Background
Brown was born Rose Marie Elliott on April 15, 1919, in Suffolk, Virginia, to Rosa Marie (née Bruce) Elliott and Milton T. Elliott III.
Brown was born Rose Marie Elliott on April 15, 1919, in Suffolk, Virginia, to Rosa Marie (née Bruce) Elliott and Milton T. Elliott III.
She attended Simmons College before entering local beauty pageants.
However, despite losing the pageant, she was discovered by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which led to a career on Broadway during the late 1930s and 1940s. She ultimately placed fourth, losing to Mission Michigan Patricia Donnelly. However, Elliott was spotted by a talent agent with Master of Computer Applications Incorporated., Maynard Morris, who invited her to audition for roles on Broadway.
He reportedly told her father, "She’s got talent — you should send her to New York City."
Elliott moved to New York, where she enrolled as student at American Academy of Dramatic Arts, then located at Carnegie Hall.
She accompanied a roommate to an audition, where she was noticed by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, who were in the audience observing the auditions. Rodgers and Hammerstein invited her to meet with them at their office the next morning.
She was soon cast in her first Broadway production, One Touch of Venus, opposite actress Mary Martin. Elliott appeared in a string of Broadway productions, including the 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun with Bert Lahr and Ethel Merman.
The couple, who had two sons, Josh Brown and Jeffrey Brown, were longtime residents of Darien, Connecticut.
She died in her sleep at the Edgehill retirement community in Stamford, Connecticut, on January 19, 2015, at the age of 95. Her husband died in 1999.