Phyllis Brooks

Phyllis Brooks

Born: July 18, 1915
Died: August 1, 1995
in Boise, Idaho, USA
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.

Movies for Phyllis Brooks...

The Unseen
Title: The Unseen
Character: Maxine
Released: May 12, 1945
Type: Movie
David Fielding, who has recently lost his wife, moves into a new neighborhood under a cloud of suspicion. Many feel that his wife's death in a car crash was no accident. Elizabeth Howard, the governess he hires to look after his children, makes it her mission to find out the truth. When other murders seem to be following David to his new town, Elizabeth investigates with the help of David's son Barnaby.
bee
High Powered
Title: High Powered
Character: Marian Blair
Released: February 27, 1945
Type: Movie
Tim takes a job as a lowly chipper because he has been afraid to go high ever since a bad fall in which he was injured and another workman was killed.
bee
Dangerous Passage
Title: Dangerous Passage
Character: Nita
Released: December 18, 1944
Type: Movie
Joe Beck leaves Central America so that he can return to Texas and collect a large inheritance, but he picks a dangerous ship on which to travel.
bee
Lady in the Dark
Title: Lady in the Dark
Character: Allison DuBois
Released: February 10, 1944
Type: Movie
A neurotic editor sees a psychoanalyst about the advertising man, movie star and other man in her life.
bee
Hi'ya, Sailor
Title: Hi'ya, Sailor
Character: Nanette
Released: October 8, 1943
Type: Movie
Bob Jackson and his three Merchant Marine shipmates have each invested $50 in a song Bob has written and which he thinks will be published for a fee of $200. In a taxicab driven by Pat Rogers, they search for the publisher's office but finally realize they have been swindled. Plus, they now owe Pat a large taxi-bill.
bee
Silver Spurs
Title: Silver Spurs
Character: Mary Johnson
Released: August 12, 1943
Type: Movie
Jerry Johnson inherits a 50,000 acre ranch. Lucky Miller wants to take over the ranch. Roy is trying to get a railroad spur right of way. Lucky has a woman come west to marry Jerry to get control of the ranch. After the wedding, Lucky has the owner killed. Roy’s gun is substituted for the murder weapon, so Roy is put in jail.
bee
No Place for a Lady
Title: No Place for a Lady
Character: Dolly Adair
Released: February 11, 1943
Type: Movie
A private detective and a blonde acquaintance whom he has rescued from a misdirected murder charge, discover a body in his beachside cottage; only it has disappeared by the time the police arrive, leaving him to be charged with hoaxing the police. With his license in jeopardy, his would-be fiancee and an inquiring reporter set out to investigate.
bee
The Shanghai Gesture
Title: The Shanghai Gesture
Character: Dixie Pomeroy
Released: December 25, 1941
Type: Movie
A gambling queen uses blackmail to stop a British financier from closing her Chinese clip joint.
bee
The Flying Squad
Title: The Flying Squad
Character: Ann Perryman
Released: October 12, 1940
Type: Movie
Inspector Bradley of Scotland Yard is on the trail of the murderous ringleader of a smuggling organization in London.
bee
Slightly Honorable
Title: Slightly Honorable
Character: Sarilla Cushing
Released: December 22, 1939
Type: Movie
A lawyer is framed for the murder of a young party girl and tries to clear his name.
bee
Lucky to Me
Title: Lucky to Me
Character: Pamela Stuart
Released: November 8, 1939
Type: Movie
Lucky to Me is a 1939 British musical comedy film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Stanley Lupino, Phyllis Brooks and Barbara Blair. It was based on Lupino's own 1928 stage show So This is Love which he had co-written with Arthur Rigby. The film was made by ABPC at its Elstree Studios. It was the last film of Lupino who had made a string of successful musical comedies during the Thirties.
bee
Charlie Chan in Reno
Title: Charlie Chan in Reno
Character: Vivian Wells
Released: June 16, 1939
Type: Movie
Mary Whitman has gone to Reno to obtain a divorce. While there she is arrested on suspicion of murdering a fellow guest at her hotel (which specializes in divorcers). There are many others at the hotel who wanted the victim out of the way. Charlie comes from his home in Honolulu to solve the murder.
bee
Charlie Chan in Honolulu
Title: Charlie Chan in Honolulu
Character: Judy Hayes
Released: December 30, 1938
Type: Movie
While Charlie is distracted with the birth of his first grandchild, son Jimmy impersonates his father in order to investigate a murder aboard a freighter in the harbor.
bee
Up the River
Title: Up the River
Character: Helen Lindsay
Released: December 9, 1938
Type: Movie
A group of prison inmates pass the time playing football and romancing ladies in this prison escape crime musical screwball comedy that was apparently a wacky spoof of the crime movies that were so popular in the 1930s. It seems to be completely forgotten today, except by major film buffs.
bee
Straight, Place and Show
Title: Straight, Place and Show
Character: Barbara 'Babs' Drake
Released: September 30, 1938
Type: Movie
The Ritz Brothers go to the race track. They raise training end entrance money in a wrestling match and help a young man train the horse of his fiancée.
bee
Little Miss Broadway
Title: Little Miss Broadway
Character: Barbara Shea
Released: July 29, 1938
