
Acting
Phil Brown
Born 1916-04-30 · Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Philip Mortimer Brown was an American actor and director. After majoring in dramatics at Stanford University where he was a Brother of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, Brown played some of his earliest stage roles as part of New York's Group Theater. When it folded, he and other Group Theatre veterans headed to Hollywood, where Brown worked in motion pictures and helped found the fabled Actors' Laboratory. In 1946, he played Ernest Hemingway's famous protagonist Nick Adams in Robert Siodmak's version of The Killers, alongside William Conrad and Charles McGraw as the titular "killers". His association with the Lab came back to haunt him later in the decade, when its members fell under the scrutiny of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Although he was not a communist, Brown was blacklisted in 1952, and was eventually compelled to relocate with his family to England between 1953 and 1993. Overseas he was able to resume acting on stage, TV and films; he also directed for the stage and TV. He was best known for his role as Luke Skywalker's uncle, Owen Lars, in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977). He returned to the United States in the 1990s and in later years made the rounds of autograph shows. Phil Brown died of pneumonia on February 9, 2006 at the age of 89.
Acting credits
8.2Princess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo team together with the loveable robot duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess and restore peace and justice in the Empire.
Star Wars
1977
7.2Mild-mannered Clark Kent works as a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside his crush, Lois Lane. Clark must summon his superhero alter-ego when the nefarious Lex Luthor launches a plan to take over the world.
Superman
1978
7.4An aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent personal life and his run-ins with the FBI.
Chaplin
1992
6.9Charles Dreyfus, who has finally cracked over inspector Clouseau's antics, escapes from a mental institution and launches an elaborate plan to get rid of Clouseau once and for all.
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
1976
7.4Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.
The Killers
1946
7.0During a routine patrol, a reporter is given permission to interview a hardened cold-war warrior and captain of the American destroyer USS Bedford. The reporter gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his crew to breaking point.
The Bedford Incident
1965
7.8Biography of Arthur Harris (aka "Bomber Harris") of RAF Bomber Command, during WW2 - in particular his strategy of heavy bomber "Millenium Raids" on German cities.
Bomber Harris
1989
6.5A renegade USAF general, Lawrence Dell, escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo near Montana and threatens to provoke World War 3 unless the President reveals details of a secret meeting held just after the start of the Vietnam War between Dell and the then President's most trusted advisors.
Twilight's Last Gleaming
1977
6.0The career of Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones, from his youth in Scotland through his service to Catherine the Great of Russia.
John Paul Jones
1959
8.5Rivals Bill Arden and Paul Herbert enter the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in order to impress a girl.
Hello, Annapolis
1942
5.4A marriage crisis between a writer and his wife leads her to flee to Germany and eventually return with another man, through whom the writer is going to overcome his writer's block.
The Romantic Englishwoman
1975
6.3Old Mexican-American sheriff Bob Valdez has always been a haven of sanity in a land of madmen when it came to defending law and order. But the weapon smuggler Frank Tanner is greedy and impulsive. When Tanner provokes a shooting that causes the death of an innocent man and Valdez asks him to financially compensate the widow, Tanner refuses to do so and severely humiliates Valdez, who will do justice and avenge his honor, no matter what it takes.
Valdez Is Coming
1971
6.7A recently-deposed "Estrovian" monarch seeks shelter in New York City, where he becomes an accidental television celebrity. Later, he's wrongly accused of being a Communist and gets caught up in subsequent HUAC hearings.
A King in New York
1957
6.4Blacklisted in modern day WW2, a Swedish oil trader opts to assist British Allies, by means of infiltrating and surveying Nazi Germany.
The Counterfeit Traitor
1962
6.6During their annual visit to the Iowa State Fair, the Frake family enjoy many adventures. Proud patriarch Abel has high hopes for his champion swine Blueboy; and his wife Melissa enters the mincemeat and pickles contest...with hilarious results.
State Fair
1945
5.6An American pilot escapes from a POW camp and links up with Yugoslav partisans. He’s about to head back to Allied lines when he learns that the Partisans are plotting to assassinate the camp commander. He joins in the plot, aiming for revenge.
Bomb at 10:10
1967
5.6Once again Paula the ape woman is brought back to life, this time by a mad doctor and his disfigured assistant, who also kidnaps a nurse in order to have a female blood donor.
The Jungle Captive
1945
6.7Set in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II, the film focuses on the brutality and horror that the allied prisoners were exposed to as the Japanese metered out subjugation and punishment to a disgraced and defeated enemy. This harrowing drama concentrates on the deviations of legal and moral definitions when two opposing cultures clash. Although fictional, this was one of the earliest films to deal realistically with life and death in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during the Second War.
The Camp on Blood Island
1958
6.3Stigmatized from infancy by the fate of his criminal father, a man is bruised and bullied until one night, in a fit of rage, he kills his most persistent tormentor. As the police close in around him, he makes a desperate bid for the love of the dead man’s girlfriend, a schoolteacher who sees the wounded soul behind his aggression.
Moonrise
1948
5.6Told in flashback, this drama follows the training and personal lives of three recruits in the Army Air Corps: a wealthy playboy, a college jock, and an auto mechanic. Love interest is supplied by a female photographer and a sultry blonde.
I Wanted Wings
1941
7.1A middle-aged businessman who has lived a conservative life according to the routine conventions of society, still remembers the beautiful young woman who once brought him out of his shell.
H.M. Pulham, Esq.
1941
6.8A British psychiatrist devises a devilish revenge plot against his wife's lover.
Obsession
1949
6.1Following American reporter Stephen Fitzgerald from Ireland to New York, a grateful leprechaun acts as the newsman's servant and conscience.
The Luck of the Irish
1948
6.3When an employee at an illegal gambling den dies suspiciously, her sister, Nancy, looks into the situation and falls for Johnny O'Clock, a suave partner in the underground casino. Selfish and non-committal by nature, Johnny slowly begins to return Nancy's affection and decides to run away with her, but conflict within his business threatens their plans. As Johnny tries to distance himself from the casino, his shady past comes back to haunt him.
Johnny O'Clock
1947