Tod Browning Biography

Fast Facts

• Was given an Honorary Life Member Award by the Directors Guild of America in 1948
• Began his directing career on a series of 1915 short films like "The Lucky Transfer" and "The Slave Girl․"
• Ran away from home at the age of 16 and worked as a clown and contortionist in circuses and carnivals
• Started out as an actor in the short film "Scenting a Terrible Crime" in 1913
• Worked in vaudeville and appeared in the burlesque revue "The Whirl of Mirth," where he performed sketches about popular comic strip characters
• Although "Freaks" is now considered his directorial masterpiece, negative reactions to the film at the time of its release essentially ended his career
• Best known as the director of several macabre silent and sound films, including "Freaks," "The Unknown," and 1931's "Dracula․"
• Frequently worked with actor Lon Chaney, making a number of bizarre, surreal melodramas for MGM like "The Unholy Three," "The Road to Mandalay," and "The Unknown․"