E. Martin Browne

Elliott Martin Browne CBE (29 January 1900 – 27 April 1980) was a British theatre director, known for his production of twentieth century verse plays. He collaborated for many years with T. S. Eliot and was first producer of many of his plays including Murder in the Cathedral.

Early life Elliott Martin Browne was born in Zeals, Wiltshire, on 29 January 1900, the third son of Colonel Percival John Browne. He was educated at Eton College, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied modern history and theology. Between 1923 and 1930 he worked at a variety of jobs related to drama, in Kent, Doncaster, London and in the United States as assistant professor of drama at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh. In 1924 he married the actress Henzie Raeburn, who subsequently appeared in many of his productions. They had two sons. In March 1939 he directed Eliot's second play, The Family Reunion, in London and in the same year he launched a touring company which he called the "Pilgrim Players", Meanwhile, he continued his collaboration with T. S. Eliot, directing The Cocktail Party in 1949, The Confidential Clerk in 1953, and The Elder Statesman in 1958. and from 1962 to 1965 he was drama adviser to Coventry Cathedral, directing the mediaeval mystery plays there in 1962 and 1964. In 1967 and 1968 he directed at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, the plays being Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, Thornton Wilder's Our Town and The Long Christmas Dinner, and the mediaeval morality play, Everyman.

He was appointed CBE in 1952. Following the death of Henzie Raeburn, in 1974 he married Audrey Johnson. He died in the Middlesex Hospital, Westminster, on 27 April 1980, survived by his second wife.

Books