Vanessa Brown(1928-1999)
- Actress
The attractive daughter of Austrian-Jewish émigrés who fled their
homeland to Paris in 1937 before coming to the United States, "B" actress Vanessa
Brown grew up exceptionally fluent in German, French, Italian and
English. She developed an early interest in acting.
Auditioning for Lillian Hellman at age 13 sporting a perfect
Teutonic accent, she then earned the chance to understudy Ann Blyth on Broadway
in the classic stage drama "Watch on the Rhine" in 1941. Vanessa was eventually given a featured role and followed that with a tour of the play
using the stage name of Tessa Brind.
A gifted student who also wrote and directed plays at her New York high school, she was a pure natural
when she appeared on the radio quiz show "Quiz Kid." Hollywood and
David O. Selznick took notice of her charms and transferred her to Hollywood
High. She quickly made her film debut in Youth Runs Wild (1944) and continued in
secondary teen roles with The Girl of the Limberlost (1945), I've Always Loved You (1946), Margie (1946), and The Late George Apley (1947), the
last being her best and showiest of her career.
Following high school graduation, the now-billed "Vanessa Brown" progressed to young adult
roles. She received lots of attention when she won the role of Jane
opposite Lex Barker's loin-clothed swinger in Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), but abruptly left
the series after only one attempt.
In the 1950s, Vanessa moved to TV where she became a perky panelist in such quiz shows as "Leave It to the
Girls" (1949) and "Pantomime Quiz," in addition to regular dramatic
programming. After a small part in the classic film The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Vanessa
found renewed attention on Broadway co-starring as the girl who lives
upstairs in the phenomenal hit "The Seven Year Itch" opposite Tom Ewell.
Of course, she wasn't given the chance to repeat her sexy role in
Hollywood. The meteoric Marilyn Monroe was an absolute sensation in Vanessa's
part opposite Ewell in the 1955 movie version.
On TV, Vanessa replaced Joan Caulfield on the sitcom My Favorite Husband (1953) with Barry Nelson, enjoying a
couple of seasons of steady paychecks. Politics overrode all other
interests in 1956 when she actively served as a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention. Acting took a further back seat in the
early 60s when she married her second husband, TV director Mark Sandrich Jr., and
gave birth to two children. From then on she was glimpsed here and
there in small, matronly roles in such films as Rosie! (1967) and Bless the Beasts & Children (1971). In
addition she had some running parts on a couple of daytime and
nighttime TV programs.
Vanessa's last years were marred by a second divorce (from Sandrich) and ill health. Diagnosed with breast cancer in
1988, she had successful surgery, but the cancer returned and the 71-year-old actress died
on May 21, 1999 at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California.
homeland to Paris in 1937 before coming to the United States, "B" actress Vanessa
Brown grew up exceptionally fluent in German, French, Italian and
English. She developed an early interest in acting.
Auditioning for Lillian Hellman at age 13 sporting a perfect
Teutonic accent, she then earned the chance to understudy Ann Blyth on Broadway
in the classic stage drama "Watch on the Rhine" in 1941. Vanessa was eventually given a featured role and followed that with a tour of the play
using the stage name of Tessa Brind.
A gifted student who also wrote and directed plays at her New York high school, she was a pure natural
when she appeared on the radio quiz show "Quiz Kid." Hollywood and
David O. Selznick took notice of her charms and transferred her to Hollywood
High. She quickly made her film debut in Youth Runs Wild (1944) and continued in
secondary teen roles with The Girl of the Limberlost (1945), I've Always Loved You (1946), Margie (1946), and The Late George Apley (1947), the
last being her best and showiest of her career.
Following high school graduation, the now-billed "Vanessa Brown" progressed to young adult
roles. She received lots of attention when she won the role of Jane
opposite Lex Barker's loin-clothed swinger in Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), but abruptly left
the series after only one attempt.
In the 1950s, Vanessa moved to TV where she became a perky panelist in such quiz shows as "Leave It to the
Girls" (1949) and "Pantomime Quiz," in addition to regular dramatic
programming. After a small part in the classic film The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Vanessa
found renewed attention on Broadway co-starring as the girl who lives
upstairs in the phenomenal hit "The Seven Year Itch" opposite Tom Ewell.
Of course, she wasn't given the chance to repeat her sexy role in
Hollywood. The meteoric Marilyn Monroe was an absolute sensation in Vanessa's
part opposite Ewell in the 1955 movie version.
On TV, Vanessa replaced Joan Caulfield on the sitcom My Favorite Husband (1953) with Barry Nelson, enjoying a
couple of seasons of steady paychecks. Politics overrode all other
interests in 1956 when she actively served as a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention. Acting took a further back seat in the
early 60s when she married her second husband, TV director Mark Sandrich Jr., and
gave birth to two children. From then on she was glimpsed here and
there in small, matronly roles in such films as Rosie! (1967) and Bless the Beasts & Children (1971). In
addition she had some running parts on a couple of daytime and
nighttime TV programs.
Vanessa's last years were marred by a second divorce (from Sandrich) and ill health. Diagnosed with breast cancer in
1988, she had successful surgery, but the cancer returned and the 71-year-old actress died
on May 21, 1999 at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California.