Johnny Mack Brown
Known for: Acting
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
Series
Perry Mason
Warner Griffith
1957
Series
This Is Your Life
Self
1952
Series
Official Detective
1957
Malay Nights
Jim Wilson
1932
Film
Flashing Guns
Johnny Mack
1947
Film
The Bounty Killer
Sheriff Green
1965
Film
Wells Fargo
Talbot Carter
1937
Film
Triggerman
Johnny Mack Brown
1948
Film
Border Bandits
Marshal Nevada
1946
Film
Born to the West
Tom Fillmore
1937
Film
Code of the Saddle
John Macklin
1947
Film
Oklahoma Justice
Johnny Mack Brown
1951
Film
It's Showtime
Self (archive footage)
1976
Film
Legends of the West
Billy the Kid in 'Billy the Kid' (archive footage) (uncredited)
1992
Film
Crazy House
Johnny Mack Brown
1943
Film
Ride 'Em Cowboy
Alabam' Brewster
1941
Film
Land of Liberty
Billy the Kid (edited from 'Billy the Kid')
1939
Film
Marrying Widows
The Husband
1934
Film
Desert Phantom
Billy Donovan
1936
Film
Apache Uprising
Sheriff Ben Hall
1965
Film
The Oregon Trail
Jeff Scott
1939
Film
Colorado Ambush
Johnny Mack Brown
1951
Film
Forever Yours
Maj. Tex O'Connor
1945
Film
Son of a Sailor
'Duke'
1933
Film
Saturday's Millions
Alan Barry
1933
Film
Law and Order
Bill Ralston
1940
Film
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
(archive footage)
1976
Film
The Play Girl
Bradley Lane
1928
Film
Belle of the Nineties
Brooks Clayburn
1934
Film
Cross Streets
Adam Blythe
1934
Film
Female
George P. Cooper
1933
Film
Coquette
Michael Jeffery
1929
Film
Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her
Self (archive footage)
1994
Film
Range Law
U. S. Marshal Nevada McKenzie
1944
Film
A Woman of Affairs
David Furness
1928
Film
Montana Moon
Larry
1930
Film
Lawless Land
Ranger Jeff Hayden
1937
Film
Hell Town
Tom Fillmore
1937
Film
Law of the Range
Steve Howard
1941
Film
The Secret Six
Hank Rogers
1931
Film
Short Grass
Sheriff Ord Keown
1950
Film
Deep in the Heart of Texas
Jim Mallory
1942
Film
Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs
(archive footage)
2000
Film
The Courageous Avenger
Kirk Baxter
1935
Film
Chip of the Flying U
'Chip' Bennett
1939
Square Crooks
Larry Scott
1928
Film
The Single Standard
Tommy Hewlett
1929
Film
The Valiant
Robert Ward
1929
Film
Back Trail
Johnny Mack
1948
Film
Boss of Bullion City
Tom Bryant
1940
Film
The Great Meadow
Berk Jarvis (as John Mack Brown)
1931
Film
Wild West Days
Kentucky Wade
1937
Film
Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid
1930
Film
Drifting Along
Steve Garner
1946
Film
West of Wyoming
Johnny Mack Brown
1950
Film
Range Justice
Johnny Mack Brown
1949
Film
Raiders of San Joaquin
Rocky Morgan aka The Black Rider
1943
Film
Gun Smoke
Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
1945
Film
Guns in the Dark
Johnny Darrel
1937
Film
Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove
Self
1934
Film
Rogue of the Range
Dan Doran
1936
Film
Boothill Brigade
Lon Cardigan
1937
Film
The Last Flight
Bill Talbot
1931
Film
Requiem for a Gunfighter
Enkoff
1965
Film
70,000 Witnesses
Wally Clark
1932
Film
Desperate Trails
Steve Hayden
1939
Film
Flame of the West
Dr. John Poore
1945
Film
Law Men
U.S. Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
1944
Film
The Bugle Call
Bit (uncredited)
1927
Film
Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
Joe Henderson
1941
Film
Our Dancing Daughters
Ben Blaine
1928
Film
The Law Comes to Gunsight
Johnny Mackey
1947
Film
Boss of Hangtown Mesa
Steve Collins
1942
Film
The Lost Trail
Marshal 'Nevada Jack' McKenzie
1945
Film
Against the Law
Steve Wayne
1934
Film
Flames
Charlie
1932
Film
The Old Chisholm Trail
Dusty Gardner
1942
Film
The Vanishing Frontier
Kirby Tornell
1933
Film
Branded a Coward
Johnny Hume
1935
Film
Western Renegades
Johnny Mack Brown
1949
Film
Texas City
Johnny Mack Brown
1952
Film
Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground
Wade Benson
1943
Film
Dead Man's Trail
Johnny Mack Brown
1952
Film
Bad Man from Red Butte
Gils Brady / Buck Halliday
1940
Film
The Texas Kid
Jack McKenzie
1943
Film
Frontier Agent
Johnny Mack Brown
1948
Film
Oklahoma Frontier
Jeff McLeod
1939
