Roscoe Lee Browne, the African-American actor whose resonant, erudite voice and regal demeanor made him a successful performer on stage, screen and television for over 40 years, died on April 11 in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.

Born on May 2, 1925 in Woodbury, New Jersey. Browne graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania excelling in French and literature, and eventually taught those subjects at the University. When he was 30, he went into acting full-time, debuting in 1956 as the Soothsayer in Julius Caesar in the New York Shakespeare Festival's premiere season. His commanding baritone being an asset, Browne spent several years on the New York stage, culminating in 1965 with an Obie award (Off-Broadway's equivalent to the Tony) for his portrayal as a insolent slave Benito Cereno.

By now, films and television came calling, and Browne had some impressive moments in Black Like Me (1964) and The Comedians (1967); and in guest appearances in TV series such as The Invaders and Mannix. He moved into his own when Alfred Hitchcock cast him as a suave spy in Topaz (1969). From there, he was cast in the title role of The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970); a wily camp cook in The Cowboys with John Wayne; a most erudite music shop owner in Cisco Pike (1972); a coldly manipulative drug dealer in Superfly T.N.T. (1973); and a dignified Congressman for Sidney Poitier's Uptown Saturday Night (1974).

Browne was inescapable on the small screen for years, appearing in countless shows: All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Good Times, Barney Miller, a recurring role as Saunders the butler in the hit satire Soap and as Dr. Barnabus Foster, a properly educated friend of the Huxtables on The Cosby Show for which he won an Emmy award.

With his ripe baritone, Browne was in demand as a narrator, and the films Babe (1995), Babe: Pig in the City (1998), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006), and Epic Movie (2007) were all prime examples of his exceptional vocal skills. Most impressively, Browne's love of poetry went beyond mere lip serve. For several years, he and the formidable character actor Anthony Zerbe performed an anthology stage show featuring poems from the likes of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and William Butler Yeats. The movie Behind the Broken Words (2003) is a documentary about their efforts and the film is worth seeking out for poetry lovers. There are no known survivors for Browne.

by Michael T. Toole