Tod Browning (1882 - 1962)

Date of Birth: 12 July 1882
Place of Birth: Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Date of Death: 6 October 1962 (from cancer)
Place of Death: Hollywood, California, USA
Also Known As:

BIOGRAPHY

After James Whale, Tod Browning is the most famous of the 1930s horror film directors, thanks largely to his work on the lacklustre Dracula (1931) and the wonderful Freaks (1932). Born Charles Albert Browning Jr on 12 July 1880 in Louisville, Kentucky he was smitten wit entertainment from an early age, staging amateur plays in his backyard as a child. His first love was the circus and, despite coming from a fairly affluent family, ran away from home at the age of 16 to become a carnival performer. He changed his name to Tod and worked his way around the States as a sideshow barker, as a performer in The Living Corpse act and as a clown for the Ringling Brothers. He also found time to take to the stage where he performed magic tricks, danced and even acted in vaudeville, appearing alongside such legends as Mutt and Jeff and Charles Murray.

While working in the theatre he got his first chance to direct, overseeing productions at a variety theatre in New York. There he met the legendary film director D. W. Griffith and soon afterwards joined Charles Murray in a series of single-reel nickelodeon comedies for Griffith and the Biograph company. When Griffith left the Biograph company in 1913 and headed to Hollywood, Browning followed him to Reliance-Majestic Studios and had a tiny, uncredited role in Griffith's epic Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916).

Taking inspiration from Griffith, Browning started directing his own films but his burgeoning career was almost cut short by tragedy - after just 11 films, he was involved in a horrific traffic accident. In June 1915, his car crashed into a train, killing his actor passengers Elmer Booth and George A. Seigmann and shattering Browning's right leg.

While he recovered from the physical and emotional traumas of the accident, Browning turned to writing scripts but did not return to a film set until 1917 when he made his feature debut, Jim Bludso. In 1918 he joined Bluebird Productions where he met producer Irving Thalberg who in turn introduced him to the horror legend Lon Chaney. Although their debut film, The Wicked Darling (1919), was another success, tragedy was about to rear its ugly head again.

Browning's father died and the director was plunged into a fit of depression which eventually led to alcoholism. Universal, who owned Bluebird Productions, let him go and his wife left him. After a long struggle with his illnesses, Browning was able to get his life back together, reconciling with his wife, and landing a one-picture deal with Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The Day of Faith was again a success and work was suddenly easier to come by again.

Browning returned to Universal and, again under the auspices of Irving Thalberg, was re-teamed with Lon Chaney for The Unholy Three (1925). It drew heavily on his time as a circus performer and, perhaps thanks to this personal touch and to the star power of Chaney, proved to be his biggest hit to date. He stuck with Chaney for a series of mysteries and thrillers, including The Blackbird (1926), The Road to Mandalay (1926) and The Unknown (1927). It was during this period that the pair made London After Midnight (1927) which has become the holy grail for horror fans everywhere having been lost for many years.

Having dabbled with horror, Browning jumped in feet first when Universal offered him the chance to helm their adaptation of Dracula (1931) with Bela Lugosi in the title role. Although clearly a very important and influential film, it's also a very stagey and static one - hidebound by the existing stage version, Browning was unable to bring the story to life in the way that Whale would do with Frankenstein (1931).

He was on far better form with Freaks (1932), his best film and one of the most genuinely creepy and disturbing horror films of the 1930s. Again set in a familiar circus milieu, it remains Browning's masterpiece - dark, sinister and compelling it should be required viewing for any self-respecting horror fan and it almost beggars belief that this is the same director who seemed to sleepwalk his way through Dracula the year before.

Freaks met with more than its fair share of censorship problems and Browning suddenly found himself unable to get his projects off the ground. It was a whole year later that he teamed up with the equally shunned actor John Gilbert on Fast Workers (1933) and it wasn't until 1935 that he got to direct again, remaking London After Midnight as Mark of the Vampire (1935), starring Lionel Barrymore and Bela Lugosi. Although his career was almost at its end, he still had one last horror classic in him - The Devil-Doll (1936), again starring Barrymore.

