Robert Brown obit

Robert Brown, ‘Here Come the Brides’ Actor, Dies at 95

He worked on Broadway with John Garfield, stepped in for John Drew Barrymore at the last minute on 'Star Trek' and was replaced by Jack Lord on 'Hawaii Five-0.'

 

 He was not on the list.

Robert Brown, who starred alongside David Soul and Bobby Sherman by portraying the oldest of the three logging Bolt brothers on the 1968-70 ABC series Here Come the Brides, has died. He was 95.

Brown died Sept. 19 at his home in Ojai, his friend Kiki Bremont told The Hollywood Reporter.

Brown appeared twice on Broadway and guest-starred as alternating versions of a dilithium-lusting character named Lazarus on the 1967 Star Trek episode “The Alternative Factor.” He got that gig when John Drew Barrymore failed to show up on the morning of the shoot.

In 1968, Brown was on the other end of a last-minute replacement situation. All set to star as Det. Steve McGarrett on the original Hawaii Five-0, he was replaced by Jack Lord five days before filming on the pilot began after producer Leonard Freeman had a change of heart about his leading man.

In his most well-known role, Brown portrayed the charismatic lumberjack Jason Bolt on all 52 episodes over two seasons of Screen Gems’ Here Come the Brides. A Western without guns, it was loosely based on the Mercer Girls, who were brought to the boom town of Seattle in the 1860s to work as teachers, and inspired by the Stanley Donen musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).

Future Starsky & Hutch star Soul played the middle brother, Joshua, and teen idol Sherman portrayed the shy, stammering Jeremy. Bridget Hanley and Joan Blondell also starred.

Robin Adair MacKenzie Brown was born on Nov. 17, 1926, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, and the Bronx. His English father, William, worked as a butler for Teddy Roosevelt and Sara Roosevelt; his mother, Margaret, was born in Scotland.

After serving in the U.S. Navy, Brown studied with Lee Strasberg at the Dramatic Workshop, where his classmates included Rod Steiger, Harry Belafonte and Walter Matthau. He appeared on Broadway in 1948 in Skipper Next to God, starring John Garfield, and in 1951 in Maxwell Anderson’s Barefoot in Athens, where he played Lamprocles, son of Socrates.

He was branded a communist after he was seen marching in a parade and was listed in Red Channels, and his refusal to sign a “loyalty oath” cost him employment. 

Brown came to Los Angeles and appeared in such films as The Flame Barrier (1958) and Roger Corman’s Tower of London (1962) and on episodes of Wagon Train, The Lawless Years, 12 O’Clock High, Bonanza and Perry Mason before landing on Star Trek.

With producers in a bind with Barrymore a no-show, Brown was paid more than what William Shatner got for the episode, he recalled in a 2015 interview. “But you have to agree not to mention it to anybody. It’s in his contract, nobody can be higher,” he was told. “Here’s a five-dollar bill, we’ll pay you five dollars more than Shatner. You do it.”

After Here Come the Brides, Brown played a statue that comes to life on a 1970 episode of Bewitched; starred as an oceanographer on the 1971-72 syndicated sea adventure series Primus; and worked on Mannix, Police Story, Columbo, Archie Bunker’s Place, Fantasy Island and In the Heat of the Night, his last onscreen appearance coming in 1994.

Brown did voiceover work for radio and television. He was also a writer working on short stories and a novel.

 

Brown also was an accomplished photographer. Survivors include his daughter, Laurie; step-daughter Kimyla; and grandsons Jeremiah and Max. His fourth wife, artist Elisse Pogofsky-Harris, whom he married in 1986, died in 2018.

