Philip Brown was an American actor Brown was born in Cambridge Massachusetts After majoring in dramatics at Stanford University where he was a Brother of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity Brown played some of his earliest stage roles as part of New Yorks Group Theater When it folded he and other Group Theatre veterans headed to Hollywood where Brown worked in motion pictures and helped found the fabled Actors Laboratory In 1946 he played Ernest Hemingways famous protagonist Nick Adams in Robert Siodmaks version of The Killers alongside William Conrad and Charles McGraw as the titular killers His association with the Lab came back to haunt him later in the decade when its members fell under the scrutiny of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee Although he was not a communist Brown was blacklisted in 1952 and was eventually compelled to relocate with his family to England between 1953 and 1993 Overseas he was able to resume acting on stage TV and films he also directed for the stage and TV He was best known for his role as Luke Skywalkers uncle Owen Lars in Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope 1977 He returned to the United States in the 1990s and in later years made the rounds of autograph shows Phil Brown died of pneumonia on February 9 2006 at the age of 89
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