Actor. He was best known for playing the character roles of handsomely rugged good looking men most notably as a leading man and singer for Famous Players Laskey and Paramount Studios during the 1920s. He will be best remembered for playing the role of 'Roy Rutledge' in the World War I aviation saga film war drama, "Hell's Angels" (1930). The film which was directed by Howard Hughes, Edmund Goulding, and James Whale, and written for the screen by Marshall Neilan, Joseph Moncure March, and Howard Estabrook, and which also starred Ben Lyon, Jean Harlow, Lucien Prival, John Darrow, and Douglas Gilmore, tells the story of Brothers Monte and Ray who leave Oxford University in Oxford, England, to join the Royal Flying Corps. Ray loves Helen; Helen enjoys an affair with Monte; before they leave on their mission over Germany they find her in still another man's arms. He was born one of four children as James E. Brown in Dallas, Texas, to Clinton Pierce "Jack" Brown (1874-1937), and his wife Alice Mckay Brown (1876-1902), on October 22, 1900. He was educated locally and he began his career as an actor at the age of fifteen in the "Ziegfeld Follies." He made his actual film debut playing the role of 'Caspar Dent' in the film drama, "Man Alone" (1923), which also starred Hobart Bosworth, Jamie Gray, and William Conklin. He began his film career in silent pictures before gradually making the advent to sound with his role as 'Jimmy Spottswoode' in the mystery film, "The Canary Murder Case" (1929), which also starred William Powell, Jean Arthur, and Louise Brooks. Besides, "Man Alone" (1923), "The Canary Murder Case" (1929), and "Hell's Angels" (1930), his many other film credits include, "The Campus Flirt" (1926), "Stranded In Paris" (1926), "Hotel Imperial" (1927), "Love's Greatest Mistake" (1927), "Ritzy" (1927), "Señorita" (1927), "Rolled Stockings" (1927), "Swim Girl, Swim" (1927), "Silk Legs" (1927), "Four Sons" (1928), "The Fifty-Fifty Girl" (1928), "Just Married" (1928), "The Fleet's In" (1928), "The Case Of Lena Smith" (1929), "This Is Heaven" (1929), "Smiling Irish Eyes" (1929), "The Saturday Night Kid" (1929), "Paramount On Parade" (1930), "Dangerous Nan McGrew" (1930), "Let's Go Native" (1930), "Maybe It's Love" (1930), "The Third Alarm" (1930), "Divorce Among Friends" (1930), "Millie" (1931), "The Lightning Flyer" (1931), "The She-Wolf" (1931), "The Good Bad Girl" (1931), "Sporting Chance" (1931), and his last role as 'Jimmy Duncan' in the film drama, "Manhattan Tower" (1932), which also starred Mary Brian, Irene Rich, Noel Francis, and Hale Hamilton. He retired from making films shortly thereafter. He then appeared in vaudeville at Loew's State Theatres from 1932 to 1933, and in such independent stage productions as Ches Davis's 1934 edition of the "Chicago Follies," and in another show, the "Showboat Follies," at the Deadwood Theatre in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1934. He also performed in small nightclubs and cabarets in New Jersey and New York. Sadly, he fell into obscurity and he turned to drinking and he passed away from cirrhosis of the liver at the Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City, New Jersey, at the age of 39. He was married to Irene Gardner.