On May 2, 1922, future actor Roscoe Lee Browne was born in Woodbury, New Jersey; he was raised in a Baptist family (his father was a Baptist minister). After graduating from high school, he attended Lincoln University in Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania and became a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Before graduating in 1946, Browne served in the Negro 92nd Infantry Division in Italy during World War II, and was also responsible for organizing the division’s track & field team.
Early Life
Following his years in the army and at Lincoln University, Browne began to take post-graduate courses at Columbia University, Middlebury College, and the University of Florence. Browne periodically returned to Lincoln University from 1946-52 to assist in teaching English, French, and literature courses before taking a full-time job selling wine for the Schenley Import Corporation.
In 1956, despite his friends’ advice, Browne quit his job selling wine to pursue a career in acting. His initial roles were parts in New York City’s very first Shakespeare Festival Theater, but by 1961, Browne landed his first movie role in The Connection.
Browne strove to break the mold endured by most black actors during that time; in an effort not to accept stereotyped roles, he wrote and directed an off-Broadway production titled A Hand is on the Gate in 1966. The show starred Cicely Tyson, Moses Gunn, Gloria Foster, James Earl Jones, and Josephine Premice, who received a Tony Award for her performance.
From On-Stage to On-Camera
Due to his success on the stage, Browne began to receive guest parts on television shows in the 1960s. He appeared on Good Times, All in the Family, Sanford and Son, and The Cosby Show, among a number of others. He became a regular on the ABC sitcom Soap, and eventually won an Emmy Award in 1986 for his guest role in The Cosby Show.
Browne continued his immensely successful acting career on television and in Broadway productions for the following decades. In the remaining 1980s, ‘90s, and early 2000s, he expanded his catalog, appearing in numerous roles in film as well.
But on April 11, 2007, at the age of 84, Roscoe Lee Browne died of stomach cancer in Los Angeles, California. Today, his numerous roles and contributions to stage and television are still loved by countless fans all over the world.
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