Type: Movie
An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. The hotel's owner doesn't like the entertainers and wants the girl returned to the orphanage.
bee
In Old Chicago
Title: In Old Chicago
Character: Ann Colby
Released: April 15, 1938
Type: Movie
The O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.
bee
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Title: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Character: Lola Lee
Released: March 18, 1938
Type: Movie
Rebecca's Uncle Harry leaves her with Aunt Miranda who forbids her to associate with show people. But neighbor Anthony Kent is a talent scout who secretly set it up for her to broadcast.
bee
Walking Down Broadway
Title: Walking Down Broadway
Character: Vicki Stone
Released: March 11, 1938
Type: Movie
Five closely knit showgirls sign a pact to reunite one year after the closing of their Broadway production, but the lives of all five take many different turns, often for the worse.
bee
City Girl
Title: City Girl
Character: Ellen Ward
Released: January 7, 1938
Type: Movie
In this tearful crime melodrama, a waitress becomes so taken with her dream of living in posh luxury and comfort that she leaves her honest boyfriend the district attorney to take up with a notorious gangster who lavishes her with stolen furs and fabulous diamonds. She has no idea that the crook is only using her as a pawn in his scheme to learn the DA's secrets. When she finally does learn the truth, she gives up her life for truth, justice and love.
bee
Ali Baba Goes to Town
Title: Ali Baba Goes to Town
Character: Herself
Released: October 29, 1937
Type: Movie
While visiting Hollywood a starstruck movie fan (Eddie Cantor) fantasizes about himself cast in an Arabian adventure. Director David Butler's comedy--with many songs--also features Tony Martin, Roland Young, Gypsy Rose Lee (billed as Rose Hovick), John Carradine, June Lang, Virginia Field, Charles Lane, The Peters Sisters and many big-name guest stars playing themselves.
bee
Dangerously Yours
Title: Dangerously Yours
Character: Valerie Barton
Released: September 21, 1937
Type: Movie
A detective poses as a jewel thief and joins a bunch of other crooks sailing from Europe to New York in search a famous gem. He falls in love with one of the crooks.
bee
You Can't Have Everything
Title: You Can't Have Everything
Character: Evelyn Moore
Released: August 2, 1937
Type: Movie
Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate of stolen spaghetti. He persuades producer Sam Gordon to buy her ridiculous play "North Winds" just to improve his romantic chances, and even persuades her to sing in the sort of show she pretends to despise. But just when their romance is going well, Gordon's former flame Lulu reveals the ace up her sleeve...
bee
Two in the Dark
Title: Two in the Dark
Character: Undetermined Role
Released: January 10, 1936
Type: Movie
Ford Adams regains consciousness in Boston, bloody and suffering from amnesia. Information he eventually uncovers (with the help of Marie Smith) connects him to a well-known producer--who's just been murdered.
bee
Foolish Hearts
Title: Foolish Hearts
Character: Gloria Seabury / Jeanette Hardwick
Released: December 27, 1935
Type: Movie
A little entry from the RKO shorts department serving also as an audition-type (stick 'em in one of these and see if they appeal to a real audience, and make a buck or two at the same time)film for studio contractees and budding starlets. And, surrounded and supported by veteran character actors, such as Jack Norton, Jack Rice and Harrison Green, the likes of Tony Martin, Phyllis Brooks and Lucille Ball usually looked pretty good. And soon made for themselves, with studio help, rather nice Hollywood careers.
bee
Another Face
Title: Another Face
Character: Sheila Barry
Released: December 20, 1935
Type: Movie
The surgeon who did the job was dead. Only the nurse knew what this gangster looked like in his new face. He learned about women from her!
bee
To Beat the Band
Title: To Beat the Band
Character: Rowena
Released: November 23, 1935
Type: Movie
An eccentric heir must marry a widow in order to collect the millions left to him in his aunt's will, so a suicidal neighbor agrees to marry the man's young fiancée before offing himself.
bee
McFadden´s Flats
Title: McFadden´s Flats
Character: Mary Ellis Hall
Released: March 12, 1935
Type: Movie
Dan McFadden builds an apartment house in a working-class neighborhood on New York's East Side called "McFadden's Flats." At the same time, Dan and his wife Nora send their tomboyish daughter Molly to an expensive girls' school to teach her etiquette. Molly only agrees to go after her sweetheart, Sandy MacTavish, convinces her she should. When Dan is unable to complete the apartments because of a lack of money, Sandy's father Jock, a Scottish barber and Dan's best friend, secretly backs Dan's loan at the bank, even though Jock is known for his penny-pinching ways.
bee
I've Been Around
Title: I've Been Around
Character: Gay Blackstone
Released: March 5, 1935
Type: Movie
Romantic problems of a society girl and an engineer.
bee
Strange Wives
Title: Strange Wives
Character: The Actress
Released: November 30, 1934
Type: Movie
When a young man marries a Russian girl, he finds that he has "married" her entire family.