A familiar television face since the mid 1980s, Brown has guest starred on Matlock, ER, Mad About You, Soul Man, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and had recurring roles on Coach (Mrs. Thorkelson), Gilmore Girls (Mrs. Cassini), and Desperate Housewives (Ida Greenberg). In film, she was one of Whoopi Goldberg's choir nuns in Sister Act and Sister Act II, and also appeared in Liberace: Behind the Music, 18 Again (with George Burns), The Rocketeer, Stuck on You, and Norbit (with Eddie Murphy).