Joe E. Brown (comedian)
Encyclopedia
Joseph Evans Brown was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his amiable screen persona, comic timing, and enormous smile. In 1902 at the age of nine, he joined a troupe of circus tumblers known as the Five Marvelous Ashtons which toured the country on both the circus and vaudeville circuits. Later he became a professional baseball player. After three seasons he returned to the circus, then went into Vaudeville
and finally starred on Broadway. He gradually added comedy into his act and transformed himself into a comedian. He moved to Broadway in the 1920s first appearing in the musical comedy Jim Jam Jems.
in order to pursue his career as an entertainer.
. He quickly shot to stardom after appearing in the first all-color all-talking musical comedy On with the Show
(1929). He starred in a number of lavish Technicolor
Warner Brothers musical comedies including: Sally (1929), Hold Everything
(1930), and Song of the West (1930),"Going Wild (1930)". By 1931, Joe E. Brown had become such a star that his name began to appear alone above the title of the movies in which he appeared.
He followed in Fireman, Save My Child (1932), a comedy in which he played a member of the St. Louis Cardinals
, with Elmer, the Great
(1933) with Patricia Ellis
and Claire Dodd
, and Alibi Ike
(1935) with Olivia de Havilland
, in both of which he portrayed ballplayers with the Chicago Cubs
.
In 1933 he starred in Son of a Sailor with Jean Muir
and Thelma Todd
. In 1934, Brown starred in A Very Honorable Guy with Alice White and Robert Barrat
, and in The Circus Clown
again with Patricia Ellis and with Dorothy Burgess
and with Maxine Doyle in Six-Day Bike Rider. Brown was one of the few vaudeville
comedians to appear in a Shakespeare film; he played Francis Flute
in the Max Reinhardt
/William Dieterle
film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1935), and was highly praised for his performance. He starred in Polo Joe (1936) with Carol Hughes
and Richard "Skeets" Gallagher
, and Sons O' Guns. In 1933 and 1936, he managed to become one of the top ten earners in films. He was sufficiently well known internationally by this point to be depicted in comic strips in the British comic Film Fun
for twenty years from 1933.
He left Warner Brothers to work for producer David L. Loew, starring in When's Your Birthday?
(1937). In 1938, he starred in The Gladiator, a loose film-adaptation of Philip Gordon Wylie
's 1930 novel Gladiator
, which influenced the creation of Superman
. He gradually switched to making "B" pictures.
In 1939, Brown testified before the House Immigration Committee in support of a bill that would allow 20,000 German
Jewish refugee children into the United States, and he later adopted two refugee children. In 1942 Brown's son, Captain Don E. Brown, was killed when his military plane crashed near Palm Springs
, California.
During World War II, he spent a great deal of time entertaining troops, spending many nights meeting personally with servicemen at the Hollywood Canteen
. He wrote of his experiences entertaining the troops in his book Your Kids and Mine.
He would bring mail sacks of letters back to the United States, making sure they were delivered by the Post Office Department more quickly, to parents of servicemen. He gave shows in all weather conditions, many in hospitals, even doing his entire show many times for a dying soldier. He would sign autographs for everyone. Brown was one of only two civilians to be awarded the Bronze Star in World War II.
for his work in the touring company of Harvey
.
He had a cameo appearance
in Around the World in 80 Days
(1956), as a stationmaster talking to Fogg (David Niven
) and his entourage in a small town in Nebraska
. In the similarly epic film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963), he cameoed as a union official giving a speech at a construction site in the climactic scene. He was the Mystery Guest on What's My Line?
during the January 11, 1953 edition.
His best known postwar role was in Some Like It Hot
(1959), the comedy directed by Billy Wilder
in which he played the aging millionaire, Osgood Fielding III. The character of Fielding falls for Daphne (Jerry), played by Jack Lemmon
in drag, and gets to say one of the most celebrated punchlines in film history. Another of his notable postwar roles was that of "Cap'n Andy Hawkes" in MGM's 1951 remake
of Show Boat
, a role that he reprised onstage in the 1961 New York City Center
revival of the musical, and on tour. The musical film version included such promiment costars as Ava Gardner
, Howard Keel
and Kathryn Grayson
. Brown performed several dance routines in the film, and famed choreographer Gower Champion
appeared along with first wife Marge
.
