Louise Brooks

Biography

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]

Known For

Hollywood

Pandora's Box

Diary of a Lost Girl

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema

Beggars of Life

Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films

Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl

The Canary Murder Case

All Movies (35)

• Away with Words2026 · as Louise Brooks
• Clara Bow: Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess2012
• Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films2011 · as Herself (archive footage)
• Flappers, Speakeasies, and the Birth of Modern Culture2010
• Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema2007 · as Self (archive footage)
• Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl1999 · as Self (archive footage)
• Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu1998 · as Herself (archive footage)
• The Casting Couch1995
• 1001 Films1989 · as (archival)
• Louise Brooks1986 · as Herself (Archival Footage)
• Lulu in Berlin1984 · as Self
• Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture1976 · as Self - Interviewee
• Overland Stage Raiders1938 · as Beth Hoyt
• When You're in Love1937 · as Specialty Ballerina in Chorus
• Empty Saddles1936 · as Boots Boone
• Windy Riley Goes Hollywood1931 · as Betty Grey
• God's Gift to Women1931 · as Florine
• It Pays to Advertise1931 · as Thelma Temple
• Miss Europe1930 · as Lucienne
• Diary of a Lost Girl1929 · as Thymian Henning
• The Canary Murder Case1929 · as The Canary
• Pandora's Box1929 · as Lulu
• Beggars of Life1928 · as The Girl (Nancy)
• A Girl in Every Port1928 · as Marie / Mam'selle Godiva
• The City Gone Wild1927 · as Snuggles Joy
• Now We're in the Air1927 · as Griselle and Grisette
• Rolled Stockings1927 · as Carol Fleming
• Evening Clothes1927 · as Fox Trot
• Just Another Blonde1926 · as Diana O'Sullivan
• The Show Off1926 · as Clara
• It's the Old Army Game1926 · as Mildred Marshall
• A Social Celebrity1926 · as Kitty Laverne
• Love 'Em and Leave 'Em1926 · as Janie Walsh
• The American Venus1926 · as Miss Bayport
• The Street of Forgotten Men1925 · as A Moll

All TV Shows (2)

• Mysteries and Scandals1998 · as Self (archive footage)
• Hollywood1980 · as Self