Roscoe Lee Browne actor and 800m man dies

He is one of those actors that you know immediately when you see his face, but find it hard to name something specfic in which he performed.

He has a deep body of work and led a great life. RIP.

Filmography

* Black Like Me (1964)

* Graham Greene’s The Comedians (1967)

* Topaz (1969)

* The Liberation of L. B. Jones (1970)

* The Cowboys (1972)

* The World's Greatest Athlete (1973)

* Uptown Saturday Night (1974)

* Logan's Run (1976)

* Legal Eagles (1986)

* Jumping Jack Flash (1986)

* The Mambo Kings (1992)

* Naked in New York (1993)

[edit] Television Appearances

* Eastside/Westside (1963)

* NET Playhouse (1967)

* The Invaders (1968)

* Mannix (1968)

* Espionage (1968)

* Name of the Game (1969)

* The Outcasts (1969)

* The Name of the Game (TV series) (1971)

* Insight (1971)

* Bonanza (1972)

* All in the Family (1972)

* Sanford and Son (1972)

* The Streets of San Francisco (1973)

* Good Times (1974)

* Barney Miller (1975)

* Starsky and Hutch (1977)

* Maude (1977)

* Miss Winslow and Son (1979)

* Soap (1979-1981), regular as Saunders, the butler

* Hart to Hart (1981)

* Santa Barbara (1980's)

* Falcon Crest (1980's)

* The Cosby Show (1980's)

* Benson (1980's)

* Magnum P.I. (1983)

* Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light (1987)

* 227 (1987)

* Highway to Heaven (1988)

* Falcon Crest (1988)

* Ring Raiders (1989)

* Columbo (1990)

* Father Dowling Mysteries (1990)

* A Different World (1992)

* SeaQuest DSV (1993)

* The John Larroquette Show (1994)

* New York Undercover (1996)

* Hope Island (1999)

* ER (1999)

* The Wild Thornberrys (1999)

* Law & Order (2003)

* Will and Grace (2004)

[edit] Voice Work

* The Ra Expeditions (1972)

* Logan’s Run (1976) Box the robot

* The Story of Star Wars (1977) Narrator

* Disney's Oliver & Company (1988)

* Babe (1995)

* Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

* Galapagos: Beyond Darwin (1996)

* Babe: Pig in the City (1998)

* Spider-Man (1995-1998)

* The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story (2000)

* Treasure Planet (2002)

* Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006)

* Epic Movie (2007)

[edit] Awards and Recognition

* Obie Award (1965) - Best Performance for his role as the deceitful, mutinous slave Babu in the Robert Lowell play Benito Cereno

* Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards - Best Actor Award for his roles as Makak the mountain hermit in Derek Walcott’s The Dream on Monkey Mountain (1970) and the voodoo priest Bynum Walker in Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1989)

* Inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in (1977)

If you trust Wiki...

Browne was the son of Baptist minister Sylvanus Browne and his wife Lovie (born Lovie Lee). Born in Woodbury, New Jersey, Browne first attended historically black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1946. He undertook postgraduate work at Middlebury College in Vermont, Columbia University in New York City, and at the University of Florence in Italy. Also an outstanding middle distance runner, Browne won the Amateur Athletic Union 1000-yard national indoor championship in 1949. He occasionally returned to Lincoln University between 1946 to 1952 to instruct classes in comparative literature, French, and English. Upon leaving academe he earned a living for several years selling wine for Schenley Import Corporation. Despite his limited amateur acting experience, in 1956 he stunned guests at a party — among them opera singer Leontyne Price — when he announced his intention to quit his secure job with Schenley to become a full-time professional actor.

This one says he won the 880 at the Millrose Games.

Confirmed here

He had one of those great voices.

No matter what the role or how small the part, you always noticed and remembered his work. That scene with him and Archie Bunker in the elevator was ground breaking.

Sorry to hear wrote:

He had one of those great voices.

Yes. A wonderful baritone voice. He could make the most mundane lines of a second-rate screenplay sound like lines from a Shakespearean sonnet.

He won the 1000 at the U.S. Indoor Championships in 1950 and 1951 and the 880 at the 1952 Millrose Games. He probably would have made the U.S. team for the '52 Olympics but he was injured at the time of the Trials.

He was best known in more recent times as the narrator of "Babe," the talking pig movie.

From the USATF website:

Accomplished track athlete/actor Roscoe Lee Browne dies

A national champion runner, who later became a distinguished stage and screen actor admired for his distinctive voice, Roscoe Lee Browne died Wednesday morning at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles from cancer. He was 81.

The National AAU Indoor champion at 1,000 yards in 1950 and 1951, Lee Browne's five team points at the 1951 Indoor Nationals helped the New York Pioneer Club win its historic and ground-breaking first Indoor National team championship. Along with victories by Ed Conwell in the 60 meters and Hugo Maiocco in the 600m, Browne's triumphin the 1,000 was a key ingredient in the Pioneer victory.

He finished a close second in the 1/2-mile to 2-time Olympic 800-meter champion and National Track & Field Hall of Fame member Mal Whitfield at the 1951 U.S. Outdoor Championships, and an excellent European tour earned him a #2 world ranking by Track and Field News that year. He also finished third in the 880y at the 1946 NCAA Championships while attending Lincoln University (Pa.).Browne traveled to New York in February to attend the Gala for the 100th Millrose Games at the Rainbow Room. Howard Schmertz, the longtime Millrose director, was sitting with his back to Browne at the Gala when he heard that booming voice and said, "That's got to be Roscoe Lee Browne!" The two then had a long conversation about the "good old days". Schmertz remembers Browne giving the "greatest speech I ever heard" when he MC'd an affair honoring his coach at the NY Pioneer Club, Joe Yancey. "He was mesmerizing", said Schmertz.

Known for his acting prowess on stage and in films, Lee Browne appeared twice on the sitcom "All in the Family" and had a recurring role on "Soap." He appeared regularly on a number of television series, including "A Different World" and "Law and Order," and in 1986 he won an Emmy Award for an episode of "The Cosby Show."

I was fortunate to work with Roscoe on a production of The Gospel at Colonus in 1990, and he was a true professional -- prepared, generous and gracious. After hours he was very funny, and used that marvelous voice to great effect. RIP

Browne was a fine actor, I did not know he was a track man.

Interesting. Thanks.

RIP.