{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person | name = Tally Brown | image = Tally Brown, 1950s.jpg | caption = Brown, {{circa}} 1950s | birth_date = August 1, 1924 | birth_place = New York City, United States | death_date = May 6, 1989 (aged 64) | death_place = New York City, United States | occupation = Singer, actress }} '''Tally Brown''' (August 1, 1924 – May 6, 1989)<ref name="imdb">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0114755/|title=Tally Brown|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=2009-06-07}}</ref> was an American singer and actress who was part of the New York underground performance scene, particularly Andy Warhol's "Factory" and who appeared in or was the subject of films by Andy Warhol and Rosa von Praunheim. She was born and died in New York City.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/09/obituaries/tally-brown-64-dies-singer-and-an-actress.html|title=Tally Brown, 64, Dies; Singer and an Actress|work=New York Times|date=1989-05-09|accessdate=2009-06-07}}</ref>
== Musical and singing career == Brown began her classical musical training at Juilliard at the age of sixteen; however, she later took up the genres of jazz and the blues after having met Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood in 1947.<ref name="artfact">{{cite web|url=http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/diane-arbus-1923-1971-fzfd0tkqzw-183-m-3oy2p08rzf|title=Lot 208: DIANE ARBUS 1923-1971|publisher=Sotheby's, United States of America - 2006|accessdate=2009-06-08}}</ref>
Brown was an early and active supporter of Ruth W. Greenfield, the founder in 1951 of the Fine Arts Conservatory, in Miami, which ''The New York Times'' described as, "one of the first racially integrated theaters and art schools in the South."<ref name="nytimes"/>
By the 1950s, Brown had developed a rhythm-and-blues style akin to such performers as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, and during this time, she released an album entitled, ''A Torch for Tally'', with the Jimmy Diamond Quartet. The album featured the songs ''Limehouse Blues'', ''Honeysuckle Rose'', and ''My Man''.<ref name="artfact"/>
Brown appeared on Broadway and in the California tour of ''Mame'', as well as on Broadway in a production of ''Medea'' (starring Irene Papas), as well as off- Broadway.<ref name="nytimes"/><ref name="IBDB">{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=85044|title=Internet Broadway Database|publisher=The Broadway League|accessdate=2009-06-07}}</ref>
In the 1960s and 1970s, Brown sang in notable New York City nightclubs such as Reno Sweeney's and S.N.A.F.U. She also provided entertainment at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in New York City. Following her death, ''The New York Times'' published an obituary stating that Ms. Brown was known for her intense, dramatic renditions of songs by Kurt Weill, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie."<ref name="nytimes"/>
== Acting career == Brown began her film acting career by appearing in the film ''Batman Dracula'' (1964) and the film ''Camp'' (1965), both directed by Warhol.<ref name="imdb"/> In one scene from ''Camp'', Brown mimicked Yma Sumac.<ref name="yma">{{cite web|url=http://www.warholstars.org/filmch/warhol/camp.html|title=CAMP (1965)|accessdate=2009-06-07}}</ref>
Brown appeared in such experimental low-budget films as ''Brand X'' (1970) and ''The Illiac Passion'' (1964-67).<ref name="nytimes"/> She was also featured in the horror film ''Silent Night, Bloody Night'' (1972).<ref name="silentnight">{{cite web|url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070694/|title= Silent Night, Bloody Night |publisher=IMDb|accessdate=2009-06-07}}</ref>
== The New York underground performance scene == Brown was "prominent in the underground performance world of the 1960s and 70s."<ref name="nytimes"/> In the summer of 1964, Brown first met Warhol at a benefit for the Living Theatre, the alternative theatre in New York City. <ref name="artfact"/> Brown would later be featured in at least two of Warhol's films.
