oct. 5, 1935 in New York. He came by entertaining quite naturally, as his mother was an actress on both the stage and on radio (Mina Reaume). So he grew up acting in children's theatre and doing bit parts in other shows.
He only began to take acting seriously, though, when he was in the Army in 1954 and stationed in a part of Alaska where even USO shows were few and far between. So to escape the boredom, he organized an acting group and even directed some of the plays. Upon his discharge in 1956, he studied drama at UCLA.
After his discharge from the army in June of 1956, Peter enrolled in a summer session as a drama student at UCLA. He played roles in local theatres, while pumping gas at a service station on the Sunset Strip. One day Jack Warner, head of Warner Brothers Studios, stopped in for gas. And recognized him and made his pitch, and won a screen test and then a contract.
After several movies, he got the role of Deputy Johnny McKay in the new TV Western series, "Lawman". The show starred John Russell and started on Brown's 23rd birthday. It ran for four years.
The "Lawman" show ended in 1962. And he made guest appearances on such TV shows as "Cheyenne," "The Virginian," and "Wagon Train."
Then he worked on the TV Western series "Laredo," from 1965 until it ended in 1967. From there he went to TV soaps and guest appearances in other TV shows.
Peter Brown, at last count, had married five times.
CLICK HERE to go to the home page of the Peter Brown Fan Club.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Peter Brown.
Roscoe Lee Browne(Deceased)
Actor, poet and director Roscoe Lee Browne was born May 2, 1925, in Woodbury, New Jersey. His father was a Baptist minister.
Browne graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1946. He took graduate studies at Middlebury College (Vermont), Columbia University (New York City) and the University of Florence (Italy). He returned to Lincoln University for a time and taught French and comparative literature.
Roscoe Browne became a sales representative for a wine and liquor importer. The money was good but he felt demeaned because he was assigned to selling to bars in Harlem. After a few years he had had enough. In 1956 he up and quit his job to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. The very next day he auditioned for, and won, the role of the Soothsayer in "Julius Caesar" at the newly-formed New York Shakespeare Festival. He was on his way.
His distinctive baritone voice—cultured and carefully measured—led to his acting in hundreds of plays, TV shows and movies. For example, he was a snobbish black lawyer trapped in an elevator with bigot Archie Bunker in an episode of the 1970s TV comedy "All in the Family." He was once told by a certain director, better to be left unnamed, that his speech sounded "white". Browne smiled at th man and said, "We had a white maid".
He really found his niche as a “voice-over” narrator or actor in such documentaries and such commercially successful films as “Babe,” “Spiderman” and “Epic Movie” (2007).
Roscoe Lee Browne only acted in one Western, but that was a very good one. He played the part of the chuckwagon cook in the 1972 film, "Cowboys," starring John Wayne.Roscoe Lee Browne also won his share of awards including an Obie, an Emmy, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, and a nomination for a Tony. In 1977 he was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
He was a man who loved poetry and had hundreds of his favorite poems committed to memory. He also wrote his own poems.
Roscoe Lee Brown died of cancer in a hospital Los Angeles, Calif., on April 11, 2007. He was 81 years old and had never married.
Zeke Sinclair Browning
Zeke Sinclair Browning was born on Nov. 17, 1946. She--yes, Zeke is a woman--married William D. Browning on Dec. 17, 1974. She holds the B.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Arizona.
A person of many interests, she has worked in the banking industry, has taught work simplication, has a real estate broker's license, is a political consultant for local and statewide office seekers, has worked as a travel agent, and has taught creative writing workshops at Pima Community College. She is an avid gardener, reads constantly, and is a diehard horseback rider who loves to break and train young horses.
Browning, who often uses the pen name "Sinclair Browning", has sold articles to the Horseman, Parenting, Horse Woman, Western Horseman and Horse Illustrated.
Zeke Sinclair Browning is the author of Enju (Northland Press, 1982), the story of Eskiminzin, an Aravaipa Apache Chief who lived from 1871 to 1895. It is a factual novelization of a bitter time in the annals of Anglo-Indian relations. She has been a member of WWA since 1989, and is a member of the Society of Southwestern Authors.
Other books by Browning include Rode Hard, Put Away Dead; The Sporting Club; The Last Song Dogs; Enju: The Life and Struggle of an Apache Chief from the Little Running Water.
CLICK HERE to go to Sinclair Browning's own web site.
Ed Bruce
Actor, singer and songwriter Ed Bruce was born William Edwin Bruce Jr. in Arkansas in 1939.
Ed made his first recordings for historic Sun Records in Memphis, Tennesee. He was the ripe old age of 17. And he wanted to be a rockabilly star, but that didn't happen.
In 1964 Ed Bruce moved to Nashville to become a member of the Marijohn Wilkins Singers. He also entered into a lucrative career singing advertising jingles.
In 1966, Bruce signed with RCA. That same he he had his first chart hit with the single, "Walker's Woods." He kicked along, having ups and downs. Then in 1975 he wrote a little song that he recorded and rode all the way to the Top 20. It was called, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys". Some years later the song became a smash hit for ol' Willie and Waylon. His songs have also been recorded by everyone from Tex Ritter to Charlie Louvin, Crystal Gayle and Tanya Tucker.
Ed Bruce was under contract to Epic Records between 1977 and 1978. But he had his greatest success with MCA in the 1980's. His song, "The Last Cowboy Song" was #12 in 1980. "Girls, Women and Ladies" and "(When You Fall in Love) Everything's a Waltz" each made it to the Top 20.
Then in 1981, Bruce hit number one with "You're the Best Break This Heart Ever Had". And he had other Top Five singles, too, included "Ever, Never Lovin' You" (number four, 1982), "After All" (#4, 1983), "You Turn Me On (Like a Radio)" (#3, 1984), and "Nights" (#4, 1986).After that, Ed Bruce began to focus on acting and business opportunities. He spent a season or two as the sidekick of James Garner in the "New Maverick" TV series. And he became the spokesman/host of a TV show about hotrod trucks.
Somewhere along the way he had a religious experience that changed his life and he became a Christian. And in 2006 he recorded a religious or gospel album. One of the songs on that album has gotten a lot of air play and that is, "Jesus Loved the Hell Out of Me".
Tom Bryant
Tom Bryant is a working cowboy and the son of Georgia sharecroppers. He spent two tours of service with the Army before hiring on with Pinkerton's as a private investigator. He served as Recreation Director in Missoula, Mont. for a time, during which period he began to write newspaper articles and to speak on radio and TV shows. He quit that job to try full-time freelancing, then went back to cowboying.His articles have appeared in Western Horseman, American West, and American Horseman. He is also the author of a coloring book for children, Rodeo, America's #1 Sport (Saddlebag Books).
Yul Brynner
(Deceased)Yul Brynner, actor, was born as Taidje Khan on July 11, 1920 in Vladivostok, Russia. He is probably best remembered for his definitive portrayal of the king in "The King and I" (1956).
However, he did appear in several Westerns, including "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), "Invitation to a Gunfighter" (1964), "Return of the Seven" (1966), "Villa Rides" (1968), "Adios, Sabata" (1971), "Westworld" (1973) and "Futureworld" (1976).
A collection of photos taken by Yul Brynner and edited by his wife, Victoria Brynner, was published in 1996 under the title, "Yul Brynner : Photographer".
Yul Brynner died of lung cancer on Oct. 10, 1985 in New York City.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Yul Brynner.
This listing is far from complete and may
contain errors. Therefore, all Westerners and/or their
agents are requested to submit recommended changes by
contacting Stan Paregien.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will never pass away.
--Jesus the Christ (Bible: Matthew 24:35)
© 2007 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