Brown was a sports enthusiast, both in film and personally. Some of his best films were the "baseball trilogy" which consisted of Fireman, Save My Child (1932), Elmer the Great (1933) and Alibi Ike
(1935). He was also a television and radio broadcaster for the New York Yankees
in 1953. His son, Joe L. Brown
, inherited an interest in baseball, becoming the general manager
of the Pittsburgh Pirates
for more than twenty years. Brown also spent Ty Cobb's
last days with him before he died, discussing his life.
Brown's sports enthusiasm also led to him becoming the first president of PONY Baseball and Softball
(at the time named Pony League) when the organization was incorporated in 1953. He continued in the post until late 1964 when he retired. Later traveled additional thousands of miles telling the story of PONY League hoping to interest adults in organizing baseball programs for young people. He was also a fan of Thoroughbred
horse racing
, a regular at Del Mar Racetrack
and the races at Santa Anita.
(1933), Mother Goose Goes Hollywood
(1938), and The Autograph Hound
(1939). All of them contain a scene in which he is seen laughing so loud that his mouth opens extremely wide.
He was impersonated by Daws Butler
for the title character of the Peter Potamus
cartoon.
His final film appearance was in The Comedy of Terrors
(1964). Weeks earlier he had appeared with Joan Blondell
and Buster Keaton
in an episode of Jack Palance
's ABC
circus
drama, The Greatest Show on Earth
.
Bowling Green State University
dedicated one of its three theaters to him (the one in which he appeared in Harvey in the 1950s) as The Joe E. Brown Theatre.
Joe E. Brown has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 1680 Vine Street.
, three weeks before his 82nd birthday. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and finally starred on Broadway. He gradually added comedy into his act and transformed himself into a comedian. He moved to Broadway in the 1920s first appearing in the musical comedy Jim Jam Jems.
Childhood
Joseph Evans Brown was born on July 28, 1891, in the small town of Holgate, Ohio, near Toledo. He spent most of his childhood in Toledo. He performed as a tumbler in vaudeville shots as a child. He was also skilled baseball player and turned down an opportunity to sign with the New York YankeesNew York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
in order to pursue his career as an entertainer.
Film career
In late 1928, Brown began making films, starting the next year with Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
. He quickly shot to stardom after appearing in the first all-color all-talking musical comedy On with the Show
On with the Show (1929 film)
On with the Show! is a 1929 American musical film released by Warner Bros. The film is noted as the first ever all-talking all-color feature length movie, and the second color movie released by Warner Bros.; the first was a partly color, black-and-white musical, The Desert Song . -Plot:With unpaid...
(1929). He starred in a number of lavish Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
Warner Brothers musical comedies including: Sally (1929), Hold Everything
Hold Everything (1930 film)
Hold Everything is a 1930 early all-talking film. It was the first musical comedy film to be released that was photographed entirely in early two-color Technicolor. It was adapted from the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson Broadway musical of the same name that had served as a vehicle for Bert Lahr and...
(1930), and Song of the West (1930),"Going Wild (1930)". By 1931, Joe E. Brown had become such a star that his name began to appear alone above the title of the movies in which he appeared.
He followed in Fireman, Save My Child (1932), a comedy in which he played a member of the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
, with Elmer, the Great
Elmer, the Great
Elmer, the Great is a 1933 drama directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis. Joe E. Brown plays Elmer Kane, a rookie ballplayer with the Chicago Cubs whose ego is matched only by his appetite. Because he is not only vain but naive, Elmer's teammates take great delight in...
(1933) with Patricia Ellis
Patricia Ellis
Patricia Ellis was an American film actress of the 1930s.Born Patricia Leftwich in Birmingham, Alabama, Ellis began her stage career after leaving school. Given a film test while appearing on stage in New York, she was put under contract by Warner Bros. In 1932 she had two small parts, both...
and Claire Dodd
Claire Dodd
Claire Dodd was an American film actress.Born as Dorothy Anne Dodd in Baxter, Iowa, Dodd was born to Walter W. Dodd, a farmer and veterinarian, and Ethel V. Cool Dodd, the daughter of Baxter Postmaster Peter J. Cool. As Dorothy Dodd, she attended school in Baxter...
, and Alibi Ike
Alibi Ike
Alibi Ike is a short story written by Ring Lardner and first published in the Saturday Evening Post on July 31, 1915. The story is about Frank X. Farrell, a baseball player who continually makes excuses for everything that goes wrong or right...
(1935) with Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
, in both of which he portrayed ballplayers with the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
.
In 1933 he starred in Son of a Sailor with Jean Muir
Jean Muir
Jean Elizabeth Muir, CBE, FCSD was an English fashion designer .-History and early career:...
and Thelma Todd
Thelma Todd
Thelma Alice Todd was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films like Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, a number of Charley Chase's short comedies, and co-starring with Buster Keaton and Jimmy...
