BROWN, Johnny Mack

(1904–1974)

   With his smooth manner and dashing looks, Johnny Mack Brown was destined to a Hollywood career, and his earliest films placed him in the heady company of ladies such as Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Marion Davies. When talkies arrived, the studios felt his voice was unsuited to romantic roles. Beginning in the 1930s, Brown regularly appeared in Western serials such as Wild West Days (1937), with its 13 cliffhanger episodes in which his character saves a ranch and its platinum mine from a scheming gang that bribes Indians to do their dirty work. Brown was the best-dressed cowboy in his pictures. He loved plenty of fringe and sharp contrasts for black and white pictures.