Born Today May 14: Alphons Czibulka (Not So Silent Edition)

1842-1894

Austro-Hungarian musician, bandleader and song writer Alphons Czibulka was born on this day in Kirchdrauf/Szepeváralja, Hungary (it is now a town in the Slovak Republic).  He got started in music early in his life and actually attained fame in his part of the world by the age of 15.  He had toured the Southern Russias giving piano performances and full on concerts; his name spread quickly as a real musical talent.  Eventually he was made the musical director of French Opera in Odessa, later the same at the National Theater in Innsbruck.  He then enlisted in the military and from 1866 to 1870 he served as a military bandleader in the Austro-Hungarian infantry.  He then began to compose his own songs in the salon style.  One of his songs became one of the most popular pieces for intimate recitals in the 19th century.  This is when his name became known in the west.  1880 to 1887 again found him a military bandmaster.  By 1889, he was again a private citizen and was appointed music director of the Concert House Flora in Hamburg.  By 1891 he was once again conducting in the military; he would continue in this capacity until his death on the 27th of October in Vienna.  He is buried there in the Central Cemetery there.  As far as his songs being put into film goes, the first film to feature his song "Hearts and Flowers" came in 1928 with the short comedy The Movie Man, a sound film featuring the Vitaphone apparatus.  In all, 5 films were made in the late 1920's that featured his music; all of them featured sound of some sort.  Show People (1928) was a partial silent King Vidor film, Synthetic Sin (1929) was another partial silent directed by William Seiter.  The Hollywood Revue Of 1929 was a well known MGM extravaganza presented in full sound.  Finally, there was Fire Proof (1929) another full sound comedic short that was a vehicle for Lupino Lane.  In the 1930's, his songs became popular in to use in animated shorts, or, in other words, cartoons.  The first full length film in the 1930's to use on of his compositions was Peach-O-Reno (1931), a romantic comedy.  The first time one of his songs was used for television was in the Mister Magoo series in the early 1960's.  The most recent use of his music also came in a television series; in 2012 the ultra popular crime vehicle Boardwalk Empire used his song "Stephanie Gavotte" in the episode "Resolution".  

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Born Today May 3: Mary Astor

1906-1987

Darling of the silver screen Mary Astor was born on this day as Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke in Quincy, Illinois.  Her mother was Portuguese/Irish-American and her father was an immigrant from Germany.  Her father was a teacher at the local high school.  She was home schooled and taught to play the piano by her father.  Her own mother had wanted to be an actress, and, indeed, she was also a teacher who taught elocution and drama.  In 1919, she entered a photograph of herself in a beauty contest being run by Motion Picture Magazine, she ended up a semi-finalist.  At the age of 15, she moved with her family to Chicago, where she took drama lessons and acted in amateur plays.  She again entered that same in-print beauty contest and this time became a finalist and runner up.  She then moved to New York with her father so that she could appear in motion pictures, with her dad becoming her manager.  A Manhattan photographer, taken with her looks, asked if her could photograph her; that photo made it's way to Harry Durant of Famous Players-Lasky, which in turn landed her with a 6 month contract with Paramount.  Her birth name was seen as wholly unwieldy, so a meeting was held by industry insiders, including Jesse Lasky, and they came up with the name "Mary Astor."  Her first screen test was directed by Lillian Gish herself.  Though Sentimental Tommy (1921) might have been the first film that she actually acted in--and her scenes were cut out--it appears that she actually made her screen debut in Brother Of The Bear also dating from the year 1921.  The first full length film that she appeared in was John Smith in 1922.  Her contract with Paramount was renewed, this time for one year for $500 a week.  From this time forward, her relationship with parents began to deteriorate.  She was under age and they controlled her money, at first giving her none of what she earned.  She was eventually contracted for $2500 a week, but she was only given $5 a week in allowance.  Her parents instead used her fortune to buy a mansion on a 1 acre lot known as "Mooncrest."  Her parents led a life of luxury off of her earnings and kept basically a prisoner in the home.  When she was 19, sick of her father's abuse, both physical and psychological, she managed to escape the house from a second floor window and made her way to a hotel.  A family friend managed to get her to return home after securing a savings account for her containing $500 and the freedom to come and go at will.  Nonetheless, she would not be able to wrest her earnings from her parents until she was 26 years old!  In 1926, she joined a myriad of other Hollywood up and comers, including Joan Crawford  and Fay Wray on the list of WAMPAS Baby Stars Of 1926.  Her first film with sound was a partial silent:  Dry Martini had a musical score by MovieTone (it is yet another example of a lost film) and was released in 1928.  Her first full sound film came in 1929 with New Year's Eve and was produced by Fox.  By 1928 she was making $3,750 dollars of week, and though married and living in a home with her husband, it would not be until 1932 that she was able to gain absolute control over her monies.  Having their lifestyle taken from them, her parents sued her for support--she settled the case by awarding them $100 a month for the both of them.  Also by this time, she had spent 8 months without work, due to a failed sound test that Fox had ordered to take as the world of silents was fading.  They thought her voice was too deep and didn't suit her appearance--it is thought, however, that it was both the inadequacy of the early sound recorders and the inexperience of the technicians that caused this failure.  She then started voice training and singing lessons, but it took some time to get her career reignited in the 1930's.  But once her career was back up and going, the roles flowed in.  Also contributing to her woes during this time, her writer/director  husband Kenneth Hawks (brother of Howard) was killed in an in-air plane collision.  Today she is best know for her role The Maltese Falcon (1941).  She made her television debut in 1954 on the Kraft Theater.  Her last film appearance came in the cult horror film Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte in 1964, the film stars Bette Davis a friend of hers (by this time she was already in semi-retirement).  She then retired from acting altogether and took up writing.  In 1971, she was experiencing trouble from a chronic heart condition, so she moved to a cottage on grounds of the industry's retirement facility Motion Picture & Television Country House.  In 1980 she appeared in the documentary television mini-series Hollywood; her last filmed appearance.  Astor died at the age of 81 on 25 September 1987.  In addition to her heart condition, she had been suffering from emphysema--her cause of death was respiratory failure with a heart event involved.  She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, in Culver City, CA.  

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Born Today April 26: Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

1899-1962

Western star Guinn "Big Boy" Williams was born Guinn Terrell Williams Jr. on this date in Decatur, Texas.  He was given the nickname "Big Boy" by none other than Will Rogers himself, because of his height, 6'2".  Before going into the movie industry he served in World War I.  His father, a congressman, wanted him to attend West Point after the war, but Williams wanted to become a baseball player instead. And he would go on to play semi-professionally.  He was instead introduced to the motion picture industry by Rogers (who also made a competent polo player out of him).  His film debut came in 1919 with Almost A Husband, a Will Rogers comedy.  Precisely because he was introduced to films by Rogers, he became a specialist in westerns almost immediately.  But he did have some notable roles in other genres as well, and was often one of two sidekicks in Errol Flynn films, the other being Alan Hale, Sr..  By 1921, he was getting bigger and bigger roles, with his first credit as Guinn "Big Boy" Williams in The Jack Rider, a comedic western that he also wrote.  After this point, he frequently wrote stories specifically to be turned into film scripts which would star himself.  All of these were westerns.  The first film that he acted in that had sound was Beggars Of Life (1928) a partial silent with sound sequences by MovieTone.  The first sound film he had a part in also came in 1928, with the huge Zanuck/Curtiz epic Noah's Ark.  It turned out that Will Rogers had a good eye for talent, Williams had acting prowess and made the transition to sound with relative ease.  He made his television debut in 1955 in the series The Adventures Of Wild Bill Hickok.  It is often written that his last role also came in a Michael Curtiz film, The Comancheros in 1961, but in fact it was in a widely over-looked little TV film called Buttons And Her Beaus, a failed television pilot in 1962.  Williams died suddenly from a rapid on-set of Uremic Poisoning on the 6th of June in 1962, he was 63 years old.  He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial, Hollywood Hills location.