. In 1934, Brown starred in A Very Honorable Guy with Alice White and Robert Barrat
Robert Barrat
Robert Harriot Barrat was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor.-Career:Born in New York, Barrat's theatrical debut was in a stock company in Springfield, Massachusetts...
, and in The Circus Clown
The Circus Clown
The Circus Clown is a 1934 comedy film about a man who wants to join the circus against the wishes of his ex-circus clown father. It starred Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis....
again with Patricia Ellis and with Dorothy Burgess
Dorothy Burgess
Dorothy Burgess was a stage and motion picture actress from Los Angeles, California.-Family, education:She was a niece of Fay Bainter. On her father's side she was related to George Montgomery of Montgomery and Stone. Her grandfather was Henry A. Burgess, Sr. He came to Los Angeles in 1893,...
and with Maxine Doyle in Six-Day Bike Rider. Brown was one of the few vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
comedians to appear in a Shakespeare film; he played Francis Flute
Francis Flute
Francis Flute is a character in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. His occupation is a bellows-mender. He is forced to play the female role of Thisbe in "Pyramus and Thisbe", a play within the play which is performed for Theseus' marriage celebration....
in the Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
/William Dieterle
William Dieterle
William Dieterle was a German actor and film director, who worked in Hollywood for much of his career. His best known films include The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Story of Louis Pasteur and The Hunchback of Notre Dame...
film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1935 film directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, produced by Henry Blanke and Hal Wallis, and adapted by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr...
(1935), and was highly praised for his performance. He starred in Polo Joe (1936) with Carol Hughes
Carol Hughes
Carol Hughes is a Canadian politician, who has represented the electoral district of Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing in the Canadian House of Commons since 2008. She is a member of the New Democratic Party....
and Richard "Skeets" Gallagher
Richard "Skeets" Gallagher
Richard "Skeets" Gallagher was an American actor.He was educated at Rose Polytechnic Institute and Indiana University. He first studied civil engineering and then to become a lawyer but ended up on the stage...
, and Sons O' Guns. In 1933 and 1936, he managed to become one of the top ten earners in films. He was sufficiently well known internationally by this point to be depicted in comic strips in the British comic Film Fun
Film Fun
Film Fun was a British comic book that ran from 17 January 1920 to 15 September 1962, when it merged with Buster, a total of 2225 issues. There were also annuals in the forties and fifties. It had been renamed Film Fun and Thrills in 1959...
for twenty years from 1933.
He left Warner Brothers to work for producer David L. Loew, starring in When's Your Birthday?
When's Your Birthday?
When's Your Birthday? American film directed by Harry Beaumont. While original prints of this film had a cartoon sequence in Technicolor directed by Bob Clampett and Leon Schlesinger, most prints have the sequence in black-and-white.- Plot summary :Dustin Willoughby When's Your Birthday? (1937)...
(1937). In 1938, he starred in The Gladiator, a loose film-adaptation of Philip Gordon Wylie
Philip Gordon Wylie
Philip Gordon Wylie was an American author.-Biography:Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, he was the son of Presbyterian minister Edmund Melville Wylie and the former Edna Edwards, a novelist, who died when Philip was five years old. His family moved to Montclair, New Jersey and he later attended...
's 1930 novel Gladiator
Gladiator (novel)
Gladiator is an American science fiction novel first published in 1930 and written by Philip Wylie. The story concerns a scientist who invents an "alkaline free-radical" serum to "improve" humankind by granting the proportionate strength of an ant and the leaping ability of the grasshopper...
, which influenced the creation of Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
. He gradually switched to making "B" pictures.
In 1939, Brown testified before the House Immigration Committee in support of a bill that would allow 20,000 German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
Jewish refugee children into the United States, and he later adopted two refugee children. In 1942 Brown's son, Captain Don E. Brown, was killed when his military plane crashed near Palm Springs
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
, California.
During World War II, he spent a great deal of time entertaining troops, spending many nights meeting personally with servicemen at the Hollywood Canteen
Hollywood Canteen
The Hollywood Canteen operated at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, California between October 3, 1942 and November 22, 1945 as a club offering food, dancing and entertainment for servicemen, usually on their way overseas...
. He wrote of his experiences entertaining the troops in his book Your Kids and Mine.
