THE GODDESS OF THE VALLEY!
An unauthorized tribute to Julie Brown, one of the funniest comediennes of all time. (Is also the sexiest comedienne of all time)
The rest is comedy history. After graduating from Van Nuys High School, Julie went on to attend Los Angeles Valley College. Upon graduating in 1979, she relocated to San Francisco, becoming a member of the American Conservatory Theater. That is where she first teamed up with native San Franciscan Charlie Coffey, and Terrance E. McNally--more on him later. Her national TV debut occurred early in 1980 in a bit role on the "Happy Days" episode "Ah, Wilderness." She was a brunette at the time. Later that year she made her film debut in the Clint Eastwood movie "Any Which Way You Can," in a bit role. Both her film and TV debuts introduced us to a world of sex, amorality, dizzy selfishness and the funniest multiple personality comedienne since Carol Burnett. Around this time she and Charlie Coffey worked as a comedy team, performing throughout California. Julie received her SAG card from Lily Tomlin prior to filming "The Incredible Shrinking Woman." She remained a brunette for the first few years of her career, finally dyeing her hair for a 1983 episode of "The Jeffersons" titled "Who's The Fairest?" By now she was a staff writer on the short-livedtalk show "Thicke of the Night." That same year she married Terry McNally and made her dramatic TV debut in the TV movie "Jane Doe."
Portraying Cherry Whittendale in the aforementioned "Jeffersons" episode, Julie's hair was multi-colored. But when 1984 began that would change: she became the familiar redhead we love. This was also the year her EP, "Goddess in Progress," was released. This album revealed that not only could Julie be an actress, comedienne, and writer, but also a singer and songwriter. Songs in this album include "I Like 'Em Big and Stupid," "The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun," "'Cause I'm A Blond," and "Earth Girls Are Easy." In 1985 she appeared in the TV movie "Student Court" and in the movie "Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment." Both showed the earliest scenes on TV or in a movie of Julie as a redhead.
The mid-1980's were an era of critical acceptance for the "Goddess." In 1986 she made the first of two appearances on the sitcom "Newhart." Both times she played the same role, Buffy Denver. In "Co-Hostess #######" (nominated for an Emmy Award) Buffy co-hosts a new program with Dick Loudon (Bob Newhart). Her LP, "Trapped in the Body of a White Girl," released by Warner Bros. Records, followed in 1987. Songs include "Time Slips Away," "Girl Fight Tonight," and the title song. Early in 1988 she returned as Buffy Denver in the "Newhart" episode "A Friendship That Will Last A Lunchtime," in which Buffy and Stephanie Vanderkellen (Julia Duffy) become friends. Later that year she co-wrote the movie "Earth Girls Are Easy." Interestingly, in the first 11 rewrites of the movie's sctipt Julie was listed as playing Valerie Gail, the movie's main character. In the 12th rewrite the role was left blank; when it came time for the movie to begin production Julie was cast in the role of Val's boss, Candy, a hairdresser. (Cast as Val was Geena Davis.) When the movie began production in Los Angeles , the inevitable happened: the writers went on strike! As an actress and a writer, Julie was allowed to work as such, resulting in Charlie Coffey's participation in the writers' strike. Attempting to show the same goodwill Ms. Tomlin had given Julie, Damon Wayans and Jim Carrey, both unknown comics at the time, were cast as two of the aliens (the other alien was played by Jeff Goldblum, who married Ms. Davis after the film was completed); both actors soon became stars shortly thereafter. By the time the movie was released (in May 1989) Davis had won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (for "The Accidential Tourist") and Brown had starred in her first series, "Just Say Julie," which premiered on MTV on February 15, 1989, and became a hit. Coffey, her co-writer and co-producer, and screenwriter Paul, her brother, appeared frequently, and guests ranged from recording artists to actors and comics to Los Angeles TV personalities (One of them, Elvira, who had a program that aired for years on KHJ/KCAL Channel 9 and was syndicated to many stations , was an early guest.) Nineteen-eighty nine was a tumultuous year for Julie, as she was divorced from her husband of six years, Terry. During her three-and-a-half years as an MTV host she appeared in four pilot episodes. The first one, for CBS in 1989,didn't sell but aired in the summer of that year. She also continued making guest appearances on other series, including a few appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1989, an episode of "Monsters" (taped at KTLA in Los Angeles) and an episode of "Quantum Leap" (brother Paul had been employed with Universal since the mid-1980's and wrote that episode) and the pilot for the Fox sitcom "Get a Life," which starred comic Chris Elliott, all in 1990; and an episode of the cartoon series "Tiny Toon Adventures" (in which she was spoofed as, and did the voice of, a bear named Julie Bruin) in 1991. That was the year she did another rejected pilot, this time for ABC or NBC. That year ended with a bang. In May of that year "Truth or Dare," which chronicled the famous "Blond Ambition" concert tour of 1990, had arrived in theaters. In the summer of that year Julie filmed a made-for-cable movie for Showtime spoofing "Truth or Dare" at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, the Hollywood Bowl, Long Beach Arena, the Universal City Amphitheater, and throughout the L.A. area. In "Medusa: Dare to be Truthful," Julie accurately duplicated outfits, sets and hairstyles in portraying hypersexual singer/dancer/actress Medusa, whose latest tour in that movie is the "Blonde Leading the Blonde" tour and also got to sing (or lipsync to her own voice?). (Julie also cast two unknowns, this time Kathy Griffin, as one of the backup dancers; she went on to star on "Suddenly Susan;" and Jodi Carlisle, as another backup dancer; she would appear with Julie again in "Attack of the 5'2" Women" before going on to voice Marianne in the cartoon series "The Wild Thornberrys.") The end result was Julie's finest television work.
Because "Medusa: Dare to be Truthful" (broadcast December 8, 1991) received the highest ratings in Showtime's history and earned Julie her only CableAce award (She also received three other nominations), she was willing to do another pilot, this time for Fox. "The Edge" landed on the Fox 1992-93 schedule and resulted in her departure from MTV--a similar case found four years later in Mike Judge, who had voiced Beavis and Butthead and is now one of the stars and producers of "King of the Hill."
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