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Born Today March 3: Sanford Faulkner (Not So Silent Edition)

1806-1874

Sandford C. "Sandy" Faulkner (first name sometimes spelled "Sanford") was born on this day in Scott County, Kentucky.  He was an iconic figure in the early statehood of Arkansas.  His earliest childhood history is shrouded in mystery, due in part to his birth on what was then the frontier.  Some sources have even suggested that his first name was actually "Sanderson" and that the "C." in his middle name stood for "Clinton," but evidence doesn't support these claims (for example, the census and his own grave marker).  His family must have been wealthy, because they were able to establish two plantations on the western side of the Mississippi, and was said, for a time at least, to owed the largest number of slaves in the territory.  Faulkner joined the Confederate army via the Arkansas Militia during the Civil War; this lead to him later in life to be known as "Colonel Faulkner," though he never actually attained that rank.  He got involved the territorial and state politics, though not very successfully.  He was also a bank president at one point.  What he was known for was as a lively teller of tall tales and as an avid fiddler.  It is for his fiddle composition and tale entitled "The Arkansas Traveler" that he is known for today. It is this tune that has been used in various films over the decades.  The first of these came in 1927 in a partial sound film:  Uncle Tom's Cabin starring Margarita Fischer (it would be her last film). The music and sound effects were provided by MovieTone.  The first full mono film to use the tune, came in 1931 with the animated short And The Green Grass Grew All Around.  The first full length feature film to have the music as part of it's soundtrack dates from 1932, in the Barbara Stanwyck vehicle The Purchase Price, directed by William Wellman.  The most recent use of the tune came in 2013 with the Civil War reenactment documentary film The Battle of Pea Ridge.  Faulkner died in his home in Little Rock on August 4th at the age of 68.  He is buried in Little Rock's Mount Holly Cemetery.

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Encyclopedia Of Arkansas

Wikipedia

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Born Today May 1: Leila Hyams

1905-1977

Born in New York City into a vaudeville family on May Day, she was named after her performing mother--who was also a successful dramatic stage actress.  Both of her parents went on to appear in films in their own right, often together, ironically continuing to work in film after their daughter had retired from the profession.  As is the case with children born into the vaudeville life, "little Leila" appeared as a child on stage with her parents. When older, as a teenager, she began a modeling career; appearing in series of widely published newspaper advertisements, which got the attention of Hollywood.  She appeared in her first film, Sandra, in 1924 at the age of 19.  Although her appearances in silent film number well into double digits, it was her work in early talkies of the 1930's that she is most remembered for.  Her most famous role came in Tod Browning's 1932 controversial horror drama Freaks, as the wise-cracking Venus.  As with most actors born into vaudeville childhood stage appearances, she was easily a hit in sound film; the first film to have any sort of sound that she appeared in came in 1928 with the partial silent Land of the Silver Fox, a Rin Tin Tin feature. He first fully mono sound film came with her very next film appearance, also in 1928, in Alias Jimmy Valentine, starring Lionel Barrymore. After appearing in more than 50 films, fully 21 of which are from the 1920's, she decided to retire from acting in 1936; however she remained in the Hollywood circle until death from a heart attack in 1977 at the age of 72 in Bel Air. She was cremated and her ashes scattered.  

