# Timothy Brown (actor)

Thomas Allen Brown (May 24, 1937 – April 4, 2020), known also as Timothy Brown, Tim Brown, and Timmy Brown, was an American actor, singer, and professional football player. He played in the National Football League (NFL) as a running back and return specialist.

## Early life

Born in Richmond, Indiana, Brown was raised in Knightstown, east of Indianapolis. Brown had six siblings, of which he was the second-oldest. When he was eight years old, Brown's parents divorced, primarily due to his father's drinking habits and time spent away from home in the Army. From there, he bounced between homes until he settled into a boarding school with his brother, John Brown Jr.
Brown is a 1955 graduate of Morton Memorial High School at the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home. At the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, Brown excelled as a star athlete in football, basketball, and track. He received around 15 scholarships to play collegiate basketball, and only one football scholarship to play for Michigan State. However, he had no interest in playing anywhere except Ball State--at the time an NAIA-level program--and decided to walk on to play football.

## Football career

Brown played college football for the Ball State Cardinals. Although he had initially been recruited as a basketball player, he chose to play football instead. Despite a personal feud with head coach Jim Freeman which almost led to Brown quitting the team, he agreed to play as long as he would never have to speak with Freeman. Despite this, Brown excelled as a star running back and returner for the Cardinals. In his senior season, Brown led the Indiana Collegiate Conference in rushing and scoring, finished second in punting, and was selected to the All-ICC first team and the All-America second team. For his collegiate career, Brown set six Cardinal records: best rushing average for a single game (20.5), most net yards in a single game (164), best rushing average in a season (10.0), most rushing attempts in a game (21), most rushing attempts in a season (112), and most points scored in a single game (25—a record that still stands today). He also earned a varsity letter in track, participating in his junior and senior years.
Brown was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 27th round of the 1959 NFL draft. Brown feuded with head coach Vince Lombardi and struggled early in the preseason with dropped passes. Brown was cut by Green Bay following a week one 9–6 victory over the Chicago Bears in which he fumbled a snap whilst holding for a field goal.
Brown then signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he would play eight seasons as a returner and running back. In his first year, the Eagles won the 1960 NFL Championship Game over his former team in what would be Lombardi's only playoff loss. While playing for Philadelphia, Brown enlisted in the Army National Guard to make ends meet. Brown would have his greatest football moment on November 6, 1966 against the Dallas Cowboys, a 24–23 win in which he scored both a 90-yard and a 93-yard kickoff return (and almost a third if not for a trip-up with his own teammate after a 21-yard return). He is the only Eagle (and the first of nine NFL players ever) to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game.
The Cowboys-Eagles rivalry can have much of its nucleus attributed to a hit Brown took in the December 10, 1967 matchup. In the second half, Brown was hit in the face by Lee Roy Jordan chasing an overthrown pass. Brown lost three teeth, fractured his jaw, and broke a permanent bridge in his mouth. Jordan's hit—which Brown and his teammates claimed was both a late hit and an intentional elbow toward Brown's mouth—sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
After initially planning to retire, Brown would play one more season in 1968 for the Baltimore Colts. He scored the last touchdown in the 1968 NFL Championship Game and his final game was two weeks later in Super Bowl III with the Colts. He would finish with 80 return yards in the Colts' historic 16–7 loss to the New York Jets.
Brown went to the Pro Bowl in 1962, 1963, and 1965. He led the league twice in all-purpose yards, in 1962 and 1963 with 2,306 and 2,428 yards, respectively. He also led the league in kick returns and return yards twice, in 1961 and 1963.
He was inducted into the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame in 1990. Then known as the Eagles Honor Roll, he was the only member to be inducted that year.
Brown also served as a color analyst for CBS NFL telecasts in 1973. In 1969, Brown was approached by Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell to be an on-air talent for ABC's Monday Night Football, but declined the offer to pursue his career in acting.

