Clancy Brown

Clarence James Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles.

His film roles include Rawhide in '' The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension'' (1984), Frankenstein's monster in '' The Bride'' (1985), the Kurgan in '' Highlander'' (1986), Sheriff Gus Gilbert in '' Pet Sematary Two'' (1992), Capt. Byron Hadley in ''The Shawshank Redemption'' (1994), Sgt. Charles Zim in '' Starship Troopers'' (1997), Stanley Thomas in '' Promising Young Woman'' (2020), and the Harbinger in '' John Wick: Chapter 4'' (2023). On television, he has played Brother Justin Crowe on the HBO series '' Carnivàle'' (2003–2005), Waylon "Jock" Jeffcoat on the Showtime series '' Billions'' (2018–2019, 2023), Kurt Caldwell on the Showtime series '' Dexter: New Blood'' (2021–2022), and Sal Maroni in '' The Penguin'' (2024).

Brown has voiced Lex Luthor in various DC Comics animated media since 1996 and Mr. Krabs on ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' since 1999. His other voice roles include Long Feng in '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' (2006), Savage Opress in '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' (2011–2013), and Surtur in '' Thor: Ragnarok'' (2017). In video games, he voiced Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka in the '' Crash Bandicoot'' franchise (1997–2003) and performed the motion capture and voice of Hank Anderson in '' Detroit: Become Human'' (2018).

Early life

Clarence J. Brown III was born on January 5, 1959, in Urbana, Ohio, and had an older sister, Beth, who died in 1964. Their mother, Joyce Helen (née Eldridge), was a conductor, composer and concert pianist. The siblings' father, Clarence J. "Bud" Brown Jr., was a newspaper publisher who helped manage the Brown Publishing Company, the family-owned newspaper business started by Clancy's grandfather, Congressman Clarence J. Brown. From 1965 to 1983, Bud Brown also served as a congressman, in the same seat as his own father, and later as Chairman of the Board of Brown Publishing. The family continued to operate the business until 2010.

Brown graduated from St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., and Northwestern University. At St. Albans, Brown performed the role of Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth in ''The Crucible''.

Career

Live-action performances

upBrown in 2008
In Brown's first mainstream film, he was cast as Viking Lofgren alongside Sean Penn in the 1983 crime drama '' Bad Boys''. Brown is known for his role as the Kurgan in the 1986 film '' Highlander'', his role as Captain Byron Hadley in ''The Shawshank Redemption'', Rawhide in '' The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension'' (1984), Frankenstein's monster in '' The Bride'' (1985), Army mercenary Larry McRose in '' Extreme Prejudice'', the role of a band manager in ''Thunder Alley'' (1985), vicious killer Steve in '' Shoot to Kill'' (1988), the police officer in Michael Jackson's short film '' Speed Demon'' (1988), '' Dead Man Walking'', Sheriff Gus Gilbert in '' Pet Sematary Two'', Sergeant Zim in '' Starship Troopers'' (a role he would reprise in the animated series '' Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles''), and Captain William Hadley in ''The Guardian''. He also played a role in '' Flubber'' as one of the evil henchmen that get harmed by uncontrollably bouncing sports equipment. In 1989, he appeared in the action thriller '' Blue Steel''.

Brown has played prison officers in three films dealing with miscarriages of justice: the tyrannical Captain Byron Hadley in ''The Shawshank Redemption'', the sympathetic Lt. Williams in '' The Hurricane'', and Lt. McMannis in '' Last Light''. In 2001, he played a magical character credited as 'The granter of wishes' in the Hallmark version of ''Snow White''. In 2007, he played the Viking leader opposite Karl Urban in '' Pathfinder''.

He starred in several independent films in 2008: '' The Burrowers'', screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008, and released in the United States on DVD in April 2009, and ''The Twenty''. He appeared in Steven Soderbergh's 2009 film '' The Informant!'' opposite Matt Damon in which he played an attorney. He also portrayed Alan Smith in Samuel Bayer's 2010 remake of the horror film '' A Nightmare on Elm Street''. In 2011, he appeared in '' Cowboys & Aliens'' (directed by Jon Favreau) with Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde. He was cast as the voice of '' The Goon'' in the animated feature film. He also starred as Albert Marconi in the film adaptation of the David Wong novel '' John Dies at the End'', directed by Don Coscarelli.

