Louise Brooks

Born: 1906-11-14

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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Diary of a Lost Girl

as Thymian Henning
Released: 1929-09-27

Thymian Henning, an innocent young girl, is raped by the clerk of her father's pharmacy. She...

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Pandora's Box

as Lulu
Released: 1929-01-30

Lulu is a young woman so beautiful and alluring that few can resist her siren charms. The men...

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Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2007-05-23

Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was,...

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Beggars of Life

as The Girl (Nancy)
Released: 1928-09-22

After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young...

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The Canary Murder Case

as The Canary
Released: 1929-02-16

A beautiful showgirl, name "the Canary" is a scheming nightclub singer. Blackmailing is her game...

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Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films

as Herself (archive footage)
Released: 2011-04-03

Among the pieces featured in Fragments are the final reel of John Ford's The Village Blacksmith...

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Love 'Em and Leave 'Em

as Janie Walsh
Released: 1926-03-19

Mame Walsh promised their mother on her deathbed to look after little sister Janie. But Janie...

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Empty Saddles

as Boots Boone
Released: 1936-12-20

Buck runs into trouble when he buys a deserted cattle ranch that he turns into a dude ranch.

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It's the Old Army Game

as Mildred Marshall
Released: 1926-07-10

Druggist Elmer Prettywillie is sleeping. A woman rings the night bell only to buy a two-cent...

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The City Gone Wild

as Snuggles Joy
Released: 1927-11-12

Hard-boiled underworld melodrama, with gang wars and gunfights, in which criminal lawyer turns...

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The Love Goddesses

as (archive footage)
Released: 1965-03-03

This insightful documentary features some of the major and most beautiful actresses to grace the...

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Lulu in Berlin

as Herself
Released: 1984-05-27

Vérité documentarian Richard Leacock’s LULU IN BERLIN features one of the few long interviews...

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The Show Off

as Clara
Released: 1926-08-16

A blowhard who poses as a railroad executive (but is really just a $30-a-week clerk) catches a...

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The Street of Forgotten Men

as A Moll (uncredited)
Released: 1925-07-24

Easy-Money Charley, the best fake crippled beggar in New York, loses his beloved dog and adopts...

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Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu

as Herself (archive footage)
Released: 1998-05-05

Documentary recounting the life story of Louise Brooks in 5 sections: "Lulu in Toe Shoes"; "Lulu...

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A Girl in Every Port

as Marie / Mam'selle Godiva
Released: 1928-02-26

Two sailors with a rivalry over chasing women become friends. But when one decides to finally...

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Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture

as Self - Interviewee
Released: 1976-10-07

The film tells the cultural story of Berlin during the Weimar Republic through interviews with a...

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It Pays to Advertise

as Thelma Temple
Released: 1931-02-18

To prove his thesis that any product--even one that doesn't exist--can be merchandized if it is...

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God's Gift to Women

as Florine
Released: 1931-04-13

A notorious womanizer sets his sights on a pretty American tourist, only to be told by his...

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Now We're in the Air

as Griselle and Grisette
Released: 1927-10-21

Wally and Ray are cousins intent upon getting the fortune of their Scots grandad, an aviation...

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A Social Celebrity

as Kitty Laverne
Released: 1926-03-29

Small-town barber Max Haber is the pride of his father, Johann, who owns an antiquated...

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Windy Riley Goes Hollywood

as Betty Grey
Released: 1931-05-02

A driver on a non-stop race from New York to San Francisco gets detoured to Hollywood, where he...

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The American Venus

as Miss Bayport
Released: 1926-01-31

A lost film - Mary Gray, whose father manufactures cold cream, is engaged to sappy Horace Niles,...

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Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1999-06-14

Clara Bow: Discovering the 'It' Girl features scenes from 25 of her films, as well as interviews...

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Miss Europe

as Lucienne
Released: 1930-08-01

Lucienne, typist and gorgeous bathing beauty, decides to enter the 'Miss Europe' pageant...

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Evening Clothes

as Fox Trot
Released: 1927-03-19

Attracted by his wealth, avaricious Germaine marries D'Artois, then leaves him for a more...

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Overland Stage Raiders

as Beth Hoyt
Released: 1938-09-20

After gold shipments from a mining town have been hijacked, the three Mesquiteers buy a plane to...

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Rolled Stockings

as Carol Fleming
Released: 1927-06-18

Though billed second, the stunningly beautiful Louise Brooks is the focal point of the campus...

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Louise Brooks

as Herself (Archival Footage)
Released: 1986-04-17

55-Minute BBC Arena documentary on the film actress Louise Brooks

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Just Another Blonde

as Diana O'Sullivan
Released: 1926-12-13

Jimmy O'Connor and Scotty are a couple of New York City gamblers and sharpies who decide to go...

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Arena

as uncredited
First aired: 1975-10-01

Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by...

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Hollywood

as Self
First aired: 1980-01-08

A 1980 documentary series exploring the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios...

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Mysteries and Scandals

as Self (archive footage)
First aired: 1998-03-09

Mysteries and Scandals is an American television program hosted by A.J. Benza. The series was...

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