Louise Brooks
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- November 14, 1906
- Died
- August 8, 1985 (aged 78)
- Birthplace
- Cherryvale, Kansas, USA
Biography
Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress and dancer during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the Jazz Age and flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helped popularize during the prime of her career. Brooks began her career as a dancer. While dancing in the Ziegfeld Follies in New York City, she came to the attention of Walter Wanger, a producer at Paramount Pictures, and was signed to a five-year contract with the studio. She appeared in supporting roles in various Paramount films before taking the heroine's role in Beggars of Life (1928). Dissatisfied with her mediocre roles in Hollywood films, Brooks went to Germany in 1929 and starred in three feature films that launched her to international stardom: Pandora's Box (1929), Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Miss Europe (1930); the first two were directed by G. W. Pabst. By 1938, she had starred in seventeen silent films and eight sound films. After retiring from acting, she fell upon financial hardship and became a paid escort. For the next two decades, she struggled with alcoholism and suicidal tendencies. Following the rediscovery of her films by cinephiles in the 1950s, a reclusive Brooks began writing articles about her film career; her insightful essays drew considerable acclaim. She published her memoir, Lulu in Hollywood, in 1982. Three years later, she died of a heart attack at age 78. [preceding biography, edited, from Wikipedia]
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Away with Words
Movie · as Louise Brooks
Clara Bow: Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess
Movie
Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films
Movie · as Herself (archive footage)
Flappers, Speakeasies, and the Birth of Modern Culture
Movie
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu
Movie · as Herself (archive footage)
Mysteries and Scandals
TV · as Self (archive footage) · 1 ep
The Casting Couch
Movie
1001 Films
Movie · as (archival)
Louise Brooks
Movie · as Herself (Archival Footage)
Lulu in Berlin
Movie · as Self
Hollywood
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture
Movie · as Self - Interviewee
Overland Stage Raiders
Movie · as Beth Hoyt
When You're in Love
Movie · as Specialty Ballerina in Chorus
Empty Saddles
Movie · as Boots Boone
It Pays to Advertise
Movie · as Thelma Temple
Windy Riley Goes Hollywood
Movie · as Betty Grey
God's Gift to Women
Movie · as Florine
Miss Europe
Movie · as Lucienne
Pandora's Box
Movie · as Lulu
Diary of a Lost Girl
Movie · as Thymian Henning
The Canary Murder Case
Movie · as The Canary
Beggars of Life
Movie · as The Girl (Nancy)
A Girl in Every Port
Movie · as Marie / Mam'selle Godiva
Rolled Stockings
Movie · as Carol Fleming
Now We're in the Air
Movie · as Griselle and Grisette
The City Gone Wild
Movie · as Snuggles Joy
Evening Clothes
Movie · as Fox Trot
The Show Off
Movie · as Clara
Love 'Em and Leave 'Em
Movie · as Janie Walsh
It's the Old Army Game
Movie · as Mildred Marshall
The American Venus
Movie · as Miss Bayport
A Social Celebrity
Movie · as Kitty Laverne
Just Another Blonde
Movie · as Diana O'Sullivan
The Street of Forgotten Men
Movie · as A Moll