Phyllis Brooks
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.
The Shanghai Gesture
as Dixie PomeroyA gambling queen uses blackmail to stop a British financier from closing her Chinese clip joint.
Movie pageCharlie Chan in Honolulu
as Judy HayesWhile Charlie is distracted with the birth of his first grandchild, son Jimmy impersonates his...
Movie pageIn Old Chicago
as Ann ColbyThe O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually...
Movie pageCharlie Chan in Reno
as Vivian WellsMary Whitman has gone to Reno to obtain a divorce. While there she is arrested on suspicion of...
Movie pageThe Unseen
as MaxineDavid Fielding, who has recently lost his wife, moves into a new neighborhood under a cloud of...
Movie pageMcFadden´s Flats
as Mary Ellis HallDan McFadden builds an apartment house in a working-class neighborhood on New York's East Side...
Movie pageSilver Spurs
as Mary JohnsonJerry Johnson inherits a 50,000 acre ranch. Lucky Miller wants to take over the ranch. Roy is...
Movie pageYou Can't Have Everything
as Evelyn MooreStarving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate...
Movie pageRebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
as Lola LeeRebecca's Uncle Harry leaves her with Aunt Miranda who forbids her to associate with show...
Movie pageAli Baba Goes to Town
as HerselfWhile visiting Hollywood a starstruck movie fan (Eddie Cantor) fantasizes about himself cast in...
Movie pageDangerously Yours
as Valerie BartonA detective poses as a jewel thief and joins a bunch of other crooks sailing from Europe to New...
Movie pageDangerous Passage
as NitaJoe Beck leaves Central America so that he can return to Texas and collect a large inheritance,...
Movie pageLittle Miss Broadway
as Barbara SheaAn orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people....
Movie pageLady in the Dark
as Allison DuBoisA neurotic editor sees a psychoanalyst about the advertising man, movie star and other man in...
Movie pageNo Place for a Lady
as Dolly AdairA private detective and a blonde acquaintance whom he has rescued from a misdirected murder...
Movie pageHigh Powered
as Marian BlairTim takes a job as a lowly chipper because he has been afraid to go high ever since a bad fall...
Movie pageWalking Down Broadway
as Vicki StoneFive closely knit showgirls sign a pact to reunite one year after the closing of their Broadway...
Movie pageTwo in the Dark
as Undetermined RoleFord Adams regains consciousness in Boston, bloody and suffering from amnesia. Information he...
Movie pageThe Flying Squad
as Ann PerrymanInspector Bradley of Scotland Yard is on the trail of the murderous ringleader of a smuggling...
Movie pageI've Been Around
as Gay BlackstoneRomantic problems of a society girl and an engineer.
Movie pageTo Beat the Band
as RowenaAn eccentric heir must marry a widow in order to collect the millions left to him in his aunt's...
Movie pageSlightly Honorable
as Sarilla CushingA lawyer is framed for the murder of a young party girl and tries to clear his name.
Movie pageCity Girl
as Ellen WardIn this tearful crime melodrama, a waitress becomes so taken with her dream of living in posh...
Movie pageHi'ya, Sailor
as NanetteBob Jackson and his three Merchant Marine shipmates have each invested $50 in a song Bob has...
Movie pageAnother Face
as Sheila BarryThe surgeon who did the job was dead. Only the nurse knew what this gangster looked like in his...
Movie pageStrange Wives
as The ActressWhen a young man marries a Russian girl, he finds that he has "married" her entire family.
Movie pageStraight, Place and Show
as Barbara 'Babs' DrakeThe Ritz Brothers go to the race track. They raise training end entrance money in a wrestling...
Movie pageUp the River
as Helen LindsayA group of prison inmates pass the time playing football and romancing ladies in this prison...
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