Phyllis Brooks

Born: 1915-07-18

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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The Shanghai Gesture

as Dixie Pomeroy
Released: 1941-12-25

A gambling queen uses blackmail to stop a British financier from closing her Chinese clip joint.

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Charlie Chan in Honolulu

as Judy Hayes
Released: 1938-12-30

While Charlie is distracted with the birth of his first grandchild, son Jimmy impersonates his...

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In Old Chicago

as Ann Colby
Released: 1938-04-15

The O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually...

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Charlie Chan in Reno

as Vivian Wells
Released: 1939-06-16

Mary Whitman has gone to Reno to obtain a divorce. While there she is arrested on suspicion of...

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The Unseen

as Maxine
Released: 1945-05-12

David Fielding, who has recently lost his wife, moves into a new neighborhood under a cloud of...

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McFadden´s Flats

as Mary Ellis Hall
Released: 1935-03-12

Dan McFadden builds an apartment house in a working-class neighborhood on New York's East Side...

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Silver Spurs

as Mary Johnson
Released: 1943-08-12

Jerry Johnson inherits a 50,000 acre ranch. Lucky Miller wants to take over the ranch. Roy is...

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You Can't Have Everything

as Evelyn Moore
Released: 1937-08-02

Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate...

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Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

as Lola Lee
Released: 1938-03-18

Rebecca's Uncle Harry leaves her with Aunt Miranda who forbids her to associate with show...

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Ali Baba Goes to Town

as Herself
Released: 1937-10-29

While visiting Hollywood a starstruck movie fan (Eddie Cantor) fantasizes about himself cast in...

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Dangerously Yours

as Valerie Barton
Released: 1937-09-21

A detective poses as a jewel thief and joins a bunch of other crooks sailing from Europe to New...

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Dangerous Passage

as Nita
Released: 1944-12-18

Joe Beck leaves Central America so that he can return to Texas and collect a large inheritance,...

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Little Miss Broadway

as Barbara Shea
Released: 1938-07-29

An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people....

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Lady in the Dark

as Allison DuBois
Released: 1944-02-10

A neurotic editor sees a psychoanalyst about the advertising man, movie star and other man in...

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No Place for a Lady

as Dolly Adair
Released: 1943-02-11

A private detective and a blonde acquaintance whom he has rescued from a misdirected murder...

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High Powered

as Marian Blair
Released: 1945-02-27

Tim takes a job as a lowly chipper because he has been afraid to go high ever since a bad fall...

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Walking Down Broadway

as Vicki Stone
Released: 1938-03-11

Five closely knit showgirls sign a pact to reunite one year after the closing of their Broadway...

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Two in the Dark

as Undetermined Role
Released: 1936-01-10

Ford Adams regains consciousness in Boston, bloody and suffering from amnesia. Information he...

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The Flying Squad

as Ann Perryman
Released: 1940-10-12

Inspector Bradley of Scotland Yard is on the trail of the murderous ringleader of a smuggling...

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I've Been Around

as Gay Blackstone
Released: 1935-03-05

Romantic problems of a society girl and an engineer.

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To Beat the Band

as Rowena
Released: 1935-11-23

An eccentric heir must marry a widow in order to collect the millions left to him in his aunt's...

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Slightly Honorable

as Sarilla Cushing
Released: 1939-12-22

A lawyer is framed for the murder of a young party girl and tries to clear his name.

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City Girl

as Ellen Ward
Released: 1938-01-07

In this tearful crime melodrama, a waitress becomes so taken with her dream of living in posh...

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Hi'ya, Sailor

as Nanette
Released: 1943-10-08

Bob Jackson and his three Merchant Marine shipmates have each invested $50 in a song Bob has...

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Another Face

as Sheila Barry
Released: 1935-12-20

The surgeon who did the job was dead. Only the nurse knew what this gangster looked like in his...

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Strange Wives

as The Actress
Released: 1934-11-30

When a young man marries a Russian girl, he finds that he has "married" her entire family.

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Straight, Place and Show

as Barbara 'Babs' Drake
Released: 1938-09-30

The Ritz Brothers go to the race track. They raise training end entrance money in a wrestling...

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Up the River

as Helen Lindsay
Released: 1938-12-09

A group of prison inmates pass the time playing football and romancing ladies in this prison...

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