Film
Law of the West
Federal Agent Johnny Mack
1949
Film
Cheyenne Roundup
Buck Brandon & Gils Brandon
1943
Film
Stagecoach Buckaroo
Steve Hardin
1942
Film
Slide, Kelly, Slide
Johnny Mack Brown
1927
Film
Rawhide Rangers
Brand Calhoun
1941
Film
Canyon Ambush
Johnny Mack Brown
1952
Film
Man from Sonora
Johnny Mack Brown
1951
Film
Three on a Honeymoon
Chuck Wells
1934
Film
Prairie Express
Johnny Hudson
1947
Film
Starlit Days at the Lido
Self
1935
Film
Overland Trails
Johnny Murdock
1948
Film
The Silver Bullet
Silver Jim Donovan
1942
Film
Hurricane
Dan
1929
Film
The Gambling Terror
Jeff Hayes
1937
Film
Everyman's Law
Johnny- aka The Dog Town Kid
1936
Film
The Crooked Trail
Jim Blake
1936
Film
Land of the Outlaws
Marshal Nevada McKenzie
1944
Film
Stampede
Sheriff Aaron Ball
1949
Film
Pony Post
Cal Sheridan
1940
Film
Hidden Danger
Johnny Mack
1948
Film
A Lawman Is Born
Tom Mitchell
1937
Film
Silver Range
Johnny Bronton
1946
Film
The Divine Woman
Jean Lery
1928
Film
Trigger Fingers
Sam Hurricane Benton
1946
Film
Trail of Vengeance
Dude Ramsay
1937
Film
Bar-Z Bad Men
Jim Waters
1937
Hollywood Halfbacks
1931
Film
Montana Desperado
Johnny Mack Brown
1951
Film
The Ghost Rider
Nevada Jack McKenzie
1943
Film
Land of the Lawless
Johnny Mack
1947
Film
Fighting With Kit Carson
Kit Carson
1933
Film
Little Joe, the Wrangler
Neal Wallace
1942
Film
Valley of Fear
Johnny Williams
1947
Film
Between Men
Johnny Wellington Jr.
1935
Film
Stranger from Santa Fe
U.S. Marshal Nevada McKenzie, posing as Roy Ferris
1945
Film
The Masked Rider
Larry Prescott
1941
Film
West of El Dorado
Johnny Mack
1949
Film
Man from the Black Hills
Johnny Mack Brown
1952
Film
The Sheriff of Medicine Bow
Johnny Mack Brown
1948
Film
Frontier Feud
Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
1945
Film
Ghost Guns
Marshal Nevada McKenzie
1944
Film
Outlaw Gold
Johnny Mack Brown
1950
Lasca of the Rio Grande
Miles Kincaid
1931
Film
Rustlers of Red Dog
Jack Wood
1935
Film
Under Arizona Skies
Dusty Smith
1946
Film
Outlaws of Stampede Pass
Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie
1943
Film
The Fair Co-Ed
Bob
1927
Film
The Lone Star Trail
Blaze Barker
1943
Film
Shadows on the Range
Steve Mason posing as Steve Saunders
1946
Film
Crossed Trails
Johnny Mack
1948
Film
Flaming Frontiers
Tex Houston
1938
Film
The Navajo Trail
Marshal Nevada McKenzie
1945
Film
Soft Living
Stockney Webb
1928
Film
Ragtime Cowboy Joe
Steve Logan
1940
Film
Blazing Bullets
Johnny Mack Brown
1951
Film
Trails End
Johnny Mack
1949
Film
Whistling Hills
Johnny Mack Brown
1951
Film
Law of the Panhandle
U.S. Marshal Johnny Mack Brown
1950
Film
Six Gun Gospel
Marshal Jack McKenzie
1943
Film
Partners of the Trail
Jack McKenzie
1944
Film
Jazz Heaven
Barry Holmes
1929
Film
Man from Montana
Sheriff Bob Dawson
1941
Film
Gun Talk
Johnny McVey
1947
Film
Raiders of the South
Captain Brownell posing Johnny Langdon
1947
Film
Raiders of the Border
Nevada Jack McKenzie
1944
Film
Undercover Man
Steve McLain
1936
Film
Gunning for Justice
Johnny Mack
1948
Film
Arizona Cyclone
Tom Baxter
1941
Film
Valley of the Lawless
Bruce Reynolds
1936
Film
Annapolis
Bill
1928
Film
A Lady of Chance
Steve Crandall
1928
Film
Mockery
Russian Officer (uncredited)
1927
Film
St. Louis Woman
Jim Warren
1934
Film
The Stranger From Pecos
Nevada Jack McKenzie
1943
Film
After Midnight
Party Boy (uncredited)
1927
Film
Six Gun Mesa
Johnny Mack Brown
1950
Film
Over the Border
Johnny Mack Brown
1950
Film
Trailing Danger
Johnny
1947
Film
The Haunted Mine
Nevada Jack McKenzie
1946
Film
Son of Roaring Dan
Jim Reardon (Posing as Horace McPhail)
1940
Film
Fighting Bill Fargo
Bill Fargo
1941
Film
Riders of Pasco Basin
Lee Jamison
1940
Film
West of Carson City
Jim Bannister
1940
Film
The Fighting Ranger
Johnny Brown
1948
Film
The Marshal's Daughter
Johnny Mack Brown - Poker-Game Player
1953
Film
West of the Rio Grande
U.S. Marshal Nevada McKenzie
1944
Film
The Gentleman from Texas
Johnny Macklin
1946
Film
Law of the Valley
Marshal Nevada McKenzie
1944
Film
Undertow
Paul Whalen
1930
Film
Texas Lawmen
Marshal Johnny Mack Brown
1951