Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Mary Louise Brooks

Gender: Female

Place of birth: Cherryvale, Kansas, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 21

TV Involvements: 1


Most Famous Work

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]

Most Famous Work

Pandora's Box
Average
8

Pandora's Box

(1929) Lulu
Diary of a Lost Girl
Average
7

Diary of a Lost Girl

(1929) Thymian Henning
Beggars of Life
Average
7

Beggars of Life

(1928) The Girl (Nancy)
Hollywood
Average
8

Hollywood

(1980) Self
The Love Goddesses
Average
6

The Love Goddesses

(1965) (archive footage)
Overland Stage Raiders
Average
5

Overland Stage Raiders

(1938) Beth Hoyt
Empty Saddles
Average
0

Empty Saddles

(1936) Boots Boone
The Canary Murder Case
Average
6

The Canary Murder Case

(1929) The Canary

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2012 Self (Archival footage) (uncredited)
2011 Herself (archive footage)
2007 Self (archive footage)
1999 Self (archive footage)
1998 Herself (archive footage)
1996 Lulu
1995 (archive footage)
1989 (archival)
1986 Herself (Archival Footage)
1984 Herself
1980 Self
1976 Self - Interviewee
1965 (archive footage)
1938 Beth Hoyt
1936 Boots Boone
1931 Betty Grey
Florine
Thelma Temple
1930 Lucienne
1929 Thymian Henning
The Canary
Lulu
1928 The Girl (Nancy)
Marie / Mam'selle Godiva
1927 Snuggles Joy
Griselle and Grisette
Carol Fleming
Fox Trot
1926 Diana O'Sullivan
Clara
Mildred Marshall
Kitty Laverne
Janie Walsh
Miss Bayport
1925 A Moll (uncredited)
Year Character Movie/Tv

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