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Wikipedia

Born Today February 2: Frank Albertson

1909-1964

Born Francis Healey Albertson in Fergus Falls, Minnesota; his family moved around quite a bit, before settling in Los Angeles.  When settled there, young Frank, as he was affectionately known, found work in as an laboratory assistant at a photography shop--this resulted in contacts in the newly established studio system(s) in Hollywood.  In 1922, at the age of 13, he was already at work at one studio (most probably Paramount, given his film debut the following year).  In 1923, but before his 14th birthday, he had a very small part in James Cruze's The Covered Wagon, a western adventure; the film was produced by Paramount.  He wouldn't appear in another film until 1928.  Most likely, he continued to work on and around back-lots during this time. There are also probably several titles that he appeared in as extraduring the hiatus, that have not been attributed to him as an uncredited extra. He returned to film definitively for his first named credit in 1928, in The Farmer's Daughter, produced by Fox. The next film that he made, also in 1928, Prep and Pep, was a partial silent, with soundtrack and sound effects provided by Western Electric.  His first full sound film came in 1929, with Words and Music, which had a fully silent alternative version--sadly it is amongst the many lost films.  He next made Salute, also in 1929, which was a full early talkie, with sound also by Western Electric.  He would make just one more film in the 1920's--a full sound musical revue.  After this, he had steady work as a character actor, and sometimes a leading man in a B-movie, for the rest of his life. He would go on to act in over 100 film and television programs.  He is probably best remembered for a small, but very visible part in Alfred Hitchcock's horror thriller Psycho, in the leering role of Tom Cassidy, the rich man who talks up Marion Crane and boasts about his wealth at the beginning of the film--it was his money that she later steals (Albertson had made two appearance on Hitchcock's television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, before this).  In looking at the fresh faced youngster pictured above, it is rather hard to imagine, that by the young age of 52, he would look old enough to play such a role!  He did not live long after this--he passed away in his sleep at his home in Santa Monica, at the age of 55 on Leap Day in 1964, having worked right up until his death.  He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, CA.  It should be noted that he was in no way related to sibling actors Jack and Mabel Albertson.

IMDb

Wikipedia

 

Find a Grave entry 

Born Today September 22: Erich von Stroheim

1885-1957

Born Erich Oswald Stroheim to observant Jews in Vienna Austria, he immigrated on his own to the US, entering through the famous Ellis Island where he claimed that his name was Count Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim und Nordenwall, claiming to be the son of Austrian notability (which is amusing because non-Jewish Austrians (or Austro-Hungarians), like my own grandfather for example, spell "Carl" with a K [Karl], Jewish Germanics spell it with a C--that should have be a bit of a give away, that's quite apart from the whole "Stroheim"....it's a great name though!!)  He entered the country essentially as that character type and went on to basically play that character in is early silent acting roles.  He seems to have been somewhat of a trickster sort, rather than a deliberate fraud.  In later speaking roles he spoke German with an American sounding accent; and fashion photographer Helmet Newton, himself a German speaker from birth, claimed that von Stroheim spoke "a very special kind of Prussian officer lingo, it's very abrupt, it's very, very funny."  He, personally claimed to have forgotten is native tongue on more than one occasion, who knows??  Sounds like quite the character me!  Most people who knew him ordinary situations claimed that he atcually had a "lower-class Austrian accent."  Below in an embed of radio comments he made upon the death of D. W. Griffith--listen for yourself and you decide. [nevemind tje prognaistic natire pf tje peiece] Though most remember him as a director and  for his auteur directorial style rather than as an actor--of which he did much more of than actual directing.  His first acting role dates from 1915, but it was his getting noticed by directorial giant D. W. Griffith that eventually lead to much larger roles; roles such as those mentioned above.  Of course, to be a director in the auteur style, he would by necessity have to also be a screenwriter (and producer and editor), but he went on to have credits in a number of different areas of film making including:  Costume designer, Art Department, Soundtrack performance, Wardrobe Assistant, Production designer.  He also has a number a of (un)credits as an assistant director, the most infamous of which would have to be Birth Of A Nation (1916) One of his "epics" Greed is infamous because his insistence that it be shot in Death Valley.  At least one person was hospitalized in fairly serious condition--if memory serves, several animals died.  Cameras had to be wrapped in ice towels just for shooting short bits at a time.  In his personal life--he was married three times, made one film in France with his "secretary" and had two sons:  that went on to work in the film industry.  By the time of his death in Paris, on 2 May 1957 at the age of 71, had been living in France for some time.  Have a funny little birthday notice for him over on my Scare Me site. Stroheim is buried in France in the village cemetery of Maurepas (Cimetére de Maurepas), Department of Yvelines.

