Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 â€"
October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor,
screenwriter and vaudeville performer. Browning's career spanned the
silent film and sound film eras. Best known as the director of Dracula
(1931), Freaks (1932), and silent film collaborations with Lon Chaney
and Priscilla Dean, Browning directed many movies in a wide range of
genres, between 1915 and 1939.Browning was born as Charles Albert
Browning, Jr., in Louisville, Kentucky, the second son of Charles
Albert and Lydia Browning, and the nephew of baseball star Pete
Browning. As a young boy, he put on amateur plays in his backyard. He
was fascinated by the circus and carnival life, and at the age of 16
he ran away from his well-to-do family to become a performer.Changing
his name to "Tod", he traveled extensively with sideshows, carnivals,
and circuses. His jobs included working as a talker for the Wild Man
of Borneo, performing a live burial act in which he was billed as "The
Living Corpse", and performing as a clown with the Ringling Brothers
Circus. He drew on this experience as inspiration for some of his film
work.He performed in vaudeville as an actor, magician's assistant,
blackface comedian (in an act called The Lizard and the Coon with
comedian Roy C. jones) and dancer. He appeared in the Mutt and Jeff
sketch in the 1912 burlesque revue The Wheel of Mirth with comedian
Charles Murray.
October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor,
screenwriter and vaudeville performer. Browning's career spanned the
silent film and sound film eras. Best known as the director of Dracula
(1931), Freaks (1932), and silent film collaborations with Lon Chaney
and Priscilla Dean, Browning directed many movies in a wide range of
genres, between 1915 and 1939.Browning was born as Charles Albert
Browning, Jr., in Louisville, Kentucky, the second son of Charles
Albert and Lydia Browning, and the nephew of baseball star Pete
Browning. As a young boy, he put on amateur plays in his backyard. He
was fascinated by the circus and carnival life, and at the age of 16
he ran away from his well-to-do family to become a performer.Changing
his name to "Tod", he traveled extensively with sideshows, carnivals,
and circuses. His jobs included working as a talker for the Wild Man
of Borneo, performing a live burial act in which he was billed as "The
Living Corpse", and performing as a clown with the Ringling Brothers
Circus. He drew on this experience as inspiration for some of his film
work.He performed in vaudeville as an actor, magician's assistant,
blackface comedian (in an act called The Lizard and the Coon with
comedian Roy C. jones) and dancer. He appeared in the Mutt and Jeff
sketch in the 1912 burlesque revue The Wheel of Mirth with comedian
Charles Murray.
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