15 Facts About Clarence Brown

Clarence Leon Brown was an American film director.

Clarence Brown attended Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee, both in Knoxville, Tennessee, graduating from the university at the age of 19 with two degrees in engineering.

Clarence Brown later abandoned the car dealership after developing an interest in motion pictures around 1913.

Clarence Brown was hired by the Peerless Studio at Fort Lee, New Jersey, and became an assistant to the French-born director Maurice Tourneur.

Clarence Brown moved to Universal in 1924, and then to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he remained until the mid-1950s.

Clarence Brown was nominated six times for an Academy Award as a director, but he never received an Oscar.

Clarence Brown's films gained a total of 38 Academy Award nominations and earned nine Oscars.

Clarence Brown himself received six Academy Award nominations and in 1949, he won the British Academy Award for the film version of William Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust.

In 1957, Clarence Brown was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.

Clarence Brown retired a wealthy man due to his real estate investments, but refused to watch new movies, as he feared they might cause him to restart his career.

Clarence Brown holds the record for most nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director without a win, with six.

Clarence Brown married his third wife, Alice Joyce, in 1933 and they divorced in 1945.

Clarence Brown died at the Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California from kidney failure on August 17,1987, at the age of 97.

Clarence Brown is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

On February 8,1960, Clarence Brown received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1752 Vine Street, for his contributions to the motion pictures industry.