Mende Brown on AllMovie

An ambidextrous writer/producer/director equally adept at television, radio, and film, Mende Brown spent much of his long and varied career building radio and television studios both stateside and throughout Europe. Born in 1920, Brown got his break in the entertainment industry while producing and directing radio shows when he was just 18. Later called to service in World War II, as a soldier Brown was responsible for building radio stations in Europe and the Middle East. Upon returning to New York, he remained active as a radio program director while also producing films shot for the NBC series The Inner Sanctum. Entering into the construction of a Chelsea, NY-based film studio in the 1950s, Brown managed the studio following its completion. Later writing, producing, and directing the children's musical The Clown and the Kids in Bulgaria in 1968, the filmmaker convinced renowned circus performer Emmit Kelly to serve as the show's main attraction. Moving to Australia with his family a few short years later, Brown created The Little Jungle Boy before moving into more adult-oriented material with work in the spooky weekly anthology series The Evil Touch in 1973. Though he would remain in Australia to direct his last film, On the Run (1983), Brown and his family would return to the United States in the early '90s, making their new home in Malibu, FL. In February 2002, Brown died of a heart attack in La Quinta, CA. He was 81.