Tod Browning

Belonging to a well-situated family, Charles Browning fell in love at the age of 16 with a dancer of a circus. Following her began his itinerary of being clown, jockey and director of a variety theater which ended when he met 'D.W. Griffith' (qv) and became an actor. He made his debut in _Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)_ (qv). Working later on as a director, he had his first success with _The Unholy Three (1925)_ (qv) (after about 25 unimportant pictures) which had his typical style of a mixture of fantasy, mystery and horror. His biggest hit was the classic _Dracula (1931)_ (qv), in which he also appears as the voice of the harbor master.::Volker Boehm