#Dracula90: 10 Facts About Tod Browning

By: Casandra Vicario

Born in 1880. He directed 10 films with his favorite actor, Lon Chaney. His standout films are "Freaks" (1932) and "Dracula" (1931), which in 2021 celebrates its 90th anniversary since its premiere. We're talking about Tod Browning, and we share 10 facts about his life with you.

1.- His real name was Charles Albert Browning. He was born on July 12, 1880, in Louisville, Kentucky, and was the second son of Charles Lester Browning and Lydia Jane Fritzgerald Browning.

2.- In 1896, he fell in love with a dancer and ran away with the circus at age 16. During this stage of his life, he took on various jobs, such as horseback rider and horse groom, and learned to free himself from handcuffs without using a key. He also worked as a clown for the Ringling Brothers circus.

3.- During his years in the circus, he decided to change his name to Tod.

4.- In 1913, at age 31, he played a gravedigger in the film "Scenting a Terrible Crime." It was in 1914 that he began his film career as a director at the studios Biograph, Triangle, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

5.- It wasn't until 1918 that he signed a contract with Universal Films and met the great Lon Chaney, who became his go-to actor. Together they worked on 10 films: "The Wicked Darling" (1919), "Outside the Law" (1920), "The Unholy Three" (1925), "The Black Bird" (1926), "The Road to Mandalay" (1926), "The Unknown" (1927), "London After Midnight" (1927), "West of Zanzibar" (1928), "Big City" (1928), and "Where East Is East" (1929).

6.- A tragic event in his life occurred in 1915 when, on the way back from a party, the car he was driving collided with a train. The actor Elmer Booth died instantly, and Tod Browning and the other occupants of the vehicle were badly injured — his own life was even in danger. However, he survived, and within a year he was back at the film studios. 7.- Tod Browning married twice: Amy Louis Stevens in 1906 and Alice Winston in 1917. Winston left him for several months because of the alcoholism the director developed, which nearly ended his career.

8.- Between shorts and feature films, he made 62 film productions, of which only 4 can be considered part of the fantasy and horror genre: "Dracula" (1931), "Freaks" (1932), "The Mark of the Vampire" (1935), and "The Devil Doll" (1936).

9.- He retired from film in 1939. His last film was "Miracles for Sale." He moved to Malibu, and in 1944 his wife Alice passed away. In his final years, Tod Browning developed lung cancer, suffered a stroke, and died in 1944.

10.- Most of his films portray or take place in the world of the circus.

Sources: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0115218/bio?ref_=nm_dyk_trv_sm#trivia The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror. David J. Skal. Diccionario Ilustrado del Cine de Terror. Miguel Juan Payán and Javier Juan Payán. Editorial Ohara Pub. Madrid.