Johnny Brown

Johnny Brown (June 11, 1937 – March 2, 2022) was an American actor, comedian, and singer born in St. Petersburg, Florida, who built a career spanning Broadway, television, film, and recording. He spent part of his youth in Harlem, New York City, where he attended school alongside future author Walter Dean Myers.

Brown's Broadway career ran from 1964 to 1968, with credits including Golden Boy and Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights. His recording work began earlier, however, when he toured with Sam "The Man" Taylor starting in 1958 before launching his own discography. In February 1961, at age 23, he released his debut single on Columbia Records, pairing "Walkin', Talkin', Kissin' Doll" with "Sundown." A promotional insert detailing his background accompanied the release. His next single appeared in early 1968 on Atlantic Records — "You're Too Much in Love With Yourself" backed with "Don't Dilly Dally, Dolly," the latter featuring his impression of Louis Armstrong. That recording had previously been available on Crest Records.

Television became the primary arena for Brown's visibility. He gained wide recognition as a regular cast member on Laugh-In, a commitment that had a direct consequence on his film career: according to Brown's own account on the 1997 compilation album Comedy Stew: The Best of Redd Foxx, producer Norman Lear had considered him for the role of Lamont on Sanford and Son, but his Laugh-In obligations made him unavailable, leading Lear to cast Demond Wilson instead. Brown went on to appear on The Leslie Uggams Show, Julia, The Flip Wilson Show, The Rookies, The Jeffersons, Punky Brewster, Family Matters, Sister Sister, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Wayans Bros., and Martin. He also took a one-off role as "Fat-Man" on the original Ghost Busters television series.

His most sustained television role came on the CBS sitcom Good Times, where he played building superintendent Nathan Bookman throughout the show's run until its cancellation in 1979. Later television work included a 1998 appearance in Season 4 of Touched by an Angel, playing a dying comedian in the episode "Cry and You Cry Alone," and two episodes of the Nickelodeon sitcom Kenan & Kel in 1999. In 2004, he portrayed Wallace "Suitcase" Jefferson in the mockumentary The Old Negro Space Program.

Brown's film work included a small part in the 1970 comedy The Out-of-Towners, starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis, in which he played a waiter on a railroad dining car. He also appeared in several television commercials during the 1970s, among them advertisements for Hunt's Manwich and the Write Brothers pen, a short-lived Papermate product. The Write Brothers spot featured an elaborate musical number, "Write On, Brothers, Write On," with Brown playing a schoolteacher leading a chorus line of students. He additionally appeared in a TWA commercial as a skycap named Bud Jones.

Brown died in Los Angeles on March 2, 2022, at the age of 84. He collapsed shortly after leaving a doctor's appointment related to his pacemaker and was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital.