{
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  "@type": "Person",
  "@id": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/person/12503/john-brown",
  "name": "John Brown",
  "url": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/person/12503/john-brown",
  "knownForDepartment": "Acting",
  "description": "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.\n\nBrown 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.",
  "birthDate": "1904-04-04",
  "deathDate": "1957-05-16",
  "birthPlace": "Hull, Yorkshire, England, UK",
  "image": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/mPLK5zlyMQdDpzZPb8vknDuEYsP.jpg",
  "sameAs": [
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  "lastVerified": "3 May 2026",
  "filmography": [
    {
      "mediaType": "tv",
      "tmdbId": 2730,
      "title": "I Love Lucy",
      "year": "1951",
      "role": "as Mr. Murdoch",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 7.917,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/mPUSrFTvQqwEqTtfukxJBtkbxWj.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/tv/2730/i-love-lucy-1951"
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      "mediaType": "tv",
      "tmdbId": 30667,
      "title": "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show",
      "year": "1950",
      "role": "as Harry Morton",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 7.105,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/kvCVEK1AeNTBbY5OREw2YdRa9bF.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/tv/30667/the-george-burns-and-gracie-allen-show-1950"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 828,
      "title": "The Day the Earth Stood Still",
      "year": "1951",
      "role": "as George Barley, boarder",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 7.461,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/eslDNzf0LF1m9GsgUXlmyfTcC6Y.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/828/the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 845,
      "title": "Strangers on a Train",
      "year": "1951",
      "role": "as Prof. Collins",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 7.667,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/ihC083U7ef56Ui4x0P0dobojrZ1.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 28696,
      "title": "The Wild One",
      "year": "1953",
      "role": "as Bill Hannegan",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6.57,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/ne8nuvqjczy4xPMMpYwNLuSp0ka.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/28696/the-wild-one-1953"
    },
    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 20246,
      "title": "The Stranger",
      "year": "1946",
      "role": "as Passport Photographer (uncredited)",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 7.221,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/bzjoPScBLUWpSu10m3GbSbSwVhS.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/20246/the-stranger-1946"
    },
    {
      "mediaType": "tv",
      "tmdbId": 11442,
      "title": "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars",
      "year": "1951",
      "role": "Cast",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 7.2,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/gWT5p5TMEAQnQAx1y0g03PUJDhJ.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 74122,
      "title": "The Bigamist",
      "year": "1953",
      "role": "Cast",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6.47,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/iht6xFLrObIoQvvuC3XOmnocc9u.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 16618,
      "title": "Hans Christian Andersen",
      "year": "1952",
      "role": "as Schoolmaster",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6.22,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/auHA8xsD452GDCY2KdHGgYPmDPf.jpg",
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    },
    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 241206,
      "title": "The Life of Riley",
      "year": "1949",
      "role": "as Digger O'Dell",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 8,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/sffLEgdUmP9TtgT7hyijSAomopE.jpg",
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    },
    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 66763,
      "title": "Jennifer",
      "year": "1953",
      "role": "as Service Station Attendant (uncredited)",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/rE8HyFRpinYmeDc6VLT07pwoUZD.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 43353,
      "title": "Robot Monster",
      "year": "1953",
      "role": "as Ro-Man / Great Guidance (voice)",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 4.514,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/5b4SKRHdSHCm2SZmrP26lnVC44x.jpg",
      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/43353/robot-monster-1953"
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 64925,
      "title": "The Horn Blows at Midnight",
      "year": "1945",
      "role": "as Lou the waiter (uncredited)",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 5.8,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/5fT50i4TAcxgUMHkbdrqzG1GxB1.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 216887,
      "title": "Crazylegs",
      "year": "1953",
      "role": "as Keller",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 5.75,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/aMf6J7I0LhBJqvGMlRPCCQkXdiV.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 84752,
      "title": "Dixieland Droopy",
      "year": "1954",
      "role": "as Narrator / Pee Wee Runt (voice) (uncredited)",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 6.978,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/yMMpQh5S3GOR7KXz38WaPhpBXWh.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 337932,
      "title": "Man Crazy",
      "year": "1953",
      "role": "as Mr. Duncan",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 7,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/1jyTNJSrWGpuXzbshyk2ggTyGCx.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 268704,
      "title": "A Peach of a Pair",
      "year": "1934",
      "role": "as John",
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      "voteAverage": 8,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/AkprQDfaMWNnWYdR32P39lWOWEq.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 87197,
      "title": "Symphony in Slang",
      "year": "1951",
      "role": "as The Hipster / Noah Webster (voice) (uncredited)",
      "roleKind": "cast",
      "voteAverage": 7.311,
      "posterUrl": "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/lnM7xJ2Kg0m91269PPPBqoRRUkG.jpg",
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    {
      "mediaType": "movie",
      "tmdbId": 1409189,
      "title": "Heritage",
      "year": null,
      "role": "as Narrator",
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      "voteAverage": null,
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      "screenSearchUrl": "https://www.screensearch.co.uk/watch/movie/1409189/heritage"
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