Louise Brooks
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
Credits
- 2011 · Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films as Herself (archive footage)
- 2007 · Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema as Self (archive footage)
- 1999 · Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl as Self (archive footage)
- 1998 · Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu as Herself (archive footage)
- 1998 · Mysteries and Scandals as Self (archive footage)
- 1989 · 1001 Films as (archival)
- 1986 · Louise Brooks as Herself (Archival Footage)
- 1984 · Lulu in Berlin as Herself
- 1980 · Hollywood as Self
- 1976 · Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture as Self - Interviewee
- 1975 · Arena as
- 1965 · The Love Goddesses as (archive footage)
- 1938 · Overland Stage Raiders as Beth Hoyt
- 1936 · Empty Saddles as Boots Boone
- 1931 · Windy Riley Goes Hollywood as Betty Grey
- 1931 · God's Gift to Women as Florine
- 1931 · It Pays to Advertise as Thelma Temple
- 1930 · Miss Europe as Lucienne
- 1929 · Diary of a Lost Girl as Thymian Henning
- 1929 · The Canary Murder Case as The Canary
- 1929 · Pandora's Box as Lulu
- 1928 · Beggars of Life as The Girl (Nancy)
- 1928 · A Girl in Every Port as Marie / Mam'selle Godiva
- 1927 · The City Gone Wild as Snuggles Joy
- 1927 · Now We're in the Air as Griselle and Grisette
- 1927 · Rolled Stockings as Carol Fleming
- 1927 · Evening Clothes as Fox Trot
- 1926 · Just Another Blonde as Diana O'Sullivan
- 1926 · The Show Off as Clara
- 1926 · It's the Old Army Game as Mildred Marshall
- 1926 · A Social Celebrity as Kitty Laverne
- 1926 · Love 'Em and Leave 'Em as Janie Walsh
- 1926 · The American Venus as Miss Bayport
- 1925 · The Street of Forgotten Men as A Moll (uncredited)