Neville Brand
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Lawrence Neville Brand (August 13, 1920 – April 16, 1992) was an American soldier and actor. He was known for playing villainous or antagonistic character roles in Westerns, crime dramas, and films noir, and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his performance in Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954).
During World War II, Brand served in the 331st Infantry Regiment of the 83rd Infantry Division in the U.S. Army, in the European theatre. He received multiple meritorious citations for his service, including the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.
Early years
Brand was born in Griswold, Iowa, and raised in Kewanee, Illinois. After he graduated from high school, he joined the Army.
War service
Brand entered the Illinois Army National Guard on October 23, 1939, as a private in Company F, 129th Infantry Regiment. He was enlisted in the United States Army as Corporal Neville L. Brand, infantryman on March 5, 1941. He trained at Fort Carson and served in World War II, seeing action with B Company, 331st Infantry Regiment of the 83rd Infantry Division (Thunderbolt Division) in the Ardennes, Rhineland and Central European campaigns. Brand, a sergeant and platoon leader, was wounded in action along the Weser River on April 7, 1945. He was shot in the upper right arm and nearly bled to death.
Brand was awarded the Silver Star, the third-highest decoration for valor in the U.S. military, for gallantry in combat. His other awards and decorations were the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three Battle Stars, one Overseas Service Bar, one Service Stripe and the Combat Infantryman Badge. In a 1966 interview Brand explained the Silver Star, stating that withering fire from German machine guns in a hunting lodge kept him and his unit pinned down. "I must have flipped my lid," he said. "I decided to go into that lodge." He was discharged in October 1945.
Brand was sometimes cited in media reports as the 4th most-decorated American serviceman of the war, but this was incorrect and repeatedly denied by Brand himself.
Personal life
Brand and his wife, Rae, had three daughters. A Republican, he supported the campaign of Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election. In addition, Brand was also a self-described lifelong Presbyterian.
Brand was an insatiable reader who amassed a collection of 30,000 books over the years, one of the largest private libraries in Los Angeles. Most of his collection was destroyed in a 1978 fire at his Malibu home.
His wartime service caused him post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that led to bouts of alcoholism. In 1975, he said in an interview that his addiction had cost him most of his fortune.
Death
Brand died from emphysema at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento, California, on April 16, 1992, at the age of 71. After a private funeral service[19] he was cremated, and his remains were interred in a niche of the Morning Glory Room at East Lawn Memorial Park in Sacramento.
More information
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Neville_Brand ]
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