Roscoe Lee Browne – whose appearance in a Season 1 episode of “The Streets of San Francisco” I wrote of mere days ago – has died at the age of 81 after a long battle with cancer.
As with all character actors, you may not know him by name, so here’s his face:
I can think of very few appearances Browne made, whether sitcom (“Maude,” “A Different World,” “Soap,” “The Cosby Show”) or drama (“ER,” “Law & Order,” “The Shield,” “Magnum P.I.”), where he didn’t add a touch of class to the proceedings. He worked with Hitchcock on “Topaz” and also appeared in the Blaxploitation classic “Superfly TNT,” but his best-remembered work in theaters will probably be from his narration. After all, it was Browne’s voice you heard as the narrator in “Babe.” In fact, the greatest shame is that the last item on the resume of this fine actor will be for serving as the narrator for “Epic Movie.”
I mean, seriously, that sucks almost as much as the fact that he’s died…but it doesn’t mean he won’t still be missed.