World War II
Joe E. Brown's own two sons were in the military service. He was too old to enlist. Likable and gregarious, Brown traveled many thousands of miles at his own expense to entertain the American troops in far sections of the globe during World War II.He would bring mail sacks of letters back to the United States, making sure they were delivered by the Post Office Department more quickly, to parents of servicemen. He gave shows in all weather conditions, many in hospitals, even doing his entire show many times for a dying soldier. He would sign autographs for everyone. Brown was one of only two civilians to be awarded the Bronze Star in World War II.
Postwar work
In 1948, he was awarded a Special Tony AwardTony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for his work in the touring company of Harvey
Harvey (play)
Harvey is a 1944 play by American playwright Mary Chase. Produced by Brock Pemberton and directed by Antoinette Perry, the play premiered on 1 November 1944 at the 48th Street Theatre on Broadway where it was staged for 1,775 performances before closing on January 15, 1949. The original production...
.
He had a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in Around the World in 80 Days
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)
Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. It was produced by Michael Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James...
(1956), as a stationmaster talking to Fogg (David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
) and his entourage in a small town in Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
. In the similarly epic film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
(1963), he cameoed as a union official giving a speech at a construction site in the climactic scene. He was the Mystery Guest on What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
during the January 11, 1953 edition.
His best known postwar role was in Some Like It Hot
Some Like It Hot
Some Like It Hot is an American comedy film, made in 1958 and released in 1959, which was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and George Raft. The supporting cast includes Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien and Nehemiah Persoff. The film is a remake by Wilder and I....
(1959), the comedy directed by Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
in which he played the aging millionaire, Osgood Fielding III. The character of Fielding falls for Daphne (Jerry), played by Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
in drag, and gets to say one of the most celebrated punchlines in film history. Another of his notable postwar roles was that of "Cap'n Andy Hawkes" in MGM's 1951 remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
, a role that he reprised onstage in the 1961 New York City Center
New York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
revival of the musical, and on tour. The musical film version included such promiment costars as Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
, Howard Keel
Howard Keel
Harold Clifford Keel , known professionally as Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer. He starred in many film musicals of the 1950s...
and Kathryn Grayson
Kathryn Grayson
Kathryn Grayson was an American actress and operatic soprano singer.From the age of twelve, Grayson trained as an opera singer. She was under contract to MGM by the early 1940s, soon establishing a career principally through her work in musicals...
. Brown performed several dance routines in the film, and famed choreographer Gower Champion
Gower Champion
Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.-Early years:Champion was born in Geneva, Illinois, the son of John W. Champion and Beatrice Carlisle. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from Fairfax High School...
appeared along with first wife Marge
Marge Champion
Marge Champion is an American dancer, choreographer, and pedagogue. In addition, she also worked in film and appeared in a number of television variety shows.-Early years:...
.
Brown was a sports enthusiast, both in film and personally. Some of his best films were the "baseball trilogy" which consisted of Fireman, Save My Child (1932), Elmer the Great (1933) and Alibi Ike
Alibi Ike
Alibi Ike is a short story written by Ring Lardner and first published in the Saturday Evening Post on July 31, 1915. The story is about Frank X. Farrell, a baseball player who continually makes excuses for everything that goes wrong or right...
(1935). He was also a television and radio broadcaster for the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
in 1953. His son, Joe L. Brown
Joe L. Brown
Joe L. Brown was an American front office executive in Major League Baseball.-Biography:Brown served as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from November 1, 1955, through the end of the 1976 season...
, inherited an interest in baseball, becoming the general manager
General manager (baseball)
In Major League Baseball, the general manager of a team typically controls player transactions and bears the primary responsibility on behalf of the ballclub during contract discussions with players....
of the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
for more than twenty years. Brown also spent Ty Cobb's
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
last days with him before he died, discussing his life.
Brown's sports enthusiasm also led to him becoming the first president of PONY Baseball and Softball
PONY Baseball and Softball
PONY Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization with headquarters in Washington, Pennsylvania. Started in 1951, it is dedicated to helping young people grow into healthier and happier adults, primarily through the organization of baseball and softball leagues...
(at the time named Pony League) when the organization was incorporated in 1953. He continued in the post until late 1964 when he retired. Later traveled additional thousands of miles telling the story of PONY League hoping to interest adults in organizing baseball programs for young people. He was also a fan of Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
, a regular at Del Mar Racetrack
Del Mar Racetrack
Del Mar Racetrack is an American Thoroughbred horse racing track at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in the seaside city of Del Mar, California, 20 miles north of San Diego. Operated by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, it is known for the slogan: "Where The Turf Meets The Surf." It was built by a partnership...
and the races at Santa Anita.