Actor (31 credits)

 1994 In the Heat of the Night (TV Series)

Oscar Vollen

- Poor Relations (1994) ... Oscar Vollen

 1985 Brass (TV Movie)

Chief Shannon

 1984 Fantasy Island (TV Series)

Police Lt. Fasbin

- Lady of the House/Mrs. Brandell's Favorites (1984) ... Police Lt. Fasbin

 1982 Games Mother Never Taught You (TV Movie)

Warren Faber

 1979 Archie Bunker's Place (TV Series)

Phil Weber

- Man of the Year (1979) ... Phil Weber

 1977 The Last Hurrah (TV Movie)

Nat Gardiner

 1975 Police Story (TV Series)

Harold Montrose / Shelly Wagner

- Little Boy Lost (1975) ... Harold Montrose

- To Steal a Million (1975) ... Shelly Wagner

 1975 Columbo (TV Series)

Arthur Meadis

- Playback (1975) ... Arthur Meadis

 1973 Mannix (TV Series)

Robert Foreman

- The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress (1973) ... Robert Foreman

 1973 The New Dick Van Dyke Show (TV Series)

Professor William Shea

- You Gotta Have Class (1973) ... Professor William Shea

 1971-1972 Primus (TV Series)

Carter Primus

- The Net (1972) ... Carter Primus

- Trapped Part 2 (1972) ... Carter Primus

- Trapped Part 1 (1972) ... Carter Primus

- The Black Hole (1972) ... Carter Primus

- Nuclear Black Market (1972) ... Carter Primus

Show all 26 episodes

 1970 Bewitched (TV Series)

Seaman

- Darrin on a Pedestal (1970) ... Seaman

 1968-1970 Here Come the Brides (TV Series)

Jason Bolt

- Two Women (1970) ... Jason Bolt

- The Last Winter (1970) ... Jason Bolt

- Absalom (1970) ... Jason Bolt

- Bolt of Kilmaren (1970) ... Jason Bolt

- How Dry We Are (1970) ... Jason Bolt

Show all 52 episodes

 1969 J.T. (TV Movie)

Boomer

 1968 The Danny Thomas Hour (TV Series)

Alan Crowley

- One for My Baby (1968) ... Alan Crowley

 1967 Run for Your Life (TV Series)

D.T. Randall

- It Could Only Happen in Rome (1967) ... D.T. Randall

 1967 Star Trek: The Original Series (TV Series)

Lazarus

- The Alternative Factor (1967) ... Lazarus

 1966 Shane (TV Series)

Warren Eliot

- The Other Image (1966) ... Warren Eliot

 1965 12 O'Clock High (TV Series)

Sgt. Phil Reese

- Mutiny at Ten Thousand Feet (1965) ... Sgt. Phil Reese

 1960-1964 Perry Mason (TV Series)

Tracey Walcott / Goring Gilbert / Frank Sykes

- The Case of the Sleepy Slayer (1964) ... Tracey Walcott

- The Case of the Reluctant Model (1963) ... Goring Gilbert

- The Case of the Larcenous Lady (1960) ... Frank Sykes

 1963 The Dick Powell Theatre (TV Series)

John Michael Reardon

- Colossus (1963) ... John Michael Reardon

 1962 Tower of London

Sir Justin

 1962 Bonanza (TV Series)

The Reverend

- Blessed Are They (1962) ... The Reverend

 1961 The Lawless Years (TV Series)

Peter Coll

- The Mad Dog Coll Story: Part 2 (1961) ... Peter Coll

- The Mad Dog Coll Story: Part 1 (1961) ... Peter Coll

 1960 The Case of the Dangerous Robin (TV Series)

- Flight to the Desert (1960)

 1960 Wagon Train (TV Series)

Tim O'Toole

- The Albert Farnsworth Story (1960) ... Tim O'Toole

 1958 The Silent Service (TV Series)

Darnell

- The Tigershark (1958) ... Darnell

 1958 Matinee Theatre (TV Series)

- The Guest of Quesnay (1958)

 1958 The Flame Barrier

Matt Hollister

 1953 Appointment in Honduras

Helmsman (uncredited)

 1948 The Challenge

Minor Role (uncredited)