In 1970, she was among a panel of guests who participated in a discussion on the ''David Susskind Show'' about Warhol's underground film ''Trash'' (1970). Also interviewed were other members of Warhol's "Factory".<ref name="NYPL">{{cite web|url=http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/grillo.pdf/ |title=Rudy Grillo Sound Recordings: 1970-1989 |accessdate=2009-06-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514023951/http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/grillo.pdf |archivedate=May 14, 2008 }}</ref>
== Tally Brown, New York == German filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim directed a documentary based on the life of Brown entitled ''Tally Brown, New York'' in which he relied on "extensive interviews with Brown, as she recounts her collaboration with Warhol, Taylor Mead, and others...."<ref name="overview">{{cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/160984/Tally-Brown-N-Y-/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021180722/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/160984/Tally-Brown-N-Y-/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-10-21|title=Tally Brown, N.Y. (1979)|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|date=2012|accessdate=2009-06-07}}</ref> Released in 1979 in the former West Germany, ''Tally Brown, New York'' is a portrait of Brown's singing and acting career. The film included cameo appearances by actors Divine, Holly Woodlawn and artist Ching Ho Cheng. At the time, Brown was a resident of Washington Heights, Manhattan.<ref>[http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.208.html/2006/photographs-n08227 Diane Arbus 1923-1971 'Waitress, Nudist Camp, N. J.'], Sotheby's. Accessed April 16, 2020. "In her later years, Brown lived in Washington Heights, New York City, and was the focus of German director Rosa von Praunheim's award-winning documentary, ''Tally Brown, N. Y.'' (1979)."</ref>
In the same year of its release, the documentary won the ''Film Award in Silver'' at the German Film Awards for "Outstanding Non-Feature Film'.<ref name="award">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163324/awards|title=Outstanding Non-Feature Film|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=2009-06-07}}</ref> The documentary was also noteworthy for its use of cinéma vérité in its opening shot by depicting New York's gritty street life in and around Times Square in the 1970s, before it was later cleaned up.
Tally Brown's biographical papers and artifacts are archived at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pa. Tally Brown has been featured in her own exhibition at [https://www.warhol.org/exhibition/tally-brown/ The Andy Warhol Museum].
==Filmography== * ''Batman Dracula'' (1964) directed by Andy Warhol * ''Camp'' (1965) directed by Warhol * ''Four Stars****'' (1967) directed by Warhol * ''The Illiac Passion'' (1967) as Venus; directed by Gregory Markopoulos * ''Brand X'' (1970) as Talk Show Hostess * ''The Owl and the Pussycat'' (1970) directed by Herbert Ross * ''Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers'' (1972) as Mary Poppins * ''Leidenschaften'' (1972) as Herself * ''1 Berlin-Harlem'' (1974) * ''Silent Night, Bloody Night'' (1972) as Inmate * ''The Art of Crime'' (1975) (TV) as Cedie * ''Now or Never'' (1979) as Herself * ''Night of the Juggler'' (1980) as Peep Show Owner * ''Tally Brown, New York'' (1979) as Herself * ''Mein New York'' (1982) (TV) as Herself
==Trivia== * Brown shared billing on "''Silent Night, Bloody Night''" with many actors from Warhol's "Factory" years: Mary Woronov, Ondine, Candy Darling, director Jack Smith, and artist Susan Rothenberg.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * http://movies.amctv.com/person/198851/Tally-Brown/synopsis * {{IMDb name|0114755}} * {{YouTube|8ZRttYQ9SqE|Tally Brown singing "Heroes"}} * {{YouTube|PH4LPh94p_8|"Lady grinning soul", vocal by Tally Brown}}
* [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A15F63E5E157493C7AB1788D85F418785F9&scp=2&sq=tally%20brown&st=cse Tally Brown mixes singing with acting], nytimes.com. Accessed August 5, 2022. * [https://www.warhol.org/exhibition/tally-brown/ Profile], warhol.org
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Tally}} Category:1924 births Category:1989 deaths Category:Actresses from Manhattan Category:AFAB queens Category:American film actresses Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American women singers Category:People associated with The Factory Category:People from Washington Heights, Manhattan Category:American drag queens Category:Drag performers from New York City