In popular culture
He was caricatured in the Disney cartoons Mickey's Gala PremiereMickey's Gala Premiere
Mickey's Gala Premier is a Walt Disney cartoon produced in 1933, directed by Burt Gillett. It features several famous Hollywood film actors from the 1930s.Some sources claim this cartoon is called "Mickey's Gala Premiere"...
(1933), Mother Goose Goes Hollywood
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood is an 1938 Walt Disney animated short featuring parodies of Mother Goose nursery rhymes and caricatures of Hollywood celebrities from the 1930s. It is the 73rd of the series....
(1938), and The Autograph Hound
The Autograph Hound
The Autograph Hound is a 1939 American Donald Duck cartoon which features Donald Duck as an autograph hunter in Hollywood. Many celebrities from the 1930s are featured. This is the first cartoon where Donald Duck is featured in his blue sailor hat....
(1939). All of them contain a scene in which he is seen laughing so loud that his mouth opens extremely wide.
He was impersonated by Daws Butler
Daws Butler
Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
for the title character of the Peter Potamus
Peter Potamus
Peter Potamus is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera and first broadcast on September 16, 1964. -Premise:Peter Potamus was a syndicated series divided into three segments; one of Peter Potamus and So-So, one of...
cartoon.
Later life, family, and legacy
He had four children: two sons, Don Evan (December 25, 1916 – October 8, 1942, Captain United States Army Air Force, killed during pilot training) and Joe LeRoy (September 1, 1918 – August 16, 2010), and two daughters, Mary Katherine Ann (b. 1930) and Kathryn Francis (b. 1934). Both daughters were adopted as infants.His final film appearance was in The Comedy of Terrors
The Comedy of Terrors
The Comedy of Terrors is an American International Pictures comedy horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, and Joe E. Brown . The film also features Orangey the cat, billed as "Rhubarb the Cat"...
(1964). Weeks earlier he had appeared with Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
and Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
in an episode of Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
's ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
drama, The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth (TV series)
The Greatest Show on Earth is an American drama series starring Jack Palance about the American circus, which aired on ABC from September 17, 1963, to April 28, 1964...
.
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University, often referred to as Bowling Green or BGSU, is a public, coeducational research university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry Bill, which also established Kent State...
dedicated one of its three theaters to him (the one in which he appeared in Harvey in the 1950s) as The Joe E. Brown Theatre.
Joe E. Brown has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 1680 Vine Street.
Selected filmography
- The Circus KidThe Circus KidThe Circus Kid is a 1928 silent drama film directed by George B. Seitz. Although it was a silent film, it contained some talking sequences, synchronized music and sound effects.-Cast:* Frankie Darro as Buddy* Poodles Hanneford as Poodles* Joe E...
(1928) - The Circus ClownThe Circus ClownThe Circus Clown is a 1934 comedy film about a man who wants to join the circus against the wishes of his ex-circus clown father. It starred Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis....
(1934) - Earthworm TractorsEarthworm TractorsEarthworm Tractors is a 1936 American film directed by Ray Enright.The film is also known as A Natural Born Salesman in the United Kingdom.- Plot summary :...
(1936) - When's Your Birthday?When's Your Birthday?When's Your Birthday? American film directed by Harry Beaumont. While original prints of this film had a cartoon sequence in Technicolor directed by Bob Clampett and Leon Schlesinger, most prints have the sequence in black-and-white.- Plot summary :Dustin Willoughby When's Your Birthday? (1937)...
(1937) - Fit for a KingFit for a King- Cast :*Joe E. Brown as Virgil Ambrose Jeremiah Christopher 'Scoop' Jones*Helen Mack as Jane Hamilton / Princess Helen*Paul Kelly as Briggs*Harry Davenport as Archduke Julio*Halliwell Hobbes as Count Strunsky*John Qualen as Otto*Donald Briggs as Prince Michael...
(1937) - Casanova in Burlesque (1944)
- Some Like It HotSome Like It HotSome Like It Hot is an American comedy film, made in 1958 and released in 1959, which was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and George Raft. The supporting cast includes Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien and Nehemiah Persoff. The film is a remake by Wilder and I....
(1959) - It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
Death
Brown died of a stroke in 1973 in Brentwood, Los Angeles, CaliforniaBrentwood, Los Angeles, California
Brentwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California, United States. The district is located at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city limits on the southwest, the border of Topanga State...
, three weeks before his 82nd birthday. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.