Russ Brown

Russell Brown (May 30, 1892 – October 19, 1964) was an American actor of stage, television, and screen. He also had a career as a journalist, working for several newspapers in the city of Philadelphia. On stage, he is a best known for his Tony Award-winning role of Benny Van Buren in the 1955 Broadway musical Damn Yankees; a role he also reprised on film in 1958. Other highlights of his work in film were his portrayal of Captain Brackett in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1958 movie version of the 1949 Broadway musical South Pacific, and as park caretaker George Lemon in the classic courtroom drama, Anatomy of a Murder (1959). On television he portrayed the recurring character of Thomas Jones, the father of the title character, in the legal drama The Law and Mr. Jones from 1960–1962. Early life and career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Russ Brown grew up in South Philadelphia. In his youth he sang as a boy soprano in his church's choir. He made his Broadway debut as a member of the chorus in the original production of The Firefly in 1912-1913. After this he toured the United States and Canada performing in vaudeville; getting stranded twice on tour, once in Fall River and once in Toronto. Brown returned to Philadelphia where he worked as a reporter for several Philadelphia newspapers. Eventually he returned to the stage performing in vaudeville in an act with Bert Wheeler. He married the actress Gertrude Whitaker during World War I, and the two performed in a vaudeville act together entitled Brown and Whitaker. Their marriage eventually ended in divorce. Broadway Brown's first leading role on Broadway was as Jimmy Ridgeway in Lewis E. Gensler's 1928 musical Ups-a Daisy. This was followed by the role of Sport in the 1930 musical Flying High in which he had particular success performing in the duet "Good for you–Bad for me". He next starred on Broadway in two plays: Robert Carlyle in One Good Year (1935) and Pat Dunn in Louis Pelletier and Robert Sloane's Howdy Stranger (1937). In 1940-1941 he starred as Dinky in the Yip Harburg and Burton Lane musical Hold On to Your Hats; a character reutilized by the musical book's writing team, Guy Bolton and Eddie Davis, in several of their later musicals.