Brown was a series regular on the science fiction series '' Earth 2'' from 1994 to 1995, playing the role of John Danziger. Brown was notable as the sinister preacher Brother Justin Crowe in the HBO series '' Carnivàle''. Though the series only ran for two seasons, ''Carnivàle'' has attained a cult popularity and his performance was applauded by critics for showcasing a new side to his acting talents. He also starred in the Showtime production ''In the Company of Spies'' and the HBO film '' Cast a Deadly Spell''. As conservative United States Attorney General Jock Jeffcoat, he was one of the primary antagonists in seasons three and four of the Showtime series '' Billions''.

He has also made many guest appearances on various television series including '' ER'', the '' Star Trek: Enterprise'' episode " Desert Crossing" as Zobral, '' Lost'' as Kelvin Joe Inman, and former baseball player (and investment scam mark) Rudy Blue on '' The Riches''. Brown also appeared as the frontiersman Simon Kenton, the key to America's westward expansion, in the 2000 Kentucky Educational Television production "A Walk with Simon Kenton". Kenton resembled Brown in stature and is buried in Brown's hometown. Brown most recently appeared as Hart Sterling, founding partner of fictional law firm Sterling, Huddle, Oppenheim & Craft in ABC's '' The Deep End''. He also guest starred on the '' Leverage'' series episode "The Gone Fishin Job" and on '' The Dukes of Hazzard'' sixth-season episode "Too Many Roscos". He appeared on The CW's TV production of ''The Flash'' in the recurring guest-star role of General Wade Eiling. He has also portrayed Ray Schoonover in the '' Daredevil'' episodes " Guilty as Sin" and " The Dark at the End of the Tunnel" and '' The Punisher'' episode " Kandahar". He played Sheriff Joe Corbin in ''Sleepy Hollow''. In 2022, Brown joined the cast of '' The Boys'' spin-off series '' Gen V'' as Richard "Rich Brink" Brinkerhoff.

Voice-over work

As a voice-over actor, Brown has appeared in various video games, usually playing an antagonistic character. He lends his voice to several of the crystallized dragons in the PlayStation game '' Spyro the Dragon''. He voiced the corrupt Baron Praxis in the PlayStation 2 video game '' Jak II''; Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka in a number of the '' Crash Bandicoot'' video games; Montross (a Mandalorian rival of Jango Fett) in '' Star Wars: Bounty Hunter''; Hades in '' God of War III''; Thrall in the cancelled video game '' Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans''; Scourgelord Tyrannus in '' World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King''; the conniving Alderman Richard Hughes in the Xbox 360 game '' Saints Row''; and the cynical, foul-mouthed Lt. Anderson in '' Detroit: Become Human''.

For animated television series, he voiced several characters (Hakon, Tomas Brod and Wolf) in the series '' Gargoyles''; Tanuki Gonta in the English language dub of '' Pom Poko'' (1994); Raiden on the animated series '' Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm''; a Hessian trooper in ''The Night of the Headless Horseman'' (1999); billionaire Maxmilian Speil in '' Godzilla: The Series''; and five of the six members of Legion Ex Machina in '' Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot''.

Since 1999, he has played the role of Mr. Krabs of ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (as well the films '' The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie'', '' The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water'', and '' The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run''). From 2000 to 2005, he played several roles (Captain Black, Ratso and the animated moose doll Super Moose) on '' Jackie Chan Adventures''. He also voiced Vice-Principal Pangborn in '' All Grown Up!'', Barkmeat in '' Catscratch'', Otto in '' Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!'' (which also stars fellow ''SpongeBob'' co-star Tom Kenny, who voices Gibson) and Gorrath in '' Megas XLR''.

