A Pornographer

Arch Brown first came to broad public attention through his films. During gay liberation's closet-busting first decade, Brown's homoerotic films (including Four Letters, Pier Groups, Super, Trips, Harley's Angels, Long Johns, The Tool Man, After the Fall, The Leather Bond, Dynamite, All Tied Up, Rough Idea, and Woodshole achieved an international following and superb reviews. His film The Night Before was on Variety's 50 top-grossing films in the nation for 5 weeks in 1973. Brown's film Tuesday was the only gay film included by the First New York Erotic Film Festival in its nation-wide release of winning films. The distributors were charged with promoting obscenity. His film Sunday won first prize in the Park Miller Eros Competition. Brown also has directed several documentary films on art and culture including a series on English as a Second Language for New York University. In 1979, at the suggestion of a friend who recognized the wit in his films, Brown turned to playwriting. His first play, News Boy, was produced later that year by The GLINES, went on to a full Off-Broadway mounting at the Player's Theatre and had nine productions across the country over the next 15 years. Brown's play, FREEZE!, won the 1998 Eric Bentley Playwriting Prize. Other published and/or produced plays include; Two Married Men, Samson, Sex Symbols, Brut Farce, Seeing Red, Breakfast with Ferkin and Frank, Doubletalk, and Ships That Piss in the Night. Arch Brown's still photographs and collages have appeared in Mandate, Honcho, The Village Voice, and Michael's Thing. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Advocate, The Villager, Manhattan G.A.Z.E. and he had a regular column on "Television and Society" in the New York Native. He was the founder of G-MAN, The Gay Men's Arts Network and, in memory of his partner Bruce Brown who died in 1993 of a brain hemorrhage, he sponsored The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, which continues to give grants to gay-positive arts projects based on history. Arch Brown died peacefully at his home in Palm Springs, California, on September 3, 2012.