Barbara C. Brown

Barbara C. Brown (October 18, 1901 – July 7, 1975) was an American actress born in Los Angeles, California, to Edward Brown and Selma C. Brown, née Teutschmann, whose own parents had emigrated from Germany. Brown began her acting career on the stage in California before establishing herself as a working stage and screen performer across several decades.

Her theatrical career took shape early, with leading roles in 1922 in two of Oliver Morosco's productions, Wait Till We're Married and Abie's Irish Rose. She continued working in stage productions throughout the following decades, appearing in Relations in 1928, Mother Lode in 1934, and Play, Genius, Play! in 1935. Brown appeared in two productions in 1937, Behind Red Lights and Sun Kissed, and in 1938 she appeared in both Our Town and Madame Capet on Broadway. She returned to the stage in 1941 with Liberty Jones.

Brown transitioned to film work in the early 1940s. In 1942 she appeared in You Were Never Lovelier, starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth, playing Mrs. Delfina Acuña, the mother of Hayworth's character. In 1944 she was cast in both Janie and Hollywood Canteen. She appeared alongside Ray Collins in two entries in the Ma and Pa Kettle comedy series, Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm in 1951 and Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation in 1953, with the two playing the Kettles' in-laws. She also had a supporting role in the 1952 Abbott and Costello film Jack and the Beanstalk.

In 1939, Brown married Forrest Taylor Jr., the son of actor Forrest Taylor, in New York City. Taylor died in 1968. Brown died on July 7, 1975, in Los Angeles at the age of 73. Both she and her husband were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.