Johnny Mack Brown

Description[from Freebase]

Johnny Mack Brown (September 1, 1904 – November 14, 1974) was an American college football player and film actor originally billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career. Born and raised in Dothan, Alabama, Brown was a star of the high school football team, earning a football scholarship to the University of Alabama. Playing the halfback position on his university's Crimson Tide football team, he earned the nickname "The Dothan Antelope" and helped his team to become the 1926 NCAA Division I-A national football champions. In that year's Rose Bowl Game, he earned Most Valuable Player honors after scoring two of his team's three touchdowns in an upset win over the heavily favored Washington Huskies. While at The University of Alabama, Brown became an initiated member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. His good looks and powerful physique saw him portrayed on Wheaties cereal boxes and in 1927, brought an offer for motion picture screen tests that resulted in a long and successful career in Hollywood. He played silent film star Mary Pickford's love interest in her first talkie, Coquette (1929), for which Pickford won an Oscar.

Portions from Freebase, licensed under CC-BY and Wikipedia licensed under the GFDL