Roscoe Lee Browne (May 2, 1922Browne's year of birth was cited as 1925 through much of his career and at the time of his death. Since then evidence has emerged that he was actually born three years earlier, the most notable of which would be the Social Security Death Index:Roscoe Lee Browne [Roscoe L Browne]Gender: MaleRace: BlackBirth Date: 2 May 1922Birth Place: Woodbury, New JerseyFather Name: Sylvanus BrowneMother Name: Louie [sic] L UsherDeath Date: 11 Apr 2007Type of Claim: Original SSN.Notes: Jul 1940: Name listed as ROSCOE LEE BROWNE; 21 Apr 2007: Name listed as ROSCOE L BROWNESource Information: Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index. Other websites and census data also confirm 1922, as well as a YouTube video in which the actor gives 1922 as his year of birth. However, obituaries in the New York Times, The Guardian and the Los Angeles Times, as well as his profile at IBDb, cite 1925. – April 11, 2007) was an American actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his many guest appearances on TV series from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as movies like The Cowboys (1972) with John Wayne, and The World's Greatest Athlete (1973) with John Amos and Jan-Michael Vincent, but his biggest roles were as narrator in Babe and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties, which grossed $400 million combined.
He resisted playing stereotypically black roles, instead performing in several productions with New York City's Shakespeare Festival Theater, Leland Hayward's satirical NBC series That Was the Week That Was, and a poetry performance tour of the United States in addition to his work in television and film. He was the recipient of a Primetime Emmy and a NAACP Image Award, and was nominated for a Tony Award.
Early life and education Born in Woodbury, New Jersey, Browne was the fourth son of Baptist minister Sylvanus S. Browne and his wife, Lovie Lee (Usher). He graduated from Woodbury Junior-Senior High School in 1939.Nash, Margo. "Jersey Footlights", The New York Times, November 14, 2004. Accessed September 6, 2009. "Roscoe Lee Browne has acted in many movies, from Cool Hand Luke to The Matrix.... And, by the way, he 'made a good shepherd' in the French class play at Woodbury High School, according to the Woodbury High yearbook in 1939, the year Mr. Brown graduated." Browne attended historically black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he was an All-American for the Lincoln Lions track and field team. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1946, his college career being interrupted by his wartime service.
During World War II, Browne served in Italy with the United States Army's 92nd Infantry Division and organized the Division's track and field team. After the war, he undertook postgraduate work under the GI Bill at Middlebury College, Columbia University, and the University of Florence. A middle-distance runner, he won two Amateur Athletic Union 1,000-yard national indoor championships.Roscoe Lee Browne, Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
He occasionally returned to Lincoln University between 1946–52 to teach English, French, and comparative literature. Upon leaving academia, he earned a living for several years selling wine for Schenley Import Corporation. In 1956, he left his job with Schenley to become a full-time professional actor.
In 1950 and 1951 he toured Europe (as a half-miler) with a USA Track and Field team.Meet Results found on newspaper.com Retrieved Oct 20, 2021
Career Acting Browne was determined not to accept the stereotypical roles routinely offered to African-American actors. He also wanted to do more than act and narrate. Despite the apprehensions of his friends, in the summer of 1956, Browne managed to land the roles of The Soothsayer and Pindarus in Julius Caesar, and one of Petruchio's servants in The Taming of the Shrew directed by Stuart Vaughan and produced by Joseph Papp for New York City's first Shakespeare in the Park. More work with the NY Shakespeare Festival Theater followed.
Browne then voiced an offscreen part as camera operator J.J. Burden in The Connection (1961), his first movie role.
His stage success brought him to the attention of producer Leland Hayward, and in 1964 he began a regular stint as a cast member on Hayward's satirical NBC-TV series That Was the Week That Was.
In 1966, he wrote and made his directorial stage debut with A Hand Is On The Gate, starring Cicely Tyson, James Earl Jones, and Moses Gunn. A lifelong bachelor who coveted his privacy in the turbulent decades of the civil rights revolution, Browne avoided participation in public protests, preferring instead to be "more effective on stage with metaphor... than in the streets with an editorial".Quincy Troupe. “Roscoe Lee Browne” profile, Essence (December 1976), p. 92, at blackpast.org.
Starting in the late 1960s, Browne was a frequent guest star on TV in both comedy and dramatic shows such as Mannix, All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, Sanford and Son, A Different World and dozens of others.
In The Cowboys (1972), in a role as a camp cook, he led a group of young cowhands avenging the death of John Wayne's character in the movie.
