Melville W. Brown

• Name — Melville W. Brown • Born — 10 March 1887 • Birthplace — Portland, Oregon, U.S. • Died — 31 January 1938 • Place of death — Hollywood, California, U.S. • Occupation — Film director and screenwriter • Years Active — 1919–1937 • Spouse — Margaret Brown

Brown was born on March 10, 1887, to John and Fannie Brown of Portland, Oregon. He began his career in show business in local vaudeville productions and stock companies, such as the Baker Stock Company in Spokane, Washington. In 1916, at the suggestion of Charlie Chaplin, he moved to Hollywood to start a film career.

His first known credit is as a screenwriter, on the 1919 silent film, The Pest, produced by Goldwyn Pictures, and directed by Christy Cabanne. Over the next several years he would continue to write screenplays, including the critically acclaimed The Goose Woman, which he adapted from a story by Rex Beach, and directed by Clarence Brown (no relation). He would move into the directing field in 1926, with the film, Her Big Night, which he also wrote the screenplay for. In 1935, he left Hollywood and went to England, where he directed several films over the next two years, the last of which, Mad About Money, was released after his death. Over the course of his career, he would write or direct over 30 films in Hollywood and the United Kingdom. He returned from England in late 1937, and was working on a screenplay when he was stricken by a heart attack and died on January 31, 1938, at the age of 50.

• Film — Year — Credit — Stars — Reference • The Pest — 1919 — writer — Mabel Normand, John Bowers, and Charles Gerard • Fashionable Fakers — 1923 — writer — Johnnie Walker, Mildred June, and George Cowl • The Gaiety Girl — 1924 — writer — Mary Philbin, Joseph J. Dowling, and William Haines • The Rose of Paris — 1924 — writer — Mary Philbin, Robert Cain, and John Sainpolis • The Goose Woman — 1925 — writer — Louise Dresser, Jack Pickford, and Constance Bennett • Smouldering Fires — 1925 — writer — Pauline Frederick, Laura La Plante, and Malcolm McGregor • Where Was I? — 1925 — writer — Reginald Denny, Marion Nixon, and Pauline Garon • Her Big Night — 1926 — writer, director — Laura La Plante, Einar Hansen, and ZaSu Pitts • Poker Faces — 1926 — writer — Edward Everett Horton, Laura La Plante, and George Siegmann • What Happened to Jones — 1926 — writer — Reginald Denny, Marian Nixon, and Melbourne MacDowell • Taxi! Taxi! — 1927 — writer, director — Edward Everett Horton, Marian Nixon, and Burr McIntosh • Fast and Furious — 1927 — director — Reginald Denny, Barbara Worth, and Claude Gillingwater • 13 Washington Square — 1928 — director — Jean Hersholt, Alice Joyce, and George Lewis • Buck Privates — 1928 — writer, director — Lya De Putti, Malcolm McGregor, and ZaSu Pitts • Red Lips — 1928 — writer, director — Marion Nixon, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, and Stanley Taylor • Dance Hall — 1929 — director — Olive Borden, Arthur Lake, and Margaret Seddon • Geraldine — 1929 — director — Marian Nixon, Eddie Quillan, and Albert Gran • Jazz Heaven — 1929 — director — John Mack Brown, Sally O'Neil, and Clyde Cook • The Love Doctor — 1929 — director — Richard Dix, June Collyer, and Morgan Farley • Check and Double Check — 1930 — director — Freeman F. Gosden, Charles J. Correll, and Sue Carol • Lovin' the Ladies — 1930 — director — Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, and Allen Kearns • She's My Weakness — 1930 — director — Arthur Lake, Sue Carol, and Lucien Littlefield • Behind Office Doors — 1931 — director — Mary Astor, Robert Ames, and Ricardo Cortez • White Shoulders — 1931 — director — Mary Astor, Jack Holt, and Ricardo Cortez • Fanny Foley Herself — 1931 — director — Edna May Oliver, Hobart Bosworth, and Florence Roberts • Lost in the Stratosphere — 1934 — director — William Cagney, Eddie Nugent, and June Collyer • Redhead — 1934 — director — Bruce Cabot, Grace Bradley, and Regis Toomey • The Nut Farm — 1935 — director — Wallace Ford, Betty Alden, and Florence Roberts • Forced Landing — 1935 — director — Esther Ralston, Onslow Stevens, and Sidney Blackmer • Champagne for Breakfast — 1935 — director — Mary Carlisle, Hardie Albright, and Joan Marsh • Head Office — 1936 — director — Owen Nares, Nancy O'Neil, and Arthur Margetson • Mad About Money — 1936 — director — Mary Cole, Arthur Finn, and Alf Goddard