On This Day

Birthday of Tod Browning

July 12th 1880

09:49 12 July 2024

American film director Tod Browning was born on this day in 1880. Browning specialised in the cinema of the macabre in a career that spanned the silent film and sound film eras.

His silent film collaborations with Lon Chaney and Priscilla Dean made him a much sought after director in Hollywood and led to him directing his two best known films 'Dracula' (1931) and 'Freaks' (1932). The latter was met with controversy for casting sideshow performers with real disabilities and was banned in the UK for over 30 years.

The movie has since been reappraised and is now considered to be of cultural significance. Browning's reputation as a filmmaker never fully recovered from the hostility generated by 'Freaks' and he would direct just four more pictures before retiring from the industry in 1939.

Tod Browning passed away alone at his home in 1962.