Phil Brown
Known For
Acting
Born
1916-04-30 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Died
2006-02-09
Biography
Philip Brown was an American actor. Brown was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 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.
Most Known For
Star Wars
as Uncle Owen
Tales of the Unexpected
as F. Milton Willis
The Professionals
as Callahan
Superman
as State Senator
Interpol Calling
as Brownley
The Protectors
as Adam Markos
Journey to the Unknown
Chaplin
as Projectionist
The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
as Frank Rawlinson
Colonel March of Scotland Yard
as Dr. Bryan Hayes
Colonel March of Scotland Yard
as Gordon
The Fortunate Pilgrim
as O
The Martian Chronicles
as Narrator
Starwoids
as Self
Hello, Annapolis
as Kansas City
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
as Virginia Senator
The Killers
as Nick Adams (uncredited)
Oppenheimer
as Lewis Strauss
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
Twilight's Last Gleaming
as Rev. Cartwright