Browne was much in demand for narration and voice-over parts in film and on commercial sound recordings. In 1977, Browne narrated a record album, The Story of Star Wars, which presented an abridged version of the events depicted in the first released film using the dialogue and sound effects. The recording was produced by George Lucas and Alan Livingston.The Story of Star Wars (Complete) Disney Audio Archive. YouTube. November 15, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2016.It's Time To Listen To The Story Of Star Wars...On 8-Track Tape! Retroist. April 27, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2016.Vinyl Movies... In Space Age Stereo! Space:1970. March 19, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2016.Roscoe Lee Browne – The Story Of Star Wars, audiophileusa.com. Retrieved March 3, 2016.STAR WARS Week: Happy Star Wars Day!, Sound Beat.org. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
In 1980, he guest-starred in an episode of Benson with Robert Guillaume. Later that year, he joined the regular cast of Benson'''s parent show Soap where he played Saunders, the erudite butler who replaces Benson. Browne also appeared as Professor Foster on The Cosby Show in 1986, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
He and fellow actor Anthony Zerbe toured the United States with their poetry performance piece Behind the Broken Words. It included readings of poetry, some of it written by Browne, as well as performances of comedy and dramatic works.Roscoe Lee Browne, lortel.org. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
Browne found additional success performing in the plays of August Wilson, both on Broadway and at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. He was described as having "a baritone voice like a sable coat", speaking with a strong mid-Atlantic accent. To someone who once said he sounded "too white", Browne replied, "I'm sorry, I once had a white maid." Four years before his death, Browne narrated a series of WPA slave narratives in the HBO film, Unchained Memories (2003).Jet Magazine profile. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
Directing Browne's directorial credits include a piece called An Evening of Negro Poetry and Folk Music at the Delacorte Theatre and the Public Theatre in New York City in 1966. It was also produced as A Hand Is on the Gate at the Longacre Theatre in New York City in 1966. The production was revived at the Afro-American Studio in New York City, running from 1976 to 1977.
Birth year
Some year-of-birth records, including the Social Security Death Index, state that Browne was born on May 2, 1922, while other sources claim that he was born three years later, on May 2, 1925. Those sources include The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Variety, the Associated Press"Actor Roscoe Lee Browne dies at 81" The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 12, 2016. and several others,Roscoe Lee Browne obituary The Guardian. Retrieved February 12, 2016. including a Congressional Resolution.Congress of the United States. U.S. House of Representatives. Washington D.C. In Memoriam Roscoe Lee Browne Scholarship Fund website. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
In an interview with Camille Cosby for the National Visionary Leadership Project (NVLP), Browne confirmed that he was born in 1922.Roscoe Lee Browne profile visionaryproject.org. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
Death Browne died of stomach cancer at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on the morning of April 11, 2007, aged 84. He never married and had no children.Roscoe L. Browne: Death Record from the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) – GenealogyBank
Awards and recognition
Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award – Best Actor Award, for his performance as "Makak" in Derek Walcott's The Dream on Monkey Mountain, 19701969 – 1979 Awards LA Drama Critics Circle. 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016 Bronze Wrangler, the Western Heritage Award – a shared award with the production, for Theatrical Motion Picture, for "The Cowboys," a Warner Brothers film, 1972Past Western Heritage Award Winners. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016. Primetime Emmy Award nomination – Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Series, for ABC's Barney Miller: The Escape Artist, 1976Roscoe Lee Browne. Awards and Nominations Television Academy. Retrieved February 23, 2016. Inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, 1977Inductees. Roscoe Lee Browne Image 80 of 295. Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 23, 2016. Primetime Emmy Award – Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series, for The Cosby Show: The Card Game, 1986 NAACP Image Award – Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, for The Cosby Show, 1986
Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award – Best Actor Award, for his performance as "Bynum Walker" in August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone, 19891980–1989 Awards, LA Drama Critics Circle. 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016. Soap Opera Digest Award nomination – Outstanding Villain: Prime Time, for Falcon Crest, 1989 Tony Award nomination – Best Featured Actor in a Play, for his performance as "Holloway" in August Wilson's Two Trains Running, directed by Lloyd Richards, 1992Two Trains Running Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. 2001– 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016.Roscoe Lee Browne. Director, Performer. Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. 2001– 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016. Helen Hayes Award – Outstanding Supporting Performer, Non-Resident Production, for Two Trains Running, 1992HHA Nominees & Recipients, theatrewashington.org. Retrieved March 1, 2016. Daytime Emmy Award nomination – Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, for his performance as "The Kingpin" in Spider-Man, 1995 Inducted posthumously into the American Theater Hall of Fame, 2008Theater Hall of Fame, americantheatrecritics.org. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
Filmography
Film