Marilyn Brown (actress)


Marilyn Louise Brown was an American actress who performed on stage and in television dramas and feature films. She was the sister of actor/author/playwright Barry Brown and author James Brown.

Early life

Marilyn Louise Brown was born on March 9, 1953 in San Jose, California. Her parents were Donald Bernard Brown and Vivian Brown. She was of mixed English, Irish, Sicilian, and Scottish descent. Her father named her after his favorite actress, Marilyn Monroe.
She started studying tap dancing, modern dance, and acting beginning in pre-teens, and continuing into her late teens at an acting school run by the actor Bo Hopkins; during that time, she appeared in several off-off Broadway plays. She also got married around that time.

Career

Marilyn and her brother Barry both made their film debuts in uncredited bit roles in the 1958 motion picture In Love and War. Brown had small roles in the lowbrow mid-70s drive-in exploitation comedies Chesty Anderson U.S. Navy and The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Outside of her sparse movie credits, Marilyn also acted in a few off-off-Broadway stage productions.

Personal life

Brown was a painfully shy and troubled woman who had problems with drug abuse and alcoholism throughout most of her life. She committed suicide at age 44 on July 22, 1997 by jumping off a Los Angeles freeway overpass. She was married and had one child at the time of her death.
Her childhood and family life with her brother Barry were discussed in books by her younger brother James—Final Performance, Hot Wire and The Los Angeles Diaries.

Films