Clarence Brown

Clarence Leon Brown May 10 1890 August 17 1987 was an American film director After serving as a fighter pilot and flight instructor in the United States Army Air Service during World War I Brown was given his first codirecting credit with Tourneur for The Great Redeemer 1920 Later that year he directed a major portion of The Last of the Mohicans after Tourneur was injured in a fall Brown moved to Universal in 1924 and then to MetroGoldwynMayer where he remained until the mid1950s At MGM he was one of the main directors of their major female stars he directed Joan Crawford six times and Greta Garbo seven Brown was nominated five times for six films see below for an Academy Award as a director but he never received an Oscar However he won Best Foreign Film for Anna Karenina starring Garbo at the 1935 Venice International Film Festival Browns films gained a total of 38 Academy Award nominations and earned nine Oscars Brown himself received five Academy Award nominations for six films and in 1949 he won the British Academy Award for the film version of William Faulkners Intruder in the Dust In 1957 Brown was awarded The George Eastman Award given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film Brown retired a wealthy man due to his real estate investments but refused to watch new movies as he feared they might cause him to restart his career The Clarence Brown Theater on the campus of the University of Tennessee is named in his honor He holds the record for most nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director without a win with six