1906-11-14 Cherryvale, Kansas, USA
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]
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Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films | Herself (archive footage) | 2011-04-03 |
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Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema | Self (archive footage) | 2007-05-23 |
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Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl | Self (archive footage) | 1999-06-14 |
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Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu | Herself (archive footage) | 1998-05-05 |
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1001 Films | (archival) | 1989-01-01 |
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Louise Brooks | Herself (Archival Footage) | 1986-04-17 |
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Lulu in Berlin | Herself | 1984-05-27 |
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Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture | Self - Interviewee | 1976-10-07 |
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Overland Stage Raiders | Beth Hoyt | 1938-09-20 |
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Empty Saddles | Boots Boone | 1936-12-20 |
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Windy Riley Goes Hollywood | Betty Grey | 1931-05-02 |
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God's Gift to Women | Florine | 1931-04-13 |
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It Pays to Advertise | Thelma Temple | 1931-02-18 |
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Prix de beauté | Lucienne | 1930-08-01 |
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Tagebuch einer Verlorenen | Thymian Henning | 1929-09-27 |
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The Canary Murder Case | The Canary | 1929-02-16 |
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Die Büchse der Pandora | Lulu | 1929-01-30 |
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Beggars of Life | The Girl (Nancy) | 1928-09-22 |
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A Girl in Every Port | Marie / Mam'selle Godiva | 1928-02-26 |
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The City Gone Wild | Snuggles Joy | 1927-11-12 |
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Evening Clothes | Fox Trot | 1927-03-19 |
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Rolled Stockings | Carol Fleming | 1927-06-18 |
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Now We're in the Air | Griselle and Grisette | 1927-10-21 |
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Just Another Blonde | Diana O'Sullivan | 1926-12-13 |
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It's the Old Army Game | Mildred Marshall | 1926-07-10 |
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The Show Off | Clara | 1926-08-16 |
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The American Venus | Miss Bayport | 1926-01-31 |
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Love 'Em and Leave 'Em | Janie Walsh | 1926-03-19 |
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A Social Celebrity | Kitty Laverne | 1926-03-29 |
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The Street of Forgotten Men | A Moll (uncredited) | 1925-07-24 |
