Johnny Mack Brown
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.
177 acting credits
Acting · 177
Perry Mason
1957
This Is Your Life
1952
Official Detective
1957
Born to the West
1937
Female
1933
Forever Yours
1945
Apache Uprising
1965
Wells Fargo
1937
The Bounty Killer
1965
The Secret Six
1931
Frontier Feud
1945
Triggerman
1948
It's Showtime
1976
Our Dancing Daughters
1928
Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her
1994
Ride 'Em Cowboy
1941
The Oregon Trail
1939
Coquette
1929
Saturday's Millions
1933
Mockery
1927
Belle of the Nineties
1934
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
1976
Fighting With Kit Carson
1933
Outlaws of Stampede Pass
1943
Law of the Range
1941
Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs
2000
Man from the Black Hills
1952
The Marshal's Daughter
1953
The Last Flight
1931
The Silver Bullet
1942
Bad Man from Red Butte
1940
Gun Smoke
1945
Law Men
1944
A Woman of Affairs
1928
The Vanishing Frontier
1933
Gun Talk
1947
Silver Range
1946
Boothill Brigade
1937
Flaming Frontiers
1938
Land of the Outlaws
1944
Crazy House
1943
Starlit Days at the Lido
1935
Back Trail
1948
Requiem for a Gunfighter
1965
Oklahoma Frontier
1939
Rawhide Rangers
1941
Flashing Guns
1947
Colorado Ambush
1951
The Ghost Rider
1943
West of El Dorado
1949
Against the Law
1934
Between Men
1935
Man from Sonora
1951
The Stranger From Pecos
1943
Western Renegades
1949
Arizona Cyclone
1941
Hell Town
1937
Hollywood Halfbacks
1931
Cheyenne Roundup
1943
Law and Order
1940
Son of a Sailor
1933
Six Gun Gospel
1943
Short Grass
1950
Montana Desperado
1951
Branded a Coward
1935
Stampede
1949
Riders of Pasco Basin
1940
The Texas Kid
1943
The Haunted Mine
1946
Land of the Lawless
1947
West of Wyoming
1950
Malay Nights
1932
Billy the Kid
1930
Whistling Hills
1951
The Lone Star Trail
1943
West of the Rio Grande
1944
A Lady of Chance
1928
Under Arizona Skies
1946
The Play Girl
1928
Texas City
1952
Hurricane
1929
Soft Living
1928
The Lost Trail
1945
Rustlers of Red Dog
1935
Wild West Days
1937
Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove
1934
Hidden Danger
1948
Trigger Fingers
1946
Jazz Heaven
1929
Drifting Along
1946
Gunning for Justice
1948
Legends of the West
1992
Canyon Ambush
1952
The Single Standard
1929
The Courageous Avenger
1935
Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
1941
Pony Post
1940
Slide, Kelly, Slide
1927
The Fair Co-Ed
1927
Law of the West
1949
Undertow
1930
Frontier Agent
1948
Trail of Vengeance
1937
Montana Moon
1930
Desert Phantom
1936
Land of Liberty
1939
The Crooked Trail
1936
The Valiant
1929
Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground
1943
Raiders of San Joaquin
1943
The Masked Rider
1941
Trailing Danger
1947
Boss of Hangtown Mesa
1942
The Old Chisholm Trail
1942
Little Joe, the Wrangler
1942
Raiders of the Border
1944
Cross Streets
1934
The Great Meadow
1931
Code of the Saddle
1947
Raiders of the South
1947
Boss of Bullion City
1940
Annapolis
1928
The Navajo Trail
1945
Over the Border
1950
Law of the Panhandle
1950
Prairie Express
1947
Overland Trails
1948
Stagecoach Buckaroo
1942
Crossed Trails
1948
After Midnight
1927
Undercover Man
1936
Six Gun Mesa
1950
Lawless Land
1937
The Gentleman from Texas
1946
Range Justice
1949
The Fighting Ranger
1948
Trails End
1949
Law of the Valley
1944
Deep in the Heart of Texas
1942
Ghost Guns
1944
Outlaw Gold
1950
70,000 Witnesses
1932
Desperate Trails
1939
The Bugle Call
1927
Fighting Bill Fargo
1941
Valley of the Lawless
1936
Shadows on the Range
1946
Flame of the West
1945
Range Law
1944
Oklahoma Justice
1951
Dead Man's Trail
1952
Lasca of the Rio Grande
1931
Partners of the Trail
1944
Blazing Bullets
1951
Bar-Z Bad Men
1937
The Gambling Terror
1937
Guns in the Dark
1937
Son of Roaring Dan
1940
The Sheriff of Medicine Bow
1948
Everyman's Law
1936
Rogue of the Range
1936
Flames
1932
West of Carson City
1940
Ragtime Cowboy Joe
1940
Border Bandits
1946
Three on a Honeymoon
1934
Valley of Fear
1947
The Law Comes to Gunsight
1947
A Lawman Is Born
1937
Man from Montana
1941
The Divine Woman
1928
Marrying Widows
1934
Texas Lawmen
1951
Square Crooks
1928
Chip of the Flying U
1939
St. Louis Woman
1934
Stranger from Santa Fe
1945