A gifted athlete, he first achieved notoriety as an All-American running back for the University of Alabama for his efforts in a stunning upset of the heavily favored University of Washington Huskies in the Rose Bowl. The subsequent media attention brought the notice of Hollywood legendary director and producer King Vidor, and Brown went on to a successful career as an actor in film and television.
It features screenings, lectures, live entertaiment, arts and crafts, and food. Brown was born on September 1, , in Dothan to Ed and Mattie Brown, shopkeepers who had seven other children. Brown was a star football player at his high school, and his athletic abilities earned him both the nickname "the Dothan Antelope" and a football scholarship to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa βone of five Brown brothers recruited.
He played first under popular coach Xen Scott, but his potential reached its fullest under Coach Wallace Wade. Brown led the team to the Division 1-A championships and earned a spot on the Wheaties cereal box.
In addition to his athletic endeavors, Brown participated in drama club events and courted and married his college sweetheart, Cornelia Foster, the daughter of a prominent judge, with whom he would have four children. Johnny Mack Brown Movie Poster Although the precise sequence and timing of the events leading up to his shift to Hollywood remain disputed, Brown won a Hollywood screen test and by began appearing in his first films. He started out in light comedies, including Slide, Kelly, Slide!
In the mids, Brown began appearing in Westerns and settled into the cowboy role nicely. Not least because of his appearance in the title role of Billy the Kid βa role for which he was widely praisedβhe was awarded long-term contracts with a number of studios, including Supreme, Republic, and Universal. In , he began a decade-long run as a cast member in the radio show Under Western Skies. Three years later, he became a contract player for Monogram Pictures, which would serve as his professional home until and with whom he would make 66 films.
