Trivia

In the early morning hours of June 16, 1915, Browning was seriously injured when his car collided with a freight train in Downtown Los Angeles. The crash killed one of his passengers, actor Elmer Booth, and injured another, actor George Siegmann. An initial police investigation stated that the train operators claimed Browning was at fault for failing to observe the railway signals, but no legal action was taken.

Former circus contortionist.

He has directed two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Dracula (1931) and Freaks (1932).

He grew up in Louisville. His father (Charles) was the brother of "Old" Pete Browning, who was a 3 time batting champ who stole 103 bases in 1887. Pete's commissioning of a bat provided the start of the Hillerich & Bradsby bat company, famous for their Louisville Slugger model. The eccentric Pete drank heavily, apparently due to a chronic mastoid infection, and his catchphrase was "I can't hit the ball, unless I hit the bottle.".

Mentioned in David Bowie's song "Diamond Dogs", which was re-recorded by Beck and Timbaland for Moulin Rouge! (2001).

In 1944, an obituary for Browning was mistakenly published in the trade paper "Variety". Browning had retired from films in 1939 and was living in seclusion, but to paraphrase author Mark Twain, reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. He died at 82 in 1962.

According to author Steve Massa, during the 'teens while under the supervision of D.W. Griffith at Reliance/Majestic, Browning was a knockabout comedian appearing in Komic Comedies.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 66-71. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

First wife, Amy Louise Stevens, was William Collier Jr.'s aunt.