Reynold Brown was a realist artist who, over the course of his long career, painted landscapes, drew paperback book covers, and illustrated articles that appeared in magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and Popular Aviation. However, Brown is best remembered for drawing and designing Hollywood film posters. From 1950 to 1970, Brown designed posters for everything from cheap horror films to expensive biblical epics. Below is just a small sampling of his work.
His poster for The Alamo is my personal favorite.
Thank you, Dazzling Erin, for posting the above article about Reynold Brown. Admittedly, I had no idea who he was before reading you post. You shall be interested to know that a large French language version of the “BEN-HUR” poster sits on a wall in the Astor Theatre (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia). The Astor has a 70mm print of the film—the venue is the only place in Australia where one can view the film in its 70mm format. I still recall the first time that I saw the chariot race on the big screen. These days, that whole arena would be some CGI monstrosity, and the chariot race itself would probably have several computerised shortcuts. They don’t even do POSTERS like “BEN-HUR” anymore. Those were indeed different times for cinema.
You’re welcome! The posters for Ben-Hur, Spartacus, and the Alamo all have an epic feel to them that I really like and respond to.
I really like the Ben-Hur one. The title cut into massive blocks of stone very epic.
The BEN-HUR poster art is not by Reynold Brown. It is by Joseph J. “Joe” Smith and his signature can he seen on the left side of the poster directly under the spectators feet.