Reno Browne

Who was Reno Browne?

Reno Browne, sometimes billed as Reno Blair was an accomplished equestrian and B-movie actress during the late 1940s and into the 1950s, with most of her films being in 1949.

Born Josephine Ruth Clarke in Reno, Nevada to wealthy parents, her father being a successful attorney, Browne first became a licensed pilot, and proficient at riding horses. After taking drama lessons, she embarked on a film career, signing a contract with Monogram Pictures. She starred with Whip Wilson in the 1949 western Haunted Trails, and that same year started a thirteen-episode radio show titled Reno Rides Again. Also in 1949 she starred in West of El Dorado with Max Terhune and Johnny Mack Brown. In total, she starred in fourteen westerns of the period, at times with Roy Rogers and Jimmy Wakely.

She and Dale Evans were the only western actresses to have their own comic books based on their characters, Browne having four issues published in 1950 by Marvel Comics.