Bill Brown, Former President of Billy Graham’s World Wide Pictures, Has Asked for Urgent Prayer
He is due to have serious surgery on Tuesday in Maui, Hawaii
By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST News Service
Brown.
89, who now lives in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, with his wife, Joan Winmill
Brown, a former top actress from London, England, has told the ASSIST
News Service, “The surgery could mean me losing two toes on my right
foot, also possibly losing my foot, or even my leg.”
He went on to say, “I would request prayer from my many friends for the surgery as I realize it is very serious.”
Brown
added, paraphrasing the late black gospel singer, Ethel Waters, who
sang at many Billy Graham’s crusades, “I know where I'm going and I've
got my bags packed. If the Lord spares me, I’ll be able to tell my
story, but if He takes me home, I’m ready.”
Bill
Brown was hired by the BGEA’s Walter Smyth in 1952 to distribute and
show Graham films in churches. While Bill was conducting a week’s
premier showing of the film “Souls in Conflict” at Carnegie Hall in New
York City in 1954, Billy Graham brought over the beautiful star of the
film, British actress Joan Winmill, a Harringay crusade convert.
While
I was working for the Sunday People newspaper in London, England, Bill
arranged for me to interview Joni by phone and I wrote up her story for
the paper, which for this British tabloid, was one of the first times it
had featured such an evangelical story.
Each
time he was in London, Bill Brown would make contact with me, and tell
me he was praying for me as I worked in the difficult, and often sordid,
world of the British tabloids.
We
had some wonderful times together and we had quite a chuckle when I
discovered that Joan, his wife, had once played Eva Braun, Adolf
Hitler's wife, in a West End Play. The three of us where in Essen,
Germany, for Mr. Graham’s crusade there, and I took Joan to meet one of
the German media team and told him, “I’d like you to introduce you to
the lady who used to be Eva Braun!” Not surprisingly he looked totally
bemused, especially as Eva Braun had died in the Berlin bunker with her
husband in April, 1945.
Under
Bill Brown’s supervision, the studios of World Wide Pictures, were
built only a couple of blocks from NBC's Western headquarters and the
Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, and lasted for many years
until its close in 1988.
Bill
once told me that when they showed the first part of the movie, Corrie
said she thought they had made the Germans look “too bad” and so the
team had to re-shoot some of the scenes.
But
some other films, including “The Prodigal” (1983) and the last two,
“Cry From the Mountain” (1986) and “Caught” (1987), garnered
considerable praise, especially for the work of director James F.
Collier, who also did “The Hiding Place.” He also made a movie called
"No Longer Alone," the story of his wife, which saw James Fox's return
to making films after a time as an evangelist with Navigator's at Leeds
University in the UK.
So,
please pray for Bill Brown at this critical time in his life, and also
for his dear wife, Joan Winmill Brown, who is also experiencing some
serious health difficulties.
Photo captions: 1) Bill Brown. 2) Dan Wooding with Joan and Bill Brown some years ago. 3) Billy Graham with Corrie ten Boom. 4) Dan Wooding chats with Billy Graham in Essen, Germany.
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