The Tragic Story of Joan Browne – Alan Alda's Mother Lost to Schizophrenia

After Joan Browne died, Alan Alda opened her safe-deposit box and found an old photograph of himself as a child. Written along its edge were four words: “My beloved son, Allie.” Those words revealed a love that had endured beneath years of fear, confusion, and schizophrenia. This documentary follows Alan’s memories of his mother, her illness, and the family that tried to understand what was happening. This is the untold story of Joan Browne, Alan Alda’s mother. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:30 Before the cameras 2:43 The child with the pipe 4:57 Her reality 7:25 The frightening night 8:53 Every hour 10:52 Amsterdam 13:30 A new kind of medicine 15:18 The family comes apart 17:20 Reading faces 19:59 Hawkeye 22:20 The long silence 24:33 Her final days 26:08 My beloved son The narration is based on Alan Alda’s memoir Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, recorded interviews, newspaper profiles, and institutional and archival records. Where sources disagree, the narration says so. Archival images are in the public domain or used for commentary and historical documentation. Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al... (CC BY-SA 4.0, Alan Kotok and Peacedance); https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al... (CC BY-SA 2.0, Moody College of Communication from Austin, USA); https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al... (CC BY-SA 2.0, Moody College of Communication from Austin, USA); https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al... (CC BY-SA 2.0, Moody College of Communication from Austin, USA); https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al... (CC BY-SA 2.0, Moody College of Communication from Austin, USA) #JoanBrowne #AlanAlda #ForgottenFamily