Death Browning
Charles Albert "Death" Browning (born July 12, 1880 or 1882 in Louisville , Kentucky , † October 6, 1962 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American film director and actor . Although he shot in many film genres, he is mostly remembered for some contributions to horror films of the 1920s and 1930s.
Life
Death Browning came from a well-off family and was the nephew of baseball star Pete Browning (1861-1905). He had been interested in show business since childhood and ran away with a dancer at the circus when he was 16 . After that he worked at vaudeville theaters and sideshow shows , for example, as an announcer and assistant to the legendary show act Oofty Goofty . Browning even got buried alive in a show act or performed as a magician. Later he was temporarily employed as a clown at the Ringling Brothers Circus . When Browning was employed at a theater in New York, he met star director David Wark Griffith , who brought him to the film. As a comedian, Browning appeared in a few simple Nickelodeon short films filmed in the New York area. In 1913 Browning followed his sponsor Griffith to the film industry in Hollywood, where he appeared in many of his films.
In 1916, Browning was employed as assistant director to David Wark Griffith for his three-hour epic film Intolerance . Then he started his own productions as a director. Browning's first feature film, the drama Jim Bludso (1917) with Wilfred Lucas , was well received and quickly became a sought-after director. In 1919 Browning worked for the first time with actor Lon Chaney senior in the film The Wicked Darling . When Chaney became one of the most popular actors in Hollywood in the 1920s, primarily through his roles in horror films, he worked with Browning several times, for example on the classic silent film The Uncanny Three from 1925. The Uncanny Three was so successful that Chaney and Browning 1930, a sound film - remake made the film. In 1927 Browning filmed The Unknown with Chaney and the legendary Um Mitternacht , which is lost and much sought after to this day.
Browning made the transition to talkies at the end of the 1920s. One of his most famous films is Dracula , made in 1931 , the much-cited classic of the vampire film, which established Bela Lugosi as a Dracula actor. A high point of Browning's work was Freaks in 1932 , which was widely interpreted as a classic of horror films. Tod Browning was looking for disabled people and short actors to play the lead roles and for whom Browning wanted to arouse audience sympathy. The public reacted to freaks in shock, so the film was cut and censored. After the freaks scandal , the previously esteemed Browning found it difficult to get any more jobs. The 1935 Mark of the Vampire , also with Lugosi in the lead role, was a late work by Browning. In 1939, now almost 60 years old and wealthy, he retired from the active film business with the film Miracles for Sale .
In his second marriage, Browning was married to actress Alice Wilson from 1911 until her death in 1944. He died of cancer in 1962 at the age of 82.
Filmography
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Web links
- Tod Browning in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Biography on film-zeit.de
- Death Browning in the Notable Names Database (with year of birth 1882)
- Death Browning in the Encyclopaedia Britannica on britannica.com (born 1880)
literature
- Sarah Dellmann: Unruly Bodies. Body, cinema, language and subversion in Tod Browning's freaks and films with Lon Chaney . Schüren Verlag, 2009 excerpt (introduction)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Death Browning in the Encyclopaedia Britannica on britannica.com (born 1880)
- ↑ Death Browning in the Notable Names Database (with year of birth 1882)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Browning, death |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Browning, Charles Albert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American film director and actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 12, 1880 or July 12, 1882 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Louisville , Kentucky |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 6, 1962 |
| Place of death | Santa Monica , California |