Film and stage producer David Brown dies

David Brown, whose producing credits included The Sting, Jaws, and The Verdict, died Monday of kidney failure in his Manhattan home, The New York Times reports. He was 93. Perhaps known best as the husband of Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown, he began his career as a journalist for publications such as The Saturday Evening Post, Harper’s, and Collier’s. In the 1950s, producer Darryl F. Zanuck hired Brown to run the story department at 20th Century Fox, where Brown eventually rose to executive vice president of creative operations. He and Darryl’s son, Richard Zanuck, left in 1971 for Warner Bros., then started their own production company. The Sting, Jaws, The Verdict, Cocoon, and Driving Miss Daisy were among their films. Even after Brown left the company, they continued to collaborate on films that included The Player and Chocolat.