Vanessa Brown (March 24, 1928 – May 21, 1999) was an Austrian actress who was successful in American radio, film, theater and television. Born Smylla Brynd in Vienna, Austria to Jewish parents, Brown and her family fled to Paris, France in 1937 to escape persecution with the rise of National Socialism.
Within a few years the family had settled in America and Brown auditioned for Lillian Hellman for a role in Watch on the Rhine. Fluent in several languages, Brown impressed Hellman with her presence and authentic Teutonic accent, and she was signed as understudy to Ann Blyth, eventually doing the role of Babette on Broadway and in the touring production. In high school she wrote and directed school plays.
Radio and films
Her IQ of 165 led to two years of work as one of the young panelists on the radio series Quiz Kids. These appearances attracted the attention of Hollywood film producer David O. Selznick. He brought her family to Los Angeles, and Brown made her film debut in Youth Runs Wild (1944). She played a series of ingenue roles over the next few years in The Late George Apley (1947), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) and The Heiress (1949) and other films. She was the eighth actress to play the role of Jane, appearing in Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950) opposite Lex Barker, followed by a role in Vincente Minnelli's acclaimed The Bad and the Beautiful (1952).
Brown acted in live television dramas of the early 1950s, including Robert Montgomery Presents and The Philco Television Playhouse. Back on Broadway, she originated the role of "The Girl" in The Seven Year Itch, the character portrayed by Marilyn Monroe in the 1955 film version. She continued to do much television through the 1950s.
Brown married television director Mark Sandrich Jr. in 1959, and they had two children. She later appeared on such television series as The Wonder Years and Murder, She Wrote.
Her final years were beset with misfortune. Her marriage to Sandrich ended in divorce, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988, and she lost her home during an earthquake in 1989. The surgery she received for her cancer appeared to have been successful, and she believed she had been cured, however the disease returned. The last few years of her life were spent in very poor health, before her death at age 71 in the Motion Picture Country Home, Woodland Hills, California.
Vanessa Brown has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for her contribution to motion pictures (at 1625 Vine Street) and for television (at 6528 Hollywood Boulevard).
External links
Vanessa Brown at the Internet Movie Database
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_Brown"
Categories: 1928 births | 1999 deaths | American Jews | Jewish actors | Austrian-American Jews | Austrian stage actors | Austrian film actors | Austrian television actors | American child actors | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Deaths from breast cancer | Naturalized citizens of the United States | People from Vienna
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