Johnny Brown, ‘Good Times’ Actor and Broadway Performer, Dies at 84
05.03.2022 - 23:19
/ variety.com
Wilson Chapman editorJohnny Brown, the actor, comedian and singer best known for his role as superintendent Nathan Bookman on the popular 70s sitcom “Good Times,” died Wednesday. He was 84 years old.Brown’s death was confirmed by his daughter, Broadway actress Sharon Catherine Brown, through a post shared on her Instagram. No further details on Brown’s death are available at this time.“He was literally snatched out of our lives.
It’s not real for us yet,” Sharon Catherine Brown wrote. “So there will be more to say but not now. Dad was the absolute best.
We love him so very much.”Prior to his sitcom stardom, Brown was a seasoned entertainment veteran, regularly performing in nightclub acts with his future wife, June Russell. Early in his career he dabbled in recording music, releasing the single “Walkin’, Talkin’, Kissin’ Doll” for Columbia Records in 1961 and “You’re Too Much in Love With Yourself” for Atlantic Records in 1968. In 1964, Brown was featured in a supporting role in a Broadway musical adaptation of the Clifford Odets play “Golden Boy,” where he lead the musical number “Don’t Forget 127th Street.” The show, which starred his friend and entertainment legend Sammy Davis Jr., lasted more than 500 performances.
In 1968, he played a lead in the short lived Broadway play “Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights,” which was directed by Sidney Poiter and featured an all-star cast including Cicely Tyson, Diane Ladd, Lewis Gossett Jr. and David Steinberg.Brown landed his first on-screen role in 1966, as a blind pianist in “A Man Called Adam,” which starred “Good Times” co-star Ja’Net DuBois and starred Davis. His first TV role was as a regular cast member in the short-lived, 1969 variety show “The Leslie Uggams Show,”
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