Phil Brown

Biography

Philip Brown was an American actor. Brown was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After majoring in dramatics at Stanford University where he was a Brother of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, Brown played some of his earliest stage roles as part of New York's Group Theater. When it folded, he and other Group Theatre veterans headed to Hollywood, where Brown worked in motion pictures and helped found the fabled Actors' Laboratory. In 1946, he played Ernest Hemingway's famous protagonist Nick Adams in Robert Siodmak's version of The Killers, alongside William Conrad and Charles McGraw as the titular "killers". His association with the Lab came back to haunt him later in the decade, when its members fell under the scrutiny of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Although he was not a communist, Brown was blacklisted in 1952, and was eventually compelled to relocate with his family to England between 1953 and 1993. Overseas he was able to resume acting on stage, TV and films; he also directed for the stage and TV. He was best known for his role as Luke Skywalker's uncle, Owen Lars, in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977). He returned to the United States in the 1990s and in later years made the rounds of autograph shows. Phil Brown died of pneumonia on February 9, 2006 at the age of 89.

Known For

Tales of the Unexpected

Star Wars

The Professionals

Superman

The Protectors

Interpol Calling

The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel

Journey to the Unknown

All Movies (42)

• Starwoids2001 · as Self
• Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming1999 · as Council Elder
• Chaplin1992 · as Projectionist
• Bomber Harris1989 · as Lord Beaverbrook
• Superman1978 · as State Senator
• Maneaters Are Loose!1978 · as Kevin Pennington
• Star Wars1977 · as Uncle Owen
• Twilight's Last Gleaming1977 · as Rev. Cartwright
• The Pink Panther Strikes Again1976 · as Virginia Senator
• The Romantic Englishwoman1975 · as Mr. Wilson
• Scalawag1973 · as Sandy
• Ooh...You Are Awful1972 · as American Man
• The Gangster Show: The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui1972 · as Clark
• The Curse of a Faithful Wife1972
• Valdez Is Coming1971 · as Malson
• Togetherness1970 · as Everett
• Tropic of Cancer1970 · as Van Norden
• The Adding Machine1969 · as Don
• Land Raiders1969 · as Sheriff John Mayfield
• Operation Cross Eagles1968 · as Sgt. Turley
• Bomb at 10:101967 · as Professor Pilich / Profesor Pilić
• The Bedford Incident1965 · as Chief Hospitalman Mckinley - Sick Bay
• The Counterfeit Traitor1962 · as Harold Murray (uncredited)
• John Paul Jones1959 · as Sentry
• The Camp on Blood Island1958 · as Lt. Peter Bellamy
• A King in New York1957 · as Headmaster
• Obsession1949 · as Bill Kronin
• Moonrise1948 · as Elmer - Soda Jerk
• The Luck of the Irish1948 · as Tom Higginbotham
• If You Knew Susie1948 · as Joe Collins
• Johnny O'Clock1947 · as Phil, Hotel Clerk
• The Killers1946 · as Nick Adams (uncredited)
• State Fair1945 · as Harry Ware
• Over 211945 · as Frank MacDougal
• The Jungle Captive1945 · as Don Young
• The Impatient Years1944 · as Henry Fairchild
• Weird Woman1944 · as David Jennings
• Calling Dr. Gillespie1942 · as Roy Todwell
• Pierre of the Plains1942 · as Val Denton
• Hello, Annapolis1942 · as Kansas City
• H.M. Pulham, Esq.1941 · as Joe Bingham
• I Wanted Wings1941 · as Jimmy Masters

All TV Shows (15)

• The Fortunate Pilgrim1988 · as O
• Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years1981
• Oppenheimer1980 · as Lewis Strauss
• The Martian Chronicles1980 · as Narrator
• Tales of the Unexpected1979 · as F. Milton Willis
• The Professionals1977 · as Callahan
• The Protectors1972 · as Adam Markos
• Journey to the Unknown1968 · as Dr. Charles Wilson
• Interpol Calling1959 · as Brownley
• Dial 9991958
• White Hunter1957
• Theatre Night1957 · as Sam Grassman
• Colonel March of Scotland Yard1956 · as Dr. Bryan Hayes
• Colonel March of Scotland Yard1956 · as Gordon
• The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel1955 · as Frank Rawlinson