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Clarence Brown

Clarence Brown led an impressive life. He was one of Hollywood’s most renowned directors with a career that spanned from 1920 through 1952. When he graduated from Knoxville High School at the age of fifteen, the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees gave him special permission to enroll with a double major in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. In 1920, at the age of 19, he graduated and began a career in the automobile industry. One day, he wandered into a penny arcade during his lunch hour, and his fascination with the technical aspects of filmmaking led him to the motion pictures.

Brown began his MGM career by directing one of the silver screen’s most fascinating females – Greta Garbo. He directed Miss Garbo’s first American film Flesh and the Devil with John Gilbert. Mr. Brown worked with some of the brightest stars of the golden age of Hollywood, including Clark Gable, Rudolf Valentino, Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Jimmy Stewart. Throughout it all, he remained Garbo’s favorite director. They worked on several films, including Anna Christie, perhaps Brown’s most celebrated motion picture.

Throughout the thirties and forties, Mr. Brown continued to be one of the most consistent and respected directors in Hollywood. Of the 52 films he directed, 38 of them received nominations and won eight Academy Awards. His daring 1949 film version of William Faulkner’s Intruder in the Dust won a British Academy Award. Clarence Brown was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director six times during the 1930’s.

Skilled in the mechanics of movie-making, Clarence Brown was also gifted in his direction of the great personalities of the screen, who in turn praised his warmth and sensitivity. He was a complete director.

The proudest moment of Clarence Brown’s life was on November 13, 1970: the dedication of the new Clarence Brown Theatre on the campus of his Alma Mater, the University of Tennessee. His vision was realized with the unveiling of the Clarence Brown Theatre for the Performing Arts and the subsequent formation of the Clarence Brown Professional Company in 1974.

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