[Source: Michel SCHIREIBER (Find A Grave)]

Silent Era Work:

The Country Boy (1915) (lost film)

Captain Macklin (1915)

The Failure (1915)

Ghosts (1915)

Birth Of A Nation (1916) (on both Amazon Prime and Internet Archive--find soft things to throw at your telly!  Don't break the TV....)

Farewell To Thee (1915)

Old Heidelberg (1915)

His Picture In The Paper (1916)

The Flying Torpedo (1916)

MacBeth (1916)

Intolerance (1916) (this can be streamed from Internet Archive)

The Social Secretary (1916)

Less Than The Dust (1916)

Panthea (1917) (lost film)

In Again, Out Again (1917)

For France (1917)

Draft 258 (1917)

Reaching For The Moon (1917)

Sylvia Of The Secret Service (1917)

Blind Man's Luck (9117)

Who Goes There (1917)

The Unbeliever (1918)

Heart Of The World (1918)

The Hun Within (1918)

The Heart Of Humanity (1918)

The Fall Of Babylon (1919)

Blind Husbands (1919) (this Stroheim directed silent is currently on Amazon Prime)

The Devil's Passkey (1920) (lost film)

Foolish Wives (1922)

Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No.14 (1922) (as Himself)

Merry-Go-Round (1923)

Souls For Sale (1923)

C-V News: Filming Greed (1923) (not to toot my own horn, but I was the person who got IMDb to add this--it took two tries, despite that it is the print is archived as survived and the bloody thing is on DVD...ah IMDb!  Stroheim did almost get a lot people killed filming this in Death Valley!)

Greed (1924) (not to be confused with the 1917 film of the same title--this one almost got him into serious legal hot water--over, literally, hot temperatures!)

Screen Snapshots, Series 4, NO.10 (1924) (as Himself)

The Merry Widow (1925)

1925 Studio Tour(1925)

A Trip Through The Paramount Studio (1927)  (a TON of silent films stars on in this one!)

The Wedding March (1928) (partial silent, with soundtrack and sound effects by Western Electric)

The Honeymoon (1928) (early talkie)

Tempest (1928) (this was either a partial silent or there were two versions, with the other being in mono. This is also currently on Amazon Prime)

Queen Kelly (1929) (partial silent/mono or two version distrubuted.  Currently on Amazon Prime)

The Great Gabbo (1929) (Western Electric early talkie--and a personal favorite.  This can be streamed or cast from Internet Archive.  He sings in this one...)

