Described as "the mastermind who made Shirley Temple the most famous child star in history, Betty Grable a GI Joe pinup girl and Marilyn Monroe a sex goddess," Brand was the head of publicity at 20th Century Fox from 1935 until 1962.

Married to Sybil Brand, a prominent philanthropist and political fundraiser, and the brother of a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, he utilized his family connections as well as his relationships with powerful columnists such as Louella Parsons and Walter Winchell to keep scandals and indiscretions that involved his clients out of the headlines.

He worked on several films with producer Joseph M. Schenck, and in 1935, when Schenk founded 20th Century Pictures with Darryl F. Zanuck, he hired Brand as the studio's publicity head.

For example, to enhance Tyrone Power's masculinity, Brand said that the 5'8" actor was six feet tall, and linked him romantically with actresses Loretta Young, Janet Gaynor, and Sonja Henie.

[14][15] It was a practice which was looked upon with affection rather than derision; columnists wrote anecdotes about Brand's tactics, and the Los Angeles Times praised him as "tirelessly inventive.

[20][19] In 1949, when it became known that Marilyn Monroe had done a nude shoot for a calendar, Brand said that she would "look good in a potato sack" and provided photos of her posing suggestively in one.

[21][22] In 1955, he created a frenzy on the streets of New York City when he invited photographers to shoot Monroe as her skirt was raised by the wind of the subway during the filming of The Seven Year Itch.