Joan Brown was the mother of Alan Alda and former wife of actor Robert Alda. Alan Alda as Benjamin Franklin Hawkeye Pierce Alan Alda (born Alphonso Joseph DAbruzzo on January 28, 1936) is an Oscar-nominated American actor, writer, director and sometimes political activist. ... Actor Aldas record release of Italian songs Robert Alda (born Alphonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto DAbruzzo on February 26, 1914, died May 3, 1986) was an Italian-American actor. ...

She was crowned "Miss New York" in a beauty pageant.

As a former showgirl, she toured with her husband/partner Robert Alda. They were married in 1932, and were divorced some years later after their son, the future actor, writer and producer, Alan Alda, was born.

In his 2005 memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned, her son Alan Alda acknowledges that she was also schizophrenic. Schizophrenia (from the Greek word σχιζοφρένεια, split mind) is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by impairments in the perception or expression of reality and by significant social or occupational dysfunction. ...

References

Alda, Alan, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned, New York: Random House, 2005 ISBN 1-4000-6409-0.