Louise Brooks is an icon of the 20th century, her face framed by her famous 'black helmet' hairstyle symbolising the Flappers of the twenties, a look copied by Cyd Charisse in 'Singing in the Rain', Liza Minelli in 'Cabaret', Melanie Griffiths in 'Something Wild', Uma Thurman in 'Pulp Fiction', and Catharine Zeta Jones in 'Chicago', but she is rarely remembered nowadays as the gifted actress she was. To take a look at what she looked like go to LBS Portrait Galleries.

Her Life and Work

She was born Mary Louise Brooks on the 14th November, 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas. She grew up in a large, respectable, middle-class family but from a very early age she was dancing semi-professionally. In 1922, still only aged 15, she left home for A199389 to join the Denishawn Dance Company, then the leading modern dance company in the US. In 1924 she became a chorus girl in the 'George White Scandals,' a Broadway show. Later that year she worked as a dancer at the Cafe de Paris in London, and was the first person in the UK to dance the Charleston. In 1925 she returned to New York and Broadway and joined the Ziegfeld Follies, soon becoming one of the two 'Glorified Girls,' the speciality dancers at the centre of many routines. Alberto Vargas¹ painted her portrait which took pride of place in Florenz Ziegfeld's office. Very much a member of the New York smart set, she was regularly seen with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, and had a two month-long affair with A2754191, moving into his suite at the Ambassador Hotel. Later that year she appeared in her first film,'The Street of Forgotten Men'. This was a bit part as a 'moll' but by her third film, 'A Social Celebrity,' she was playing the female lead. Her 1928 film, 'Beggars of Life', was Paramounts first film to include sound scenes.

Louise Brooks was successful as an actress making 24 films between 1925 and 1938. She did not go unnoticed. She was the inspiration for both the stage play 'Show Girl' and the long-running 'Dixie Dugan' comic strip, illustrated by JH Striebel. In 1927 she was the fourth most written about actress in the US, after Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, and Colleen Moore. In 1928 she refused to sign a new contract with Paramount because it offered no increase in salary. In 1929 with the promise of work in Europe, she left for Berlin and what would become her most famous role, as Lulu in the classic German film, 'Pandora's Box', directed by GW Pabst. Brooks made 2 other films in Europe, before returning to the U.S. She turned down several contracts and refused to record sound scenes for 'The Canary Murder Case'. Annoyed, Paramount 'sent out a story, widely published and believed that they let me go because I was no good in talkies'. She found herself effectively blacklisted and relegated to supporting roles in B-movies. Her intelligence, independence, and self-destructive streak all contributed to her effective exile from Hollywood. Frank Thompson wrote of her, 'Brooks' idea of independence was mistaken for scatterbrained irresponsibility by some - and her penchant for "temper tantrums" did not ease with age ... she was the bane of her directors - and often her co-stars as well due to her cavalier approach to the business'. Louise Brooks herself admitted 'In Hollywood I was a pretty flibbertigibbet whose charm for the executive department decreased with every increase in her fanmail. In Berlin, I stepped onto the station platform to meet Pabst and became an actress'. She was twice married and divorced, first to film director Edward Sutherland, and then to wealthy Chicago playboy Deering Davies. She never asked for or recieved any financial support from either of her ex-husbands.

After years of obscurity and poverty she found a new career as a film critic. During the 1950s-70s she produced thoughtful and insightful essays about the people she had known and worked with. In 1975 Louise Brooks decided that,'I shall write no more. Writing truth for people nourished on publicity crap is a useless exercise.'²After giving up writing she lived in near-total seclusion and suffered from bouts of depression and ocasional 'gincoherence'.

In 1965 the Italian artist Guido Crepax created 'Valentina', a comic strip inspired by Louise Brooks. On the 8th August, 1985 Louise Brooks died aged 78 in A594416. In the years since her death the reputation of Louise Brooks has risen. Some of her films, including those directed by GW Pabst, 'Pandora's Box' and 'Diary of a Lost Girl', are available on DVD and there are numerous books about her. Once seen she is not easily forgotten. As the French film historian Henri Langlois said 'There is no Garbo! There is no Dietrich! There is only Louise Brooks!'

Filmography of Louise Brooks

Articles by Louise Brooks

Further Reading

There are several sites devoted to Louise Brooks on the web. The two that follow are very good and have numerous links to other sites.

Louise Brooks Society

Every Little Breeze, The Louise Brooks page

For information on her film career the following is useful.

Louise Brooks on the Internet Movie Database

The following are interesting articles about her.

The Girl in the Black Helmet by Kenneth Tynan.

American Venus by Frank Thompson.

'The Intense Isolation of Louise Brooks' by James Card.