Georg Stanford Brown

American actor and director, arguably best known for his role as the quietly spoken, resolute Tom Harvey, great-grandson of Kunta Kinte, in Alex Haley's award-winning miniseries Roots (1977) and Roots: The Next Generations (1979). Georg Stanford Brown was born in Havana, Cuba. When he was seven, his family moved to Harlem in New York. He dropped out of school, aged sixteen, moving to Los Angeles a year later. Hoping for an easy wicket, Brown enrolled at Los Angeles City College to study theater arts. He found this much to his liking and went on to further studies at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan, on the side making ends meet as a school janitor to help with his tuition fees. During this time, Brown met his future wife, the actress Tyne Daly (of Cagney & Lacey (1981) fame). Their marriage lasted from 1966 to 1990 and produced three daughters.

Brown began acting on stage six months after completing his studies. Returning to L.A., he made his first credited appearance on screen as the Haitian rebel leader Henri Philipot in the Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor drama The Comedians (1967). He acquired mostly smaller supporting roles in other feature films until being third-billed as one of a group of inmates plotting an escape from a maximum security prison in the Gene Wilder-Richard Pryor comedy Stir Crazy (1980)]. Rather more prominent on the small screen by the late 60s, Brown came to the fore in guest spots on several prime-time detective/action shows. He made his breakthrough, starring as Officer Terry Webster in Aaron Spelling's police procedural drama series The Rookies (1972). After four seasons (1972-76) in the role of Webster, Brown decided to concentrate on working behind the camera, a move encouraged by Spelling. Brown, nonetheless, continued to act sporadically throughout the next three decades. Aside from Roots, he had notable roles in the miniseries North & South: Book 1, North & South (1985) (as Virgilia's headstrong husband Garrison Grady, eventually killed at Harper's Ferry) and as a visitor to Linc's (1998) bar (rapacious DC lobbyist Johnnie B. Goode). His voice has also featured in the animated series The Legend of Calamity Jane (1997) and Electric City (2012).

As a director, Brown has helmed a slew of made-for-television movies, in addition to multiple episodes of Starsky and Hutch (1975), Charlie's Angels (1976), Hill Street Blues (1981), Cagney & Lacey (1981) and Dynasty (1981). He was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, winning one for the top-rated final season five episode of Cagney & Lacey, entitled 'Parting Shots'.