He began his career as a Shakespearean actor at Guthrie Theater, where he appeared in productions such as Hamlet and Richard III.
[2] Brown was an original member of Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) and played in many NEC productions, including Malcochon by Derek Walcott, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men by Lonne Elder III, and District Line and The River Niger by Joseph A Walker.
He was part of the original cast of controversial play Song of the Lusitanian Bogey by Peter Weiss, which toured Europe and was subject to a riot in a London theatre in August 1968.
One of his best remembered roles was as Jared Philibert, the 50-year-old patriarch of a Caribbean-American family in Steve Carter's critically acclaimed play Nevis Mountain Dew.
[3] Brown died on December 13, 2011, of pulmonary failure at the Lillian Booth Actors' Fund Nursing Home.