In New York the event is arranged by Tyne Daly and will be held at Saint Charles Borromeo Church at 241 West 141st Street at 6 PM. Daly will be joined by the author Maya Angelou, the actor Campbell Scott and others. In Los Angeles the event is arranged by Laurence Fishburne and is at the Mark Taper Forum.

Brown appeared on Broadway in Two Trains Running in the role of the mentally challenged Holloway, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (but lost the award to Fishburne). His other Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include My One And Only; The Blacks; Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright; The Ballad of the Sad Café; Benito Cereno; The Old Glory; and the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Julius Caesar, King Lear and Troilus and Cressida. In 1981, he appeared in his own play Behind the Broken Words at the American Place Theatre with Anthony Zerbe, and the pair toured the country in the play for many years.

Browne had a long television career, guest starring on such shows as "All in the Family," "Maude" and "Soap." He won an Emmy Award for his guest spot as Professor Foster in "The Cosby Show" in 1986. Browne played Polonius in a 2000 TV movie version of Hamlet, directed by and starring Campbell Scott. His many film roles include the narrator in "Babe" and "Babe: Pig in the City."