John Brown
Brown had major roles in several popular radio shows: He was "John Doe" in the Texaco Star Theater's version of Fred Allen's Allen's Alley,[2] played Irma's love interest Al in My Friend Irma, both "Gillis" and Digby "Digger" O'Dell in The Life of Riley, (a role he reprised for the first incarnation of the television show), "Broadway" in The Damon Runyon Theatre, and "Thorny" the neighbor on the radio version of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Perhaps his most memorable piece of work is the ‘Broadway’ role; once heard, many find it impossible to think of the narrator of Damon Runyon’s stories as anyone else. It was a measure of Brown’s talent that this quintessentially American character was portrayed by an Englishman.
Brown appeared in some notable films: as the inebriated professor in Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, uncredited), and The Wild One (1953); he supplied the voice of "Ro-Man" in the 1953 cult science fiction B-film Robot Monster.
Acting
Movie
Strangers on a Train
as Prof. Collins
1951
Movie
The Day the Earth Stood Still
as George Barley, boarder
1951
Movie
The Stranger
as Passport Photographer (uncredited)
1946
Movie
The Wild One
as Bill Hannegan
1953
TV
I Love Lucy
as Mr. Murdoch
1951
Movie
The Bigamist
1953
Movie
Robot Monster
as Ro-Man / Great Guidance (voice)
1953
Movie
Hans Christian Andersen
as Schoolmaster
1952
Movie
Symphony in Slang
as The Hipster / Noah Webster (voice) (uncredited)
1951
Movie
Dixieland Droopy
as Narrator / Pee Wee Runt (voice) (uncredited)
1954
Movie
The Horn Blows at Midnight
as Lou the waiter (uncredited)
1945
TV
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
as Harry Morton
1950
Movie
Jennifer
as Service Station Attendant (uncredited)
1953
TV
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Movie
Crazylegs
as Keller
1953
TV
The Life of Riley
as Digger O'Dell
1949
Movie
The Life of Riley
as Digger O'Dell
1949
Movie
A Peach of a Pair
as John
1934
Movie
Man Crazy
as Mr. Duncan
1953
Movie
Heritage
as Narrator