David Brown Biography

Fast Facts

• Won a Lifetime Achievement Award in Motion Pictures at the 1993 PGA Awards
• Started his career as a journalist and moved into editing, serving as the editor of Liberty magazine in the 1940s
• Quote: "(On "Jaws") "It came to my attention through a five-by-six card in the fiction file of Cosmopolitan․․․There was a brief description perhaps two paragraphs long, and the last sentence said it would make a good movie․ It was then in manuscript form, and I thought it would make a terrific movie but I had no idea how to go about it․ Nobody had ever conceived of a movie where a man-eating shark leans up upon the stern of a boat and swallows a man․""
• Produced many successful films with producing partner Richard D․ Zanuck, including "Jaws," "Cocoon" and "Driving Miss Daisy․"
• Used the sense of story and the publisher and agent connects he'd made as a journalist to aid in his producing career, and was known for championing writers
• Before his Cosmopolitan editor wife Helen Gurley Brown ever worked at the magazine, he served as its managing editor
• Wrote an anecdotal biography called "Let Me Entertain You" and a book of advice called "Brown's Guide to the Good Life: Tears, Fears, and Boredom․"