Brown was born in New York City, the son of Lillian (née Baren) and Edward Fisher Brown. He was best known as the producing partner of Richard D. Zanuck. They were jointly awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1990 for their achievements in producing. Among their films were Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" (1975), and other box office hits such as "Cocoon" (1985), "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989) and "A Few Good Men" (1992).