People active in the silent era and people who keep the silent era alive. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Photograph: Silent Era image collection.

Clarence Brown

Born 10 May 1890 in Clifton, Massachusetts, USA, as Clarence Leon Brown.
Died 17 August 1987 in Santa Monica, California, USA, of kidney failure.

Married Paul Herndon Pratt 12 May 1913; divorced; daughter, Adrienne (Arabella) Brown, born 1917.
Married Ona Wilson, 22 October 1922; divorced 1927.
Married actress Alice Joyce, 31 March 1933; divorced, 3 October 1945.
Married Marian Ruth Spies, 1946; until Clarence’s death, 17 August 1987.

Clarence Brown began motion picture work after having been a car dealer in Alabama, moving to the New York area circa 1915 and working with director Maurice Tourneur at World Film Corporation in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Brown worked closely with Tourneur as an assistant director and editor. Brown’s break came when Tourneur was injured in a fall during the production of The Last of the Mohicans (1920), with Brown in the director’s chair to complete the film. Brown continued to direct the occasional film for Tourneur’s production company.

In 1923, Brown left Tourneur and began directing for Universal Pictures Corporation (1923-1925), until 1925 when he directed The Eagle (1925) starring Rudolph Valentino. In succession, Brown directed the stand-out films Kiki (1926) starring Norma Talmadge, Flesh and the Devil (1927) starring Greta Garbo, The Trail of ’98 (1928) starring Dolores Del Rio, and A Woman of Affairs (1928) starring Greta Garbo.

Brown continued to direct into the 1950s and earned six Academy Award nominations.

References: Website-IMDb.