James Brown

'James Brown' (qv) was born March 22, 1920 in the small town of Desdemona, Eastland County, Texas. He graduated from The Desdemona School (grades 1-12), which was built in 1922 (it closed in 1969). Very athletic, Brown became a tennis pro before there was any money in it. He entered films in 1941. Clearly a man of unlimited athletic prowess, he appeared in such rugged Hollywood productions as _Wake Island (1942)_ (qv), _Air Force (1943)_ (qv), _Objective, Burma! (1945)_ (qv) and _Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)_ (qv). He had more sedate roles in _Going My Way (1944)_ (qv), as romantic lead "Ted Haines" ('Bing Crosby' (qv), who was the star of the film, was a priest and therefore out of the running for the leading lady) and then, in "Sands of Iwo Jima" (with 'John Wayne' (qv)), Brown was a U.S. Marine, Pfc. Charlie Bass, a combat veteran and colleague of Wayne's character Sgt. Stryker. In _The Pride of St. Louis (1952)_ (qv), a biopic about baseball star 'Dizzy Dean' (qv), Brown played a sidelined ballplayer, "Moose". In _Flight Nurse (1953)_ (qv) he played a flight engineer on an aircraft flying a mercy mission. It wasn't long afterward that he began a television career as "Lt. Rip Masters" on TV's _The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954)_ (qv), which ran from 1954-1958. He then appeared in _The Rounders (1966)_ (qv), a western comedy series--billed as James Bowen Brown--as "Luke". In 1976 the "Rin Tin Tin" series was re-released with new sepia-tinted beginnings and endings, with Brown reprising his role as Lt. Rip Masters. Unfortunately, few of his later movies are worth mentioning, though he had a few telling moments as the stern, rifle-toting father of the serial killer "protagonist" in 'Peter Bogdanovich' (qv)'s _Targets (1968)_ (qv).He retired from acting in the late 1960s to manage his successful body-building equipment concern, and then was appointed head of customer relations at Faberge, a cosmetics firm. When Faberge's filmmaking division, Brut Productions, put together a 1975 comedy titled _Whiffs (1975)_ (qv), the producers persuaded Brown to return to acting in a supporting role.'James Brown' (qv) passed away in 1992 after a long battle with lung cancer.::Major 'James Brown' (qv) (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)