## Acting career

Brown used the name "Timothy Brown" as an actor, to more clearly distinguish himself from Jim Brown, the Cleveland Browns running back who also became an actor.
Brown's acting career began while he was still an active player, with a guest appearance on the Season 3 premiere of The Wild Wild West as Clint Cartwheel in the episode titled "The Night of the Bubbling Death", which originally aired on September 8, 1967.
After retiring from the NFL, he became a full-time actor, appearing in such films as MASH (1970), Sweet Sugar (1972), Black Gunn (1972), Bonnie's Kids (1973), Girls Are for Loving (1973), Dynamite Brothers (1974), Nashville (1975), Zebra Force (1976), Black Heat (1976), Gus (1976) and Midnight Ride (1990). He also appeared in a half-dozen episodes of the first season of the M*A*S*H television series as Dr. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones, but was dropped from the show. While it was reported that was due to the producers learning there were no African American surgeons serving in Korea during the Korean War, the producers said it was due to not feeling they could come up with meaningful stories involving that character when they were concentrating on writing stories about the characters Hawkeye and Trapper John. Along with Gary Burghoff, G. Wood, and Corey Fischer, he is one of only four actors who appeared in both the original MASH movie and the spin-off television series.
He made three guest appearances in the 1960s–1970s TV show Adam-12 and appeared in a Season 1 episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show with opposite guest star and previous MASH co-star John Schuck. Both played retired NFL players vying for a job as sportscaster.

## Music
### 1950s and 60s

Brown began singing when he was attending Ball State. He performed in a band called 'Timmy Brown and the Thunderbirds'. His band included three white students at a time when interracial bands were quite rare.
In 1962, Brown recorded with Imperial Records (Travis Music Co. & Rittenhouse Music, Inc.) "I Got Nothin' But Time" and "Silly Rumors" while still in the NFL. The songs were written by N. Meade and V. McCoy and produced and arranged by Jerry Ragavoy.
In 1964, he headed a stage show at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When his part of the show came up, Brown backed by a nine piece orchestra started off with "What'd I Say. Other songs he performed were "Do You Want to Know a Secret", "This Land Is Your Land", and "I've Got a Secret". He made a guest appearance on I've Got a Secret, during which he sang a song of the same name.

### 1970s

In addition to appearing in the 1975 film Nashville, his vocals appeared on the soundtrack.

### Discography

Singles :
| Title | Release info | Year |
| "Gabba Gabba" / "I'm Gonna Prove Myself" | Marashel M-1002 | 1962 |
| "I Got Nothin' But Time" / "Silly Rumors" | Imperial 5898 | 1962 |
| "Do The Crossfire" / "Love, Love, Love" | Mercury 72175 | 1963 |
| "Runnin' Late" / "If I Loved You" | Mercury 72226 | 1963 |
| "I Got A Secret (Gonna Keep It To Myself)" / "Baby, It's Okay" | Ember E-1106 | 1964 |
Various artist compilation appearances :
| Title | Release info | Year | Track(s) |
| Nashville, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ABC Records ABCD-893 | 1974 | "Bluebird" |
| Classic Soul Vol. 2 | TOTO 2 | 1997 | "Silly Rumors" |
| Drummin' Up A Storm The Imperial Records Story | One Day Music DAY3CD022 | 2013 | "Silly Rumors" |
| Philly Boys of the 60s | That Philly Sound 5638263119 | 2014 | "If I Loved You" |
| The Imperial Records Story 1962 | Real Gone Music RGMCD210 | 2016 | "Silly Rumors" |

## Film

| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
| MASH | 1970 | Cpl. Judson | |
| Sweet Sugar | 1972 | Mojo | |
| A Place Called Today | 1972 | Steve Smith | |
| Bonnie's Kids | 1973 | Digger | |
| Black Gunn | 1972 | Larry | |
| Girls Are for Loving | 1973 | Clay Bowers | |
| Dynamite Brothers | 1974 | Stud Brown | |
| Nashville | 1975 | Tommy Brown | |
| Zebra Force | 1976 | Lt. Johnson | |
| Black Heat | 1976 | Kicks | |
| Gus | 1976 | Calvin Barnes | |
| Pacific Inferno | 1979 | Zoe | |
| Porky 3 | 1983 | Assistant coach | |
| Code Name Zebra | 1987 | Jim Bob Cougar | |
| Midnight Ride | 1990 | Jordan | |
| Life of a Woman | 1993 | | |
| Frequency | 2000 | Roof Man Billy | (final film role) |

## Later years

Brown became a father in 1987 with the birth of his first and only son, Sean. In later years, Brown worked as a correctional officer in Los Angeles. In the 2000s, he had retired and was residing in Palm Springs, California. Brown died on April 4, 2020, of complications from dementia at the age of 82. Two years later, the biography Running Against the Grain by Roy Weaver, David Sullivan, and Shawn Sriver about Brown's life was released. In 2024, Timmy Brown was celebrated by Ball State Athletics on Juneteenth with multiple tributes to his life.