John Brown
John Brown was born on the 4th April 1904 in Hull, a town in the county of Yorkshire in the north of England. Having moved to America his career in radio spanned the 1940’s and early 50’s and he is probably most famous for his role as Broadway in the Damon Runyon Theater.
John Brown starred as Broadway, the narrator of Damon Runyon’s dramatic stories of old Manhattan New York and the gangster life in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The stories could be tragic, and often quite sad as you become moved by the strength of the characters. Broadway was a sensitive guy who knew the streets of New York better than any cab driver. A man who brought to life the thugs and touts of Runyon’s world of guys and dolls and in so doing revealed the innermost feelings of these toughies of the underworld.
At the time of being asked to play the role of Broadway Brown was already playing a similar character in the situation comedy My Friend Irma in the role of Irma’s small scale hustler boyfriend with no prospects or hope of a job who greeted her affectionately “Hi-ya chicken”.
John Brown’s warm and natural comedy talent led him into many roles in situation comedies but his other most renowned roles are in the situation comedy The Life of Riley. In this situation comedy Brown was cast as Digby “Digger” O’Dell the friendly undertaker and also as Riley’s co-worker, best friend and neighbor Gillis. No two characters could be further apart and John Brown played them both with great professional talent.
Along with his roles on The Life of Riley radio show, he also appeared in the first Riley TV show in 1949 which starred Jackie Gleason as Riley and only lasted for 26-episodes. He then appeared in the feature film version of Riley that same year, which starred William Bendix as Riley. He was then conspicuously missing from the long-running 1953-1958 Riley TV show, which starred the radio (and the best) Riley, William Bendix. He only portrayed “Digger” O’Dell in the TV and film versions, while other actors portrayed the screen versions of “Jim Gillis”.
For information on other film and TV roles click on the link. Below I have listed in chronological order John Brown's radio appearances.
1937-1955 Lorenzo Jones comedy soap opera in which John Brown played the part of Jim Barker, owner of the garage where Lorenzo worked as a car mechanic.
1939 Arch Oboler's Plays Nero's Wife was a comedy in which Brown played the lead role aired on 10th June 1939.
1941 Columbia Presents Corwin
1942 Tillie The Toiler comedy in which Brown played Tillie Jones’s boss.
1942-1955 The Whistler He was considered one of the “Whistler’s children” on account of his frequent appearances on this crime melodrama .
1943 The Busy Mr Bingle from March 18th through June 10th he played the lead role in this situation comedy. J.B. Bingle was the head of the Bingle Pin Company who kept busy getting the firm in to and out of trouble.
1943-1944 Fred Allen Show (Texaco Star Theater) John Brown appeared as a character called John Doe.
1944-1954 Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet as "Thorny" Thornberry the next door neighbor of Ozzie and Harriett Nelson.
1944 The Charlotte Greenwood Show from June 13th through September 5th he appeared in this situation comedy that was the sponsors Pepsodent’s summer substitute for the Bob Hope Show.
1944 A Date With Judy – teenage situation comedy in which John Brown starred as Mr Foster from 1944 until 1950
1944-1951 The Life of Riley - Digby “Digger” O’Dell the friendly undertaker and also as Riley’s co-worker, best friend and neighbor Gillis.
1945 The Gay Mrs Featherstone situation comedy.
1945-1951 The Saint - John Brown was a regular supporting player in this detective drama based on the novels by Leslie Charteris.
1945-1953 Beulah frequently featured in the supporting cast of this situation comedy.
1946 Mercury Summer Theater - support cast
1946-1951 A Day In The Life of Dennis Day – situation comedy in which John Brown played the part of Mr Willoughby, owner of a store where Dennis worked.
1947 Twelve Players John Brown replaced Charlie Lung in this dramatic anthology.
1948 The Damon Runyon Theater 52 episodes were transcribed and aired from January 1949 and went on to be aired into the mid 50’s.
1948-1951 My Friend Irma as Al, Irma’s easygoing hustler boyfriend.
1952-1953 December Bride – situation comedy.
Apparently he was blacklisted during the McCarthy Communist witch-hunt and was thought to be involved in the Red Channels controversy. Along with many other Hollywood personalities, his career was thus damaged and he sadly died on 16th May 1957 at the age of 53 of a massive heart attack. His final home was in West Hollywood, California.
Happy listening my friends,