Roscoe Lee Browne. RIP, Mr. Nightlinger.
April 13, 2007 3:34 AM   Subscribe

Roscoe Lee Browne, class act from beginning to end. The first time I ever noticed him was in The Cowboys, a western I've watched many times just to hear him speak.
posted by loosemouth (18 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by quonsar at 4:00 AM on April 13, 2007


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There's also a scene of him jumping out a window onto an awning in Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz. I also remember as the butler who replaced Benson on Soap after Robert Guillaume got his own spinoff.
posted by jonp72 at 4:41 AM on April 13, 2007


Thanks for posting this. Great voice-overs and narration.
Distinguished and poised. Great actor. One of a kind.
Will be missed. Thanks Mr Browne.
posted by doctorschlock at 4:42 AM on April 13, 2007


aww, His deep, warm voice gave Babe such a wonderful narrative, especially contrated with the squeaky mice chorus.

Rest in peace Roscoe Lee Browne.
posted by nickyskye at 5:24 AM on April 13, 2007


Great actor, beautiful voice! I actually met him (well, bumped into him) in NYC one morning. Nice guy.

My favorite appearance of his: on All in the Family, where Archie is in the hospital, and can only talk to him separated by a curtain. Classic TV moment.

RIP Mr. Browne.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 6:02 AM on April 13, 2007


My favorite Browne moment: on The Cosby Show, as Cliff and Claire's old English professor. Roped into their weekly pinochle game, he says in that wonderful Shakespearean voice of his, "No matter how dumb the dealer looks, always cut the cards."
posted by EarBucket at 6:08 AM on April 13, 2007 [1 favorite]


ObscureReferenceMan: Good on you, you've given me a new favorite. My old favorite? "Ay, there's the rub." *

Sleep, dear Mr. Browne, perchance to dream.

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posted by allaboutgeorge at 6:15 AM on April 13, 2007




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posted by mike3k at 7:06 AM on April 13, 2007


Great actor. I'll miss him. I've heard so many stories of people running into him, recognizing him, and he responds by sitting down with them to eat, buying them dinner, or ordering a drink and sitting and talking for awhile. A complete gentleman. RIP, Mr. Browne.
posted by breezeway at 7:34 AM on April 13, 2007


I worked with him once. He did the voiceover for a trailer that I cut.

He was a nice guy, and a real gentleman.

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posted by MythMaker at 9:38 AM on April 13, 2007


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posted by mer2113 at 10:16 AM on April 13, 2007


Aw, damn. I knew this day was going too well. Browne had a two-man show with Anthony Zerbe he used to take around. I was hoping he'd head back to Nebraska with it again. Man, I loved him in "The Cowboys". And he was in a clever episode of "Magnum PI" that still tickles me. Sure wish some of his Shakespeare stuff had been taped. Saw stills of him as Autolycus that really got my interest. What quiet dignity and versatility he had. Damn.
posted by RavinDave at 11:04 AM on April 13, 2007


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posted by Megafly at 11:29 AM on April 13, 2007


My special memories of Roscoe all entail him half-listening to me sing jazz as he was groggily attached to the bar at the old Money Tree in Toluca Lake, where he spent more than a few of his evenings over the last decade. There he always seemed to be, this effeminate and elegant Shakespearean-voiced icon, tossing 'em back as the resident "Norm" in a bar whose booths featured godawful etched glass portraits of the kids from Our Gang. He rarely cited poetry on those occasions. Instead I will always remember his voice laughing as he was ordering another round. I never knew he was the voice of the movie Babe, it makes me want to watch it again. He was an odd, insanely talented duck.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:59 PM on April 13, 2007


[FWIW, I'm NOT outing the dear Mr. Brown here on Metafilter. In describing his manner as effeminately eccentric, I'm just recalling my personal experiences & interchanges with him. That I recall, he always entered and left the bar alone.]
posted by miss lynnster at 9:14 PM on April 13, 2007


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posted by retronic at 2:53 AM on April 14, 2007


As a tough but beloved professor on the Cosby Show, he was one of my earliest inspirations to be a professor.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:49 PM on April 18, 2007


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