Harry Peter McNab Brown Jr. (April 30, 1917 – November 2, 1986)^[1] was an American poet, novelist, andAcademy Award-winning screenwriter.

Brown was born inPortland, Maine. He attendedHarvard University where he befriended American poetRobert Lowell.^[1] After hissophomore year, Brown dropped out of Harvard to write poetry and work atTime magazine. He also contributed toThe New Yorker.^[2]

In 1940,New Directions issued Brown's first poetry collection,The End of a Decade. The following year,Charles Scribner's Sons published his documentary-style epic,The Poem of Bunker Hill. The 158-page stanzaic verse about theBattle of Bunker Hill in theAmerican Revolutionary War won praise for its poetic skill and its timely presentation of a vital topic: young men at war. Louise Bogan fromThe New Yorker wrote that Brown exhibited "from the first, all the signs of virtuosity."^[2]

In July 1941, Brown enlisted in theU.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers where he served atFort Belvoir, Virginia. In 1942 he joined the staff ofYank magazine. He wrote a humorous column for the weekly magazine about a goldbricking private named Artie Greengroin. In 1945,Knopf collected these columns into a book entitledArtie Greengroin PFC.^[1]

Brown soon branched out into playwriting withA Sound of Hunting, which opened at theLyceum Theatre on Broadway in November 1945 and starredBurt Lancaster andFrank Lovejoy.^[3] The play was later produced byStanley Kramer and directed byEdward Dmytryk under the titleEight Iron Men (1952) with a cast ofBonar Colleano,Lee Marvin, andArthur Franz.^[4]

In 1944, Brown completed aWWII novel,A Walk in the Sun, about an infantry outfit fighting in Italy. His successful novel was quickly made into afilm of the same name. The film's directorLewis Milestone encouraged Brown to come toHollywood and work as ascreenwriter. He did so and contributed to numerous films includingWake of the Red Witch (1948) andSands of Iwo Jima (1949) both starringJohn Wayne;Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) starringJames Cagney;A Place in the Sun (1951) (won aBest Adapted Screenplay Oscar) withElizabeth Taylor andMontgomery Clift;Eight Iron Men (1952); andOcean's 11 (1960) starring theRat Pack (Frank Sinatra,Dean Martin,Sammy Davis Jr.,Peter Lawford andJoey Bishop). WhenOcean's 11 wasremade in 2001, Brown was credited for his work on the original.^[5] The filmEl Dorado (1966), withJohn Wayne,Robert Mitchum andJames Caan, was loosely based on Brown's novelThe Stars in Their Courses (1960) about a murderous feud in southern Colorado in the 1870s.^[3]

In the early 1960s, Brown and his wife moved toGuanajuato, Mexico, where they lived for 15 years.^[3]

Brown died fromemphysema in Los Angeles in 1986.^[6]

• 1936The Young Poets Prize, awarded byPoetry magazine
• 1937Lloyd McKim Garrison Award
• 1938–1939Shelley Memorial Award^[1]
• 1952Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay forA Place in the Sun (award shared withMichael Wilson)

• The End of a Decade. New Directions. 1940.
• The Poem of Bunker Hill. C. Scribner's sons. 1941.
• The Violent: New Poems. New Directions. 1943.
• The Beast in His Hunger. A.A. Knopf. 1949.

• A Walk in The Sun. University of Nebraska Press. 1998.ISBN 978-0-8032-6148-8.
• The Wild Hunt. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1973.ISBN 978-0-15-196720-9.
• A Quiet Place To Work. Knopf. 1968.
• The Stars in Their Courses: A Novel. Knopf. 1960.
• Artie Greengroin, Pfc. Knopf. 1945.
• Ralph Stein; Harry Brown (1943).It's A Cinch, Private Finch!. Whittlesey house, McGraw-Hill book company, inc.

• A Sound Of Hunting: A Play In Three Acts. A.A. Knopf. 1946.

• The True Glory (1945), co-written withPaddy Chayefsky andFrank Harvey
• A Walk in the Sun (1945), based on his novelA Walk in the Sun
• Arch of Triumph (1948), co-written withLewis Milestone
• Wake of the Red Witch (1948), co-written with Kenneth Gamet
• Sands of Iwo Jima (1950) co-written withJames Edward Grant, original story by Brown
• Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
• The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1950)
• A Place in the Sun (1951), co-written withMichael Wilson
• Only the Valiant (1951), co-written withEdmund H. North
• Eight Iron Men (1952), based on his playA Sound of Hunting
• Many Rivers to Cross (1955), co-written withGuy Trosper
• The Virgin Queen (1955), co-written with Mindret Lord
• D-Day the Sixth of June (1956), co-written withIvan Moffat
• Ocean's 11 (1960), co-written withCharles Lederer
• El Dorado (1966), Brown's screen credit consists of being mentioned as the author ofThe Stars in Their Courses

• Corliss, Richard, ed. (1972). "Harry Brown".The Hollywood Screenwriters. Discus Books. pp. 243–250.LCCN 72087848. An early 1970s interview with Brown that focused on his screenwriting experiences.

• Harry Brown atIMDb

• 1917 births
• 1986 deaths
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American novelists
• 20th-century American poets
• 20th-century American screenwriters
• American male novelists
• American male poets
• American male screenwriters
• American humorous columnists
• Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners
• Deaths from emphysema
• Harvard University alumni
• The New Yorker people
• Novelists from Maine
• Screenwriters from Maine
• Writers from Portland, Maine
• United States Army personnel of World War II

• Articles with short description
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