For Disney, he has played roles such as the Dark Dragon in '' American Dragon: Jake Long'', the Ugly Bald Guy in the film '' Recess: School's Out'', as well as Undertow in '' The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea'', and he also made a guest appearance in the '' Kim Possible'' episode "Oh, No! Yono" where he played the titular character. He also voiced King Frederick in the Disney Channel series '' Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure'' and the Disney Channel film '' Tangled: Before Ever After''.

For Nickelodeon, Brown has voiced several characters in the ''Avatar'' franchise, such as corrupt Dai Li leader Long Feng in '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' in 2006 and top gangster Yakone in ''The Legend of Korra'' in 2012. He guest-starred in ''Dungeon'' as the Demon Cat and the narrator for the opening and closing quotes in the episode "Ocean of Fear". Brown also voices Destro in '' G.I. Joe: Renegades''; Jeff Fischer's biological father in ''American Dad!''; Grune the Destroyer in the ''ThunderCats'' reboot; and the recurring role of Agent Silas in '' Transformers: Prime''.

From 2011 to 2013, Brown voiced Savage Opress, Count Dooku's new apprentice and Darth Maul's brother, in '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars''. He starred as Chris "Dogpound or Rahzar" Bradford, Shredder's top henchman, in the 2012 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' television series. From the third quarter of 2014, Brown began doing voice-overs as the main talent for Chevy truck national and regional television commercials. On March 21, 2016, Brown began voicing a new character to the series, Red Death, a parody of the Marvel villain Red Skull, in '' The Venture Brothers'' episode "Red Means Stop". He continued this role in season 7, and was signed to appear in season 8 before the show's cancellation.

DC Comics media

Brown is well known for voicing the villainous Lex Luthor in various animated media since 1996. He first voiced Luthor in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), starting with '' Superman: The Animated Series'' (where he had originally auditioned for the role of Superman) and reprised his role in the subsequent animated series ''Justice League'' and ''Justice League Unlimited''. He also voiced the character in the video game '' Superman: Shadow of Apokolips'' as well as '' The Batman'' cartoon series. Brown later again played Luthor in the 2009 animated film '' Superman/Batman: Public Enemies''. He also voiced a character under the name Rohtul (which is Luthor spelled backwards) in '' Batman: Brave and the Bold'' (while Kevin Michael Richardson provided the voice of the actual character). Brown once again voiced Lex in the video games '' Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes'', '' Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham'' and '' Lego DC Super-Villains''. From all these vocal appearances, Brown has played Lex Luthor longer than any other actor in history, including his own ''Justice League'' co-star Michael Rosenbaum (in ''Smallville'').

Brown is also known for his voice work as villains in various DC animated series, films, television shows, and video games: Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow on ''Batman Beyond'', Trident on ''Teen Titans'', Mr. Freeze and Bane on '' The Batman'', Per Degaton in '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold'', Parallax in the live-action ''Green Lantern'' film, King Faraday in '' Young Justice'', and Zartok in '' Green Lantern: The Animated Series''. He appeared on The CW's ''The Flash'' recurring in the first season as General Wade Eiling, and on HBO's '' The Penguin'' as Sal Maroni.

Marvel Comics media

Brown has also voiced various Marvel characters in various animated projects: Sasquatch on '' The Incredible Hulk'' 1996 cartoon series, several characters ( George Stacy, Rhino and Ox) on '' The Spectacular Spider-Man'', Mr. Sinister on '' Wolverine and the X-Men'', Odin in '' Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'', and both Red Hulk and Taskmaster on '' Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'' and ''Ultimate Spider-Man''. In '' Daredevil'' and '' The Punisher'' he plays Major Schoonover, Frank Castle's former commanding officer. In '' Thor: Ragnarok'', he voices the fire demon Surtur.

Personal life

Brown has been married to Jeanne Johnson since 1993. They have two children.

Filmography

Live-action

Film

Television

Voice roles

Film

Television

Video games

Documentaries

References

Further reading

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External links

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* Interview: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/14/1163340735/bad-guys-never-think-theyre-bad-guys-says-veteran-character-actor-clancy-brown

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Clancy
1959 births
Living people
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
Clancy
Male actors from Ohio
Northwestern University School of Communication alumni
Nickelodeon people
People from Urbana, Ohio
St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni