Actor · Acting

Johnny Mack Brown

Born 1904-09-01

Died 1974-11-14

📍 Dothan, Alabama, USA

An All-American halfback while attending the University of Alabama, Johnny Mack Brown chose the silver screen over the green grass of the football field when he graduated. Signed to a contract with MGM in 1926, Brown debuted in Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927) with William Haines in a film about - baseball. This was followed by The Bugle Call (1927), which starred the fading Jackie Coogan. In 1928 he appeared in the last Norma Shearer silent film, A Lady of Chance (1928). After that, he worked with Greta Garbo, Marion Davies and Mary Pickford. His muscular good looks only carried him so far in films, however, and by 1930 he had yet to find his place. At MGM Clark Gable was taking the roles that Brown was up for, so he went into a western for director King Vidor, Billy the Kid (1930). While Vidor did not want him for the part to begin with, the picture was successful; however, Brown's career at MGM soon ended. By 1933 he was still making westerns, but they were for low-rung studios like Mascot. More westerns at even lower-rung Supreme Pictures followed, as well as serials like Wild West Days (1937) at Universal. In 1943 Brown took his boots over to Monogram Pictures, where he made over 60 westerns. He started off as "Nevada Jack McKenzie" in the Rough Riders series, but the name soon changed to Johnny. As with most of the early cowboy stars, he was a hero to millions of young children and consistently among the top ten money-makers in westerns from 1942-50. The bubble burst, though, just as it did for Allan Lane, in 1953, as the days of the "B" western came to an end.

Filmography 172

Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs

as (archive footage)

Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her

as Self (archive footage)

Legends of the West

as Billy the Kid in 'Billy the Kid' (archive footage) (uncredited)

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

as (archive footage)

as Self (archive footage)

Apache Uprising

as Sheriff Ben Hall

The Bounty Killer

as Sheriff Green

Requiem for a Gunfighter

as Warner Griffith

The Marshal's Daughter

as Johnny Mack Brown - Poker-Game Player

as Johnny Mack Brown

This Is Your Life

Dead Man's Trail

as Johnny Mack Brown

Man from the Black Hills

as Johnny Mack Brown

as Johnny Mack Brown

as Marshal Johnny Mack Brown

Whistling Hills

as Johnny Mack Brown

Oklahoma Justice

as Johnny Mack Brown

Montana Desperado

as Johnny Mack Brown

Blazing Bullets

as Johnny Mack Brown

Man from Sonora

as Johnny Mack Brown

Colorado Ambush

as Johnny Mack Brown

as Sheriff Ord Keown

as Johnny Mack Brown

Law of the Panhandle

as U.S. Marshal Johnny Mack Brown

as Johnny Mack Brown

Over the Border

as Johnny Mack Brown

West of Wyoming

as Johnny Mack Brown

Western Renegades

as Johnny Mack Brown

as Johnny Mack Brown

West of El Dorado

as Sheriff Aaron Ball

Law of the West

as Federal Agent Johnny Mack

Gunning for Justice

The Sheriff of Medicine Bow

as Johnny Mack Brown

The Fighting Ranger

as Johnny Brown

as Johnny Mack Brown

as Johnny Mack Brown

Overland Trails

as Johnny Murdock

as Johnny McVey

Prairie Express

as Johnny Hudson

as Johnny Williams

Code of the Saddle

as John Macklin

Trailing Danger

The Law Comes to Gunsight

as Johnny Mackey

Land of the Lawless

Raiders of the South

as Captain Brownell posing Johnny Langdon

as Johnny Bronton

Shadows on the Range

as Steve Mason posing as Steve Saunders

Trigger Fingers

as Sam Hurricane Benton

The Gentleman from Texas

as Johnny Macklin

Under Arizona Skies

The Haunted Mine

as Nevada Jack McKenzie

as Steve Garner

as Marshal Nevada

as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie

as Marshal 'Nevada Jack' McKenzie

Flame of the West

as Dr. John Poore

Stranger from Santa Fe

as U.S. Marshal Nevada McKenzie, posing as Roy Ferris

as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie

as Maj. Tex O'Connor

The Navajo Trail

as Marshal Nevada McKenzie

as Marshal Nevada McKenzie

Law of the Valley

as Marshal Nevada McKenzie

Land of the Outlaws

as Marshal Nevada McKenzie

West of the Rio Grande

as U.S. Marshal Nevada McKenzie

as U. S. Marshal Nevada McKenzie

Partners of the Trail

as Jack McKenzie

as U.S. Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie

Raiders of the Border

as Nevada Jack McKenzie

as Jack McKenzie

Outlaws of Stampede Pass

as Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie

as Johnny Mack Brown

The Lone Star Trail

as Blaze Barker

as Marshal Jack McKenzie

The Stranger From Pecos

as Nevada Jack McKenzie

Raiders of San Joaquin

as Rocky Morgan aka The Black Rider

Cheyenne Roundup

as Buck Brandon & Gils Brandon

The Ghost Rider

as Nevada Jack McKenzie

Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground

The Old Chisholm Trail

as Dusty Gardner

Little Joe, the Wrangler

as Neal Wallace

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Boss of Hangtown Mesa

as Steve Collins

The Silver Bullet

as Silver Jim Donovan

Stagecoach Buckaroo

as Steve Hardin

Fighting Bill Fargo

Ride 'Em Cowboy

as Alabam' Brewster

Arizona Cyclone

The Masked Rider

as Larry Prescott

Man from Montana

as Sheriff Bob Dawson

Rawhide Rangers

as Brand Calhoun

Law of the Range

as Steve Howard

Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie

as Joe Henderson

as Cal Sheridan

as Bill Ralston

Ragtime Cowboy Joe

Son of Roaring Dan

as Jim Reardon (Posing as Horace McPhail)

Bad Man from Red Butte

as Gils Brady / Buck Halliday

Riders of Pasco Basin

Boss of Bullion City

West of Carson City

as Jim Bannister

Chip of the Flying U

as 'Chip' Bennett

Oklahoma Frontier

Desperate Trails

as Steve Hayden

The Oregon Trail

Land of Liberty

as Billy the Kid (edited from 'Billy the Kid')

Flaming Frontiers

as Talbot Carter

Born to the West

as Tom Fillmore

as Tom Fillmore

Boothill Brigade

as Lon Cardigan

as Kentucky Wade

A Lawman Is Born

as Tom Mitchell

Guns in the Dark

as Johnny Darrel

as Ranger Jeff Hayden

Trail of Vengeance

The Gambling Terror

as Steve McLain

The Crooked Trail

as Johnny- aka The Dog Town Kid

Rogue of the Range

as Billy Donovan

Valley of the Lawless

as Bruce Reynolds

The Courageous Avenger

as Johnny Wellington Jr.

Starlit Days at the Lido

Branded a Coward

Rustlers of Red Dog

Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove

Against the Law

Belle of the Nineties

as Brooks Clayburn

Marrying Widows

St. Louis Woman

Three on a Honeymoon

Son of a Sailor

as George P. Cooper

Saturday's Millions

Fighting With Kit Carson

The Vanishing Frontier

as Kirby Tornell

70,000 Witnesses

The Last Flight

The Great Meadow

as Berk Jarvis (as John Mack Brown)

as Billy the Kid

as Barry Holmes

The Single Standard

as Tommy Hewlett

as Michael Jeffery

A Woman of Affairs

as David Furness

A Lady of Chance

as Steve Crandall

Our Dancing Daughters

as Bradley Lane

as Stockney Webb

The Divine Woman

as Party Boy (uncredited)

as Russian Officer (uncredited)

as Bit (uncredited)

Slide, Kelly, Slide

as Johnny Mack Brown