Cast & creator
Phil Brown
Best known for American Playhouse, American Playhouse, Tales of the Unexpected
Philip Mortimer Brown was an American actor and director. 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.
Also known as: Phillip Walp Brown, Philip Mortimer Brown
43
film credits
22
television credits
59
1941–2001 · acting roles
6.6
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (65)
Showing 65 of 65 credits
American Playhouse
Lewis Strauss
1982American Playhouse
Frank Karelsen
1982
Tales of the Unexpected
F. Milton Willis
1979
The Professionals
Callahan
1977
Star Wars
Uncle Owen
1977
The Protectors
Adam Markos
1972
Interpol Calling
Brownley
1959
Superman
State Senator
1978
Journey to the Unknown
Dr. Charles Wilson
1968
The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
Frank Rawlinson
1955
Theatre Night
Sam Grassman
1957
Colonel March of Scotland Yard
Dr. Bryan Hayes
1956Colonel March of Scotland Yard
Gordon
1956Colonel March of Scotland Yard
Director
1956Theatre '70
Director
1960
The Martian Chronicles
Narrator
1980
Oppenheimer
Lewis Strauss
1980
Ghost Squad
Director
1961
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
1981
Chaplin
Projectionist
1992
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Virginia Senator
1976
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Director
1951
A King in New York
Headmaster
1957
The Killers
Nick Adams (uncredited)
1946
The Fortunate Pilgrim
O
1988
Twilight's Last Gleaming
Rev. Cartwright
1977
Valdez Is Coming
Malson
1971
Hello, Annapolis
Kansas City
1942
The Bedford Incident
Chief Hospitalman Mckinley - Sick Bay
1965
John Paul Jones
Sentry
1959Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Jeremiah Cobb
1978
The Luck of the Irish
Tom Higginbotham
1948
H.M. Pulham, Esq.
Joe Bingham
1941
The Camp on Blood Island
Lt. Peter Bellamy
1958
I Wanted Wings
Jimmy Masters
1941
The Counterfeit Traitor
Harold Murray (uncredited)
1962White Hunter
1957
Dial 999
1958
Land Raiders
Sheriff John Mayfield
1969
Obsession
Bill Kronin
1949Obsession
Dialogue Coach
1949
Ooh...You Are Awful
American Man
1972
Scalawag
Sandy
1973
If You Knew Susie
Joe Collins
1948
Bomb at 10:10
Professor Pilich / Profesor Pilić
1967
The Romantic Englishwoman
Mr. Wilson
1975
Moonrise
Elmer - Soda Jerk
1948
Tropic of Cancer
Van Norden
1970The Curse of a Faithful Wife
1972
Johnny O'Clock
Phil, Hotel Clerk
1947
State Fair
Harry Ware
1945
Pierre of the Plains
Val Denton
1942
Over 21
Frank MacDougal
1945
Weird Woman
David Jennings
1944
Maneaters Are Loose!
Kevin Pennington
1978
The Gangster Show: The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Clark
1972
The Jungle Captive
Don Young
1945The Jungle Captive
Dialogue Coach
1945
Calling Dr. Gillespie
Roy Todwell
1942
The Impatient Years
Henry Fairchild
1944
Starwoids
Self
2001
Bomber Harris
Lord Beaverbrook
1989
The Adding Machine
Don
1969
Operation Cross Eagles
Sgt. Turley
1968
Togetherness
Everett
1970