Not blacklisted because he fled: Phil Brown





Phil Brown played was a member of the communist-controlled Group Theatre and later help to found the Actors' Laboratory Theatre in LA. The story is that Brown was blacklisted in 1952, according to him, by labor leader Roy Brewer and The American Legion. 

We’ll never know if he was actually blacklisted because he fled to England in 1953 and stayed there until 1993. According to Brown, Ronald Reagan, as President of the Screen Actors Guild, outed him as a member of the communist party.

From 1941 through 1949, he appeared in 18 films and was uncredited in two of those. He was mostly a bit player throughout his film and TV career. He appeared in no film in 1950, 1951 or 1952, the years before he claimed to have been blacklisted. During those years, Brown worked on stage in Europe.

Brown was obnoxious. Once at a London theater, he sat behind Elia Kazan, who had named names to the House Un-American Activities Committee. Brown loudly berated Kazan to the audience around him.