Sharon Rene Brown (born September 1, 1943) is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 1961 becoming the first Miss USA titleholder in history to win the pageant's Photogenic Award.

She moved to Minden, the seat of government of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, in the summer of 1961 with her parents.

Her grandparents were James Corbett Craft (1882 - 1974) and Lula Maranda Prine-Craft (1899-2000) both interred in the same cemetery as Polly.

Celebrating Louisiana's second representative to achieve the title of Miss USA, Minden proclaimed July 25, 1961, as Sharon Brown Day.

[3] After her Miss USA tenure ended, she pursued a free-lance modeling and television career in New York City.