1915-07-18 Boise, Idaho, USA
Phyllis Brooks was an American actress and model. Brooks was born Phyllis Seiler in Boise, Idaho on July 18, 1915. She began her career in films at age 20, and had been known as the "Ipana Toothpaste Girl" due to her work as a model. Brooks, who had about 30 performances in films, was a B-movie leading lady during the 1930s and 1940s, with roles in such films as In Old Chicago (1937), Little Miss Broadway (1938), and the Shanghai Gesture (1941). In the late 1930s, she dated Cary Grant, who called her Brooksie, and rumors that the two would be married were circulated. Brooks, something of a socialite, also dated Howard Hughes. Along with fellow actress Una Merkel, and accompanied by noted actor Gary Cooper, Phyllis was the first civilian woman to travel to the Pacific Theater of War during World War II, on a USO tour. She was married to Torbert Macdonald, an 11-term Massachusetts Congressman who was John F. Kennedy's roommate at Harvard, and who remained a close friend and confidante throughout his life. She moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts with her new husband in 1945 so he could complete his Harvard Law degree. Congressman Macdonald had been a Harvard football captain and a decorated PT boat captain in World War II. He died in office in 1976. Phyllis continued performing in summer stock theater after her marriage, and hosted the first television interview program in Boston in the early 1950s (on WBZ-TV). She retired from public performances after that, concentrating on raising her family. The couple had four children, the eldest of whom was President Kennedy's godson. She died on August 1, 1995 in Cape Neddick, Maine at the age of 80.
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High Powered | Marian Blair | 1945-02-27 |
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The Unseen | Maxine | 1945-05-12 |
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Lady in the Dark | Allison DuBois | 1944-02-10 |
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Dangerous Passage | Nita | 1944-12-18 |
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Hi'ya, Sailor | Nanette | 1943-10-08 |
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No Place for a Lady | Dolly Adair | 1943-02-11 |
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Silver Spurs | Mary Johnson | 1943-08-12 |
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The Shanghai Gesture | Dixie Pomeroy | 1941-12-25 |
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The Flying Squad | Ann Perryman | 1940-10-12 |
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Charlie Chan in Reno | Vivian Wells | 1939-06-16 |
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Slightly Honorable | Sarilla Cushing | 1939-12-22 |
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Lucky to Me | Pamela Stuart | 1939-11-08 |
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Walking Down Broadway | Vicki Stone | 1938-03-11 |
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Straight, Place and Show | Barbara 'Babs' Drake | 1938-09-30 |
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City Girl | Ellen Ward | 1938-01-07 |
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Little Miss Broadway | Barbara Shea | 1938-07-29 |
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In Old Chicago | Ann Colby | 1938-04-15 |
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Charlie Chan in Honolulu | Judy Hayes | 1938-12-30 |
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Up the River | Helen Lindsay | 1938-12-09 |
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Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm | Lola Lee | 1938-03-18 |
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Ali Baba Goes to Town | Herself | 1937-10-29 |
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You Can't Have Everything | Evelyn Moore | 1937-08-02 |
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Dangerously Yours | Valerie Barton | 1937-09-21 |
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Two in the Dark | Undetermined Role | 1936-01-10 |
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McFadden´s Flats | Mary Ellis Hall | 1935-03-12 |
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I've Been Around | Gay Blackstone | 1935-03-05 |
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Another Face | Sheila Barry | 1935-12-20 |
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Foolish Hearts | Gloria Seabury / Jeanette Hardwick | 1935-12-27 |
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To Beat the Band | Rowena | 1935-11-23 |
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Strange Wives | The Actress | 1934-11-30 |