Born Today September 5: Darryl F. Zanuck

Darryl F. Zanuck:  1902-1979

Yet another giant in the entertainment world (two in a role here), this time from deep inside the industry, pretty much the opposite of Artaud.  Zanuck became one of the faces of the studio era, but unlike others of his generation, he bounced from studio or production company to studio/production company during the duration of his career.  And, unlike many other studio bosses, he got his start from the bottom up and has as many credits for writing as he does for producer (even 3 ghost director credits--one in the silent era--and a novel as well), the list here today will be long, with some very famous silents on it! He was also somewhat unique in the use of at least three aliases for his writing for film.  Not that the moving around in the oil slick was was the golden age of Hollywood, meant that he wielded any less power--in it's hey-day he was considered one of the kingpins of system.   He was one of the first studio directors to build up a "stable" of stars, including Shirley Temple.  This is the beginning of a system that came to benefit the big wigs and harm the actors.  His life after success was certainly not without controversy.  Zanuck was born Wahoo, Nebraska,  There are a couple of different versions of his early life; one stating that by the age of 13 he was abandoned by both parents, and at 15 he lied about his age in 1917 and joined the army.  Another that he moved to LA with his mother when he was six, and actually got his first job film as an extra when he was 8 (no credit or information available on the production--seems a bit questionable), but that he was recalled back to Nebraska by his father and escaped by lying about his age at 16 in 1918 (seems to me this might be cleared up in military records--they are better kept than people think);  He served in both the World Wars.  I will concern myself here with just the silent era of his career.  He spent his first years in Hollywood working with the likes of Syd Chaplin and Carl Laemmle, but most of his early work was done with Mack Sennett, creator of The Keystone Cops, where Zanuck was a sort of jack of all trades for Sennett's Keystone Co.  His earliest great break through, and first "actor" discovery (and he does, in my humble opinion, deserve credit for this, though many disagree) was not even a person:  Rin Tin Tin.  His role in the late silent era was much more in the camp of ushering in the talking era and less about advances in artistic expresses found in many late silents.  His writing credits alone are so numerous that it is head spin, so this clearly is not high art--to the extent it could be called "dime store stuff."  Vitaphone was his and his 1920's bosses thing--they certainly won the day, and added "pulp" to the film industry that quickly frustrated such greats as James Whale.   In 1925 comes his first producer (uncredited) credit, the rest, as they say, is history.  Zanuck died of cancer on 22 December 1979 at the age of 77.  His descendants continued to (and still do) make big marks on Hollywood.  He is the father of Richard D. Zanuck and grandfather of Harrison Zanuck and Dean Zanuck.  For more about his very long and varied career, see his Wikipedia page.  He is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. 

Acting:

Find Your Man (1924) (Rin Tin Tin, his only known silent acting credit)

Writing Credits

Round Two (1922) (partially lost)

The Storm (1922)

Fighting Blood (1923)

The Knight in Gale (1923) (Series Short)

The Knight That Failed (1923) (Series Short)

Six Second Smith (1923) (Series Short)

Two Stones with One Bird (1923) (Series Short)

Some Punches and Judy (1923) (Series Short)

Gall of the Wild (1923) (Series Short)

The End of a Perfect Fray (1923) (Series Short)

When Gale and Hurricane Meet (1923) (Series Short)

Judy Punch (1923) (Series Short)

Julius Sees Her (1924) (Short)

When Knighthood Was in Tower (1924) (Short)

Money to Burns (1924) (Short)

King Leary (1924) (Short)

William Tells (1924) (Short)

Sherlock Home (1924) (Short)

For The Love of Mike (1924 (Short)

Find Your Man (1924)

The Millionaire Cowboy (1924)

A Lighthouse by the Sea (1924) (Rin Tin Tin feature)

On Thin Ice (1925)

A Broadway Butterfly (1925)

Eve's Lover (1925) (lost film)

The Limited Mail (1925)

Red Hot Tires (1925)

Seven Sinners (1925)

Hogan's Alley (1925)

Three Weeks in Paris (1925) (lost film)

The Caveman (1926)

The Little Irish Girl (1926)

A What A Nurse (1926)

The Social Highwayman (1926)

Footloose Windows (1926)

Across The Pacific (1926) (lost film)

The Better 'Ole (1926)

Wolf's Clothing (1927)

Tracked By The Police (1927) (Rin Tin Tin film)

The Missing Link (1927)

Irish Hearts (1927)

Simple Sis (1927)

The Black Diamond Express (1927)

The First Auto (1927) (Partial silent, Vitaphone sound)

The Desired Woman (1927) (directed by Michael Curtiz)

Slightly Used (1927)

Jaws Of Steel (1927)

Good Time Charley (1927) (lost film)

Ham And Eggs At The Front (1927) (this was a film that Zanuck had personal guilt about later in life and produced a number of well known films to counter stereotypes)

Tenderloin (1928) (partial silent, small speaking parts sound by Vitaphone, lost film, also has a production credit.)

