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Joseph Evans Brown (July 28, 1891 – July 6, 1973) was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his friendly screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 1930s and 1940s, with films like A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Earthworm Tractors (1936), and Alibi Ike (1935). In his later career Brown starred in Some Like It Hot (1959), as Osgood Fielding III, in which he utters the film's famous punchline "Well, nobody's perfect." Early life Brown was born on July 28, 1891 in Holgate, Ohio, near Toledo, into a large family of Welsh descent. He spent most of his childhood in Toledo. In 1902, at the age of ten, he joined a troupe of circus tumblers known as the Five Marvelous Ashtons, who toured the country on both the circus and vaudeville circuits. Later he became a professional baseball player. Despite his skill, he declined an opportunity to sign with the New York Yankees to pursue his career as an entertainer. After three seasons he returned to the circus, then went into vaudeville and finally starred on Broadway. He gradually added comedy to his act, and transformed himself into a comedian. He moved to Broadway in the 1920s, first appearing in the musical comedy Jim Jam Jems. Film career In late 1928, Brown began making films, starting the next year with Warner Bros. He quickly became a favorite with child audiences, and shot to stardom after appearing in the first all-color all-talking musical comedy On with the Show (1929). He starred in a number of lavish Technicolor musical comedies, including Sally (1929), Hold Everything (1930), Song of the West (1930), and Going Wild (1930). By 1931, Brown had become such a star that his name was billed above the title in the films in which he appeared. He appeared in Fireman, Save My Child (1932), a comedy in which he played a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, and in Elmer, the Great (1933) with Patricia Ellis and Claire Dodd and Alibi Ike (1935) with Olivia de Havilland, in both of which he portrayed ballplayers with the Chicago Cubs. In 1933 he starred in Son of a Sailor with Jean Muir and Thelma Todd. In 1934, Brown starred in A Very Honorable Guy with Alice White and Robert Barrat, in The Circus Clown again with Patricia Ellis and with Dorothy Burgess, and with Maxine Doyle in 6 Day Bike Rider. Brown was one of the few vaudeville comedians to appear in a Shakespearean film; he played Francis Flute in the Max Reinhardt/William Dieterle film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) and was highly praised for his performance. In 1933 and 1936, he was named one of the top 10 earners in films. He starred in Polo Joe (1936) with Carol Hughes and Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, and in Sons o' Guns. By the mid-1930s Joe E. Brown's films were established as dependable moneymakers, and the studio had begun to economize on their production. When his Warner contract expired, Brown did not renew it. He left Warner Bros. to work for independent producer David L. Loew, starring in a series of comedies including When's Your Birthday? (1937) and The Gladiator (1938), a loose adaptation of Philip Gordon Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator that influenced the creation of Superman. Joe E. Brown left Loew in 1939. While his brand of broad comedy was still popular, it was somewhat old-fashioned, much like the slapstick efforts of Laurel and Hardy. As a result, Brown was now being handed "B" pictures for Paramount (one film), Columbia (three films), and finally Republic (four films). The Republics were his last starring vehicles. From this point on, Brown continued in films but in guest appearances and character roles. Radio and television announcing Brown has a place in Boston's sports history. On April 14, 1925, radio station WBZ (AM) broadcast a local Major League baseball game for the first time. The Boston Braves played against the New York Giants, a game that the Braves won 5–4. The radio announcer for that day was Joe E. Brown. Brown was a devoted baseball fan, and some sportswriters who had seen him when he was a semi-pro player still believed he could have become a successful major league player one day. In April 1925, he was in the Boston area, starring in a stage performance of "Betty Lee" at Boston's Majestic Theater. Brown knew several of the Boston sportswriters, especially sports cartoonist Abe Savrann ("SAV") of the Boston Traveler. Brown was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and so was Savrann, who brought him in as a guest speaker at the mid-April 1925 meeting of the Cambridge, Massachusetts Elks Lodge. Savrann noted in his Traveler cartoon on April 15, 1925 (p. 20) that Brown had been the game announcer that day. And the radio critic for the New Britain (CT) Daily Herald wrote that "It is too bad that Joe E. Brown, who announced the game yesterday, could not fill that place during the entire season," noting that Brown not only described the game well but also offered amusing and interesting anecdotes in the process. While there is no information that he did any further radio play-by-play announcing, he did return to the broadcast booth in television, in 1953. He served as a commentator for the New York Yankees games on WPIX-TV. His TV duties included a 15-minute pre-game show and a 10-minute post-game show throughout the season. At the end of the season, he was replaced by Red Barber. World War II In 1939, Brown testified before the House Immigration Committee in support of a bill that would allow 20,000 German-Jewish refugee children into the U.S. He later adopted two refugee children. At age 50 when the U.S. entered World War II, Brown was too old to enlist. Both of his biological sons served in the military during the war. In 1942, Captain Don E. Brown was killed when his Douglas A-20 Havoc crashed near Palm Springs, California. Even before the USO was organized, Brown spent a great deal of time traveling, at his own expense, to entertain troops in the South Pacific, including Guadalcanal, New Zealand and Australia, as well as the Caribbean and Alaska. He was the first to tour in this way and before Bob Hope made similar journeys. Brown also spent many nights working and meeting servicemen at the Hollywood Canteen. He wrote of his experiences entertaining the troops in his book Your Kids and Mine. On his return to the U.S., Brown brought sacks of letters, making sure they were delivered by the Post Office. He gave shows in all weather conditions, many in hospitals, sometimes doing his entire show for a single dying soldier. He signed autographs for everyone. For his services to morale, Brown became one of only two civilians to be awarded the Bronze Star during World War II. Postwar work His concern for the troops continued into the Korean War, as evidenced by a newsreel featuring his appeal for blood donations to aid the U.S. and UN troops there that was featured in the season 4 episode of M*A*S*H tit.... Discover the Mary Boston Dilys Daws popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Mary Boston Dilys Daws books.