After making Miracles for Sale in 1939 and doing some scenario work for MGM, Browning retired to Malibu in 1942. His wife died two years later and Browning became a virtual recluse, unseen by neighbours and unheard from by his former colleagues. His disappearance from public life was so complete that trade journal Variety actually thought that he had died and ran a premature obituary. In the late 1950s he developed throat cancer and became even more elusive - he wouldn't even see his own family at the funeral of brother Avery in 1959, insisting that he watch the proceedings from a private room. He died alone on 6 October 1962.

Browning never really achieved the same cult status as James Whale which is a shame as Freaks and The Devil-Doll are both outstanding films. Only the tedious Dracula really sullies his genre CV and that was perhaps due more to the script than to Browning's talents.
KEVIN LYONS

* = television

1916
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (script, assistant director, performer (car owner / crook))
Intolérance - French title
Intolerance
Intolerance: A Sun-Play of the Ages
Intolerância - Brazilian / Portuguese title
Intolerancia - Spanish title
Intolerància - Catalan Spanish title
Nietolerancja - Polish title
Suvaitsemattomuus - Finnish title

The Eyes of Mystery (director)

1925
The Mystic (script, director)

The Unholy Three (director)
Le club des trois - French title
A Trindade Maldita - Portuguese title
El trío fantástico - Spanish title
Die Unheimlichen Drei - Austrian title

1926
The Blackbird (script, director)
O Lacrau - Portuguese title
Maldad encubierta - Spanish title
Der Rabe von London - German title
Der Schwarze Vogel - Austrian title
Ein Unheimlicher Verbrecher - Austrian title

1927
London After Midnight (story, director)
La casa del horror - Spanish title
Il fantasma del castello - Italian title
The Hypnotist - UK title
Laukaus yössä - Finnish title
London nach Mitternacht - Austrian title
Londres après minuit - French title
Londres Depois da Meia-Noite - Portuguese title
Um Mitternacht - German title
Der Vampyr - Austrian title

The Show (director)
O Palácio da Ilusão - Portuguese title
El palacio de las maravillas - Spanish title

The Unknown (story, director)
Alonzo kädetön - Finnish title
Garras humanas - Spanish title
O Homem Sem Braços - Portuguese title
Der Mann ohne Hände - Austrian title
Lo sconosciuto - Italian title
The Unknown - Der Unbekannte - German title
Der Unbekannte - Austrian title

1928
West of Zanzibar (producer, director)
Em Plena Selva - Portuguese title
Das Gesetz des Kongo - Austrian title
Los pantanos de Zanzíbar - Spanish title
La serpe di Zanzibar - Italian title

1929
The Thirteenth Chair (producer, director)

Where East Is East (script, director)
Kaukaisessa idässä - Finnish title
Oriente - Portuguese / Spanish title
La route de Mandalay - French title
Vendetta d'oriente - Italian title
Der Weiße Tiger - Austrian title

1931
Dracula (producer, script (uncredited), director, performer (voice of harbour master (uncredited)))
Drácula - Argentinean / Spanish title
Drakula - Hungarian title
Ksiaze Dracula - Polish title

1932
Freaks (producer, director)
A Parada dos Monstros - Portuguese title
Fenómenos - Uruguayan / Venezuelan title
Freaks - kummajaiset - Finnish television title
Freaks - La monstrueuse parade - French title
The Monster Show
Monstres - French title
La monstrueuse parade - French title
La parada de los monstruos - Spanish title
La parade des monstres - French title

1935
Mark of the Vampire (producer, director (uncredited))
La marca del vampiro - Spanish title
La marque du vampire - French title
Vampires of Prague
I vampiri di Praga - Italian title
Vampyrens mærke - Danish title
Das Zeichen des Vampirs - German title

1936
The Devil-Doll (producer, script, director)
A Boneca do Diabo - Portuguese title
La bambola del diavolo - Italian title
Hirveä kosto - Finnish title
La muñeca diabólica - Venezuelan title
Muñecas infernales - Argentinean title
Muñecos infernales - Spanish title
Les poupées du diable - French title
Die Teufelspuppe - German title
The Witch of Timbuctoo

1939
Miracles for Sale (director)

1996
Tod Browning, Master of Macabre (performer (himself)) *

2000
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (performer (himself in archive footage – uncredited)) *