Pay As You Enter (1928) (Vitaphone sound effects and music)

State Street Sadie (1928) (partial talkie, talking sequences by Vitaphone, lost film)

The Midnight Taxi (1928)

My Man (1928) (talking sequences by Vitaphone)

Harboiled Rose (1929) (partial silent, Vitaphone sequences)

Madonna Of Avenue A (1929) (early talkie, full sound by Vitaphone)

Say It With Songs (1929) (early talkie musical, Al Jolson film, full sound by Vitaphone)

Production Credits:

Lady Windermere's Fan (1925)

So This Is Paris (1926)

Old San Francisco (1927) (writer credit here, two version of film, one silent, one sound, with soundtrack and recorded sound effects.)

The First Auto (1927)

The Desired Woman (1927)

The Jazz Singer (1927) (he is uncredited here, several now documented production credits were first uncredited, but because this is such a giant in the silent world, I am making a note of it.)

Tenderloin 1928

The Terror (1928) (partial talkie, and partially lost, unfortunately, because it's a horror film--and features an early depiction of a serial killer--as such a horror fan, I'd love to hear that complete footage had been found!)

Noah's Ark (1928) (he also has an uncredited Director role in this film--his earliest, he also has a writing credit here )

On With The Show (1929) (early talkie, Vitaphone with a Western Electric Apparatus)

The Show Of Shows (1929) (early talkie with the same sound as above, John Barrymore film)

Production Manager:

Lights Of New York (1928) (extremely early talkie, often credited with being the first full sound film with full syncopation)

Born Today September 1: Johnny Mack Brown

 

Johnny Mack Brown 1904-1974

Arguably the first true sports film star, he was a star football player (American football, of course) at the University of Alabama, where he was known as "The Dothan Antelope" (strange nickname for a sports player from the south).  He went on to help get his team to the 1925 Rose Bowl, which they won over the heavily favored Washington Huskies.  Here in the south, it became known as "the game that changed the south."  After  being noticed by Hollywood in a box of Wheaties, he was approached to make films.  Unsurprisingly his first films were sports related dramas.  It is ironic that his film debut came in a baseball picture:  MGM's Slide, Kelly, Slide in 1927.  He would not be in another starring role, until he played the lead opposite Marion Davies (yes, that Marion Davies) in another sports film, this time centered around basketball--women's that is. The role as the coach of women's college basketball team in The Fair Co-Ed  would be his last silent sports film. He was then moved into leading man roles in romances of various sorts (even playing opposite Joan Crawford in the film that made her a star Our Dancing Daughters); he was even type-cast a bit as a southerner, despite that there was no spoken dialog. His first all sound (talkie) picture came in a supporting role in the Paul Muni "death row drama" The Valiant. His southerner background was furthered in RKO's Jazz Heaven, released in November of 1929.   Later in his acting career he was more known for his roles in westerns. His start in the genre came in the quite strange little MGM musical western Montana Moon in 1930; again, opposite Crawford--although the film was released in March of 1930, MGM actually released a silent version (not quite sure how "silent musicals" would be a thing....) Brown's last role was in Apache Uprising in 1965 before retirement. He passed away in Los Angeles on the 14th of November at the age of 70. His ashes are interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, along with those of one of his daughters.  He has been inducted in a number of Halls of Fame as disparate from each other as the College Football Hall of Fame to the World Cowboy Gunspinning Hall of Fame. 

List Of His Silent/Partial Silent Films

Slide, Kelly, Slide

The Bugle Call

Mockery

After Midnight

The Fair Co-Ed

The Divine Woman

The Soft Living

Square Crooks

The Play Girl

Our Dancing Daughters

Annapolis

A Lady Of Chance

A Woman Of Affairs

The Single Standard

Jazz Heaven

Undertow