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Phyllis Brooks

Actor

Phyllis Brooks

Born July 18, 1915 in Boise, Idaho, USADied August 1, 199529 films

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.

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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 best way into Phyllis Brooks's work
In Old Chicago posterFirst watchIn Old Chicago19386.7as Ann ColbyThe O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
The Shanghai Gesture poster6.3The Shanghai Gesture1941

Filmography

29 films as actor
  1. 1945The UnseenMaxine
  2. 1945High PoweredMarian Blair
  3. 1944Dangerous PassageNita
  4. 1944Lady in the DarkAllison DuBois
  5. 1943Hi'ya, SailorNanette
  6. 1943Silver SpursMary Johnson
  7. 1943No Place for a LadyDolly Adair
  8. 1941The Shanghai GestureDixie Pomeroy
  9. 1940The Flying SquadAnn Perryman
  10. 1939Slightly HonorableSarilla Cushing
  11. 1939Lucky to MePamela Stuart
  12. 1939Charlie Chan in RenoVivian Wells
  13. 1938Charlie Chan in HonoluluJudy Hayes
  14. 1938Up the RiverHelen Lindsay
  15. 1938Straight, Place and ShowBarbara 'Babs' Drake
  16. 1938Little Miss BroadwayBarbara Shea
  17. 1938In Old ChicagoAnn Colby
  18. 1938Rebecca of Sunnybrook FarmLola Lee
  19. 1938Walking Down BroadwayVicki Stone
  20. 1938City GirlEllen Ward
  21. 1937Sunday Night at the TrocaderoPhyllis Brooks
  22. 1937Dangerously YoursValerie Barton
  23. 1937You Can't Have EverythingEvelyn Moore
  24. 1935Foolish HeartsGloria Seabury / Jeanette Hardwick
  25. 1935Another FaceSheila Barry
  26. 1935To Beat the BandRowena
  27. 1935McFadden´s FlatsMary Ellis Hall
  28. 1935I've Been AroundGay Blackstone
  29. 1934Strange WivesThe Actress