Tod Browning and Lon Chaney (performer (himself)) *

1909
Ethel's Luncheon (performer)

1913
Bill Joins the Band (performer)

1914
After Her Dough (performer)

Bill and Ethel at the Ball (performer)

Bill Manages a Prize Fighter (performer)

Bill Organizes a Union (performer)

Bill Saves the Day (performer)

Bill Spoils a Vacation (performer)

Bill Takes a Lady Out to Lunch... Never Again (performer)

Bill's Job (performer)

By the Sun's Rays (director)

Casey's Vendetta (performer)

A Corner in Hats (performer)
His Hated Rival

The Deceiver (performer)

Dizzy Joe's Career (performer)

Ethel Has a Steady (performer)

Ethel's Roof Party (performer)

Ethel's Teacher (performer)

An Exciting Courtship (performer)

The Fatal Dress Suit (performer)

A Flurry in Art (performer)

Foiled Again (performer)

The Housebreakers (performer)

How Bill Squared It for His Boss (performer)

Hubby to the Rescue (performer)

The Last Drink of Whiskey (performer)

Out Again, In Again (performer)

A Physical Culture Romance (performer)

A Race for a Bride (performer)

The Scene of His Crime (performer)

Victims of Speed (performer)

The White Slave Catchers (performer)
The Wild Girl

Wrong All Around (performer)

1915
Bill Gives a Smoker (performer)

Bill Turns Valet (performer (Hadley))

The Burned Hand (director)

A Costly Exchange (performer)

Cupid and the Pest (performer)

The Electric Alarm (director)

Ethel Gets Consent (performer)

Ethel Gets the Evidence (performer)

Ethel's Doggone Luck (performer)

A Flyer in Spring Water (performer)

The Highbinders (director)

An Image of the Past (director)

Little Marie (director)

The Living Death (director)

The Lucky Transfer (director)

The Slave Girl (director)

The Spell of the Poppy (director)

The Story of a Story (director)

The Woman from Warren's (director)

1916
Acquitted (script (uncredited))

Atta Boy's Last Race (script, story)

Everybody's Doing It (director)

The Fatal Glass of Beer (director)

The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (script)

Puppets (director)

Sunshine Dad (script, story)

1917
Hands Up! (director)

Jim Bludso (script, director)

The Jury of Fate (director)

A Love Sublime (script, director)

Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp (director)
The Will o' the Wisp

1918
The Brazen Beauty (director)

The Deciding Kiss (director)

The Legion of Death (director)

Revenge (director)

Set Free (script, director)

Which Woman? (director)

1919
Bonnie Bonnie Lassie (script, director)

The Exquisite Thief (director)

The Mother and the Law (performer (owners of racing car))

The Petal on the Current (director)

The Pointing Finger (supervisor)

The Unpainted Woman (director)

The Wicked Darling (director)

1920
Outside the Law (producer, script, director)
Fuera de la ley - Spanish title

The Virgin of Stamboul (script, director)
La virgen de Estambul - Spanish title

1921
No Woman Knows (script, director)

1922
Man Under Cover (director)

Under Two Flags (adaptation, director)
Bajo dos banderas - Spanish title

The Wise Kid (director)

1923
The Day of Faith (director)

Drifting (script, director)

White Tiger (script, story, director)
El tigre blanco - Spanish title

1924
The Dangerous Flirt (director)
A Dangerous Flirtation - UK title

Silk Stocking Sal (director)

1925
1925 Studio Tour (himself (uncredited))

Dollar Down (director)

1926
The Road to Mandalay (script, director)
O Homem de Singapura - Portuguese title
La sangre manda - Spanish title
Der Schrecken von Singapore - Austrian title

1928
The Big City (script, director)
Los antros del crimen - Spanish title
La grande città - Italian title
In den Händen der Polizei - German title
Das Unsichtbare New-York - Austrian title

1930
Outside the Law (producer, script, director)
Fuera de la ley - Spanish title
De laglösas lag - Swedish title
Les révoltés - French title
Sirenen um Mitternacht - Austrian / German title

1931
Iron Man (director)

1933
Fast Workers (director)
Perdone, señorita - Spanish title

1934
Lazy River (backgrounds director of photography (uncredited))
La sirena del fiume - Italian title

1946
Inside Job (story)

1964
The Big Parade of Comedy (performer in archive footage (uncredited))

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008