Harry Brown
Harry Peter McNab Brown, Jr. (1917-1986) was an American poet, novelist, and screenwriter known for his diverse contributions to literature and film. Born in Portland, Maine, he began his literary journey at Harvard University, where he published poetry influenced by classical poets. Brown's early works gained recognition in prestigious literary journals, and he published several poetry collections, including "The End of a Decade" and "Scribner." His literary career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contributed to military publications, writing under the pseudonym Artie Greengroin.
Following the war, Brown transitioned to Hollywood, where he became a prolific screenwriter, adapting various genres, including war films, Westerns, and dramas. His notable works include "A Walk in the Sun," which was adapted into a film, and "A Place in the Sun," for which he won an Academy Award. Despite his success, Brown faced personal challenges in his later years, struggling with health issues and alcoholism while living in Mexico. He passed away from emphysema in 1986, leaving behind a legacy of impactful literary and cinematic contributions.
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Harry Brown
Writer
- Born: April 30, 1917
- Birthplace: Portland, Maine
- Died: November 3, 1986
- Place of death: Los Angeles, California
Biography
Harry Peter McNab Brown, Jr., was born April 30, 1917, in Portland, Maine, the son of Harry McNab and Bessie (Hiles) Brown. From 1936 to 1938, he attended Harvard University, where under the influence of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson, and other classical poets he began to publish poetry, winning several awards for his verse. His work appeared in literary journals and in periodicals such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, and Horizon.
Leaving college without a degree, Brown worked as copyboy for Time magazine and as an editor at The New Yorker. New Directions published his first books of poems, The End of a Decade (1940), and Scribner soon followed with a second volume: The Poem of Bunker Hill (1941).
At the outbreak of World War II, Brown enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served in the Corps of Engineers, where his writing ability was allowed to flourish. He contributed to Stars and Stripes and regularly wrote humorous sketches and stories (under the pseudonym Artie Greengroin) for Yank magazine in both New York and England (1941-1944), which served as the basis for the collections It’s a Cinch, Private Finch (1943) and Artie Greengroin, P.F.C.. (1945). Brown also acted as war correspondent for Time and The New Yorker, published two new volumes of poetry—The Violent (1943) and Poems, 1941-1944 (1945)—and served in the Anglo-American Film Unit during the last year of the war. The experience provided material for his best-selling war novel, A Walk in the Sun (1944), a poignant and realistic look at an American platoon fighting its way against the Germans from a landing in Italy.
By the time Harry Brown was discharged from military service, A Walk in the Sun had been successfully adapted for film (1945). He was invited to Hollywood to become a screenwriter, and for the next two decades he worked there, primarily adapting the work of others for major studio motion pictures (MGM, Warner Brothers, RKO, Paramount, United Artists, and others). Brown’s screenplays included Westerns (Bugles in the Afternoon, 1952, and El Dorado, 1966, adapted from Brown’s 1960 novel The Stars in Their Courses), romances (Arch of Triumph (1948), comedies (Many Rivers to Cross, 1955), historical dramas (The Virgin Queen, 1955), mysteries (The Man on the Eiffel Tower, 1950), thrillers (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, 1950), and caper movies (Ocean’s Eleven, 1960). His specialty, however, was war movies (Sands of Iwo Jima, 1949, adapted from a Brown story; Eight Iron Men, 1952, adapted from a Brown play; D-Day the Sixth of June, 1956; The Deep Six, 1958). The highlight of Brown’s Hollywood career was the winning of an Academy Award (with cowriter Michael Wilson) and a Writers Guild of America Award for the screenplay of A Place in the Sun (1951), adapted from Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 novel An American Tragedy.
Harry Brown’s final years were not kind to him. Plagued with emphysema, and a heavy drinker, he lived in Mexico for more than ten years in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, when he produced his last two novels: A Quiet Place to Work (1968) and The Wild Hunt (1973). Married in 1959 and later divorced from June Jollie Clark, Brown died of emphysema on November 3, 1986, leaving one son, Jarred.