David Brown

Following a successful career in journalism as both a reporter and a managing editor, David Brown was brought to Hollywood by famed producer Darryl F. Zanuck as an executive at 20th Century Fox. Brown enjoyed a long tenure at Fox, where he worked various positions within the story department. Following a brief stay at Warner Bros., Brown joined forces with his former boss' son Richard Zanuck to form the Zanuck/Brown Co., which produced some of the most acclaimed films of the 1970s and 1980s. Their first film, "The Sting" (1973), was a huge box office hit and winner of seven Oscars, including Best Picture, which led the pair to producing other major movies like "The Sugarland Express" (1974), "Jaws" (1975) and "MacArthur" (1977). In the following decade, the pair continued their success with "The Verdict" (1982) and "Cocoon" (1985), only to disband the company in 1988. After producing his last film with Zanuck, "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), Brown struck out on his own with varying degrees of success, producing hits like "A Few Good Men" (1992) and "The Player" (1992), but also stumbling with "Canadian Bacon" (1994), "The Saint" (1997), and "Angela's Ashes" (1999). Following his final Best Picture nomination with "Chocolat" (2000), Brown wound down his career by producing the occasional film and Broadway musical, but undoubtedly left behind an extraordinary legacy as one of Hollywood's most prolific producers in the last half of the 20th century.