Louise Brooks

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Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks (born November 14, 1906 in Cherryvale , Kansas , † August 8, 1985 in Rochester , New York ; full name: Mary Louise Brooks) was an American film actress and writer . She was best known as an actress in silent films , in which she was visually noticeable because of her bobbed head .

biography

Brooks was the youngest member of the Denishawn Dancers, she joined the troupe when she was just 15 and traveled to New York City to pursue a career in dancing. After her engagement as a dancer with the Broadway production Ziegfeld Follies in New York, Brooks received a five-year contract with Paramount . She made her screen debut in 1925 and then advanced to become a silent film star in numerous comedies as a " flapper ". Brooks had one of her greatest successes in 1928 with the comedy A Girl in Every Port, directed by Howard Hawks , although her role in it was small. In this film she discovered Georg Wilhelm Pabst and hired her at the height of her US career - Beggars of Life was just Brooks' greatest audience success - to Berlin.

Under Pabst's direction, Louise Brooks played Lulu in the Frank Wedekind film Die Büchse der Pandora (1929). The film caused a stir because of its freedom of movement. Among other things, a lesbian relationship was portrayed in it, which was unusual in the film at the time. It followed in the same year - again under Pabst's direction - Diary of a Lost One . Both films were heavily attacked by the film critics and severely mutilated by the censors . In 1929 Brooks was filming Prix ​​de beauté (Prize of Beauty / Miss Europe) in France, directed by Augusto Genina . Started as a silent film, Prix ​​de beauté was reworked into a sound film .

Louise Brooks, 1929

Back in the United States, the 1.57 m tall actress was unable to build on her previous successes. Reasons for this were probably her non-conformist roles, which she had embodied in Europe, as well as her contractual disputes with Paramount. The rumor spread from her former production company that Brooks' voice was not suitable for talkies. As a result, she received only a few roles in a few B-films . She then turned her back on Hollywood, performed in nightclubs and worked for the radio . In 1933 she married the millionaire Deering Davesund, but separated from him after a few months of marriage. Between 1936 and 1938 she played smaller roles in four films before she went to New York as a saleswoman and finally ended her film career.

Almost forgotten, Louise Brooks was rediscovered by French film historians in the 1950s. After showing a retrospective of her films in the Cinémathèque Française , she was declared a film icon whose work can be compared to Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo . This also led to a reputation in her home country, where she - encouraged by the film curator James Card - started writing. This was followed by relentless and sometimes sensational articles about her own career, the star system in Hollywood, full of gossip about other film stars, including Lillian Gish , Humphrey Bogart , Charlie Chaplin and WC Fields . Brooks also claimed, for example, that she spent a night with Greta Garbo - an unproven and unprovable statement, especially since Garbo, known for her restraint, was not even friends with Brooks. Her collected essays appeared in the 1982 book Lulu in Hollywood , which was a surprise hit on the bestseller lists. Louise Brooks was seen in some TV documentaries in the 1960s and 1970s, in which she gave interviews in a nightgown . She lived in Rochester , New York, until her death in 1985 .

Aftermath

Louise Brooks was posthumously honored by the British band OMD . Their single Pandora's Box and the accompanying video from 1991 paid homage to the silent movie star. Excerpts from the film Pandora's Box were used for the accompanying music video . The video received a lot of airplay on MTV Europe. Natalie Merchant dedicated the song Lulu and the accompanying music video to her in 2014 .

She was also mentioned in the song "A fish called Prince" by the band "Deine Lakaien" in connection with Lillian Gish.

Filmography

Silent films

  • 1925: The Street of Forgotten Men (only preserved in fragments)
  • 1926: The Most Beautiful Woman in the States (The American Venus - missing, only trailer preserved)
  • 1926: A Social Celebrity (lost)
  • 1926: A modern lucky hunter (It's the Old Army Game) Directed by A. Edward Sutherland
  • 1926: The Show Off
  • 1926: Love Em and Leave 'Em - Director: Frank Tuttle
  • 1926: Just Another Blonde or Girl from Coney Island (lost)
  • 1927: Evening Clothes (lost)
  • 1927: Rolled Stockings (lost)
  • 1927: Now We're in the Air (lost)
  • 1927: The City Gone Wild (lost)
  • 1928: Blue Boys - blonde girls or a bride in every port (A Girl in Every Port) Director: Howard Hawks
  • 1928: Beggars of Life - Directed by William A. Wellman
  • 1929: The Pandora's Box (Engl. Title: Pandora's Box ) Director: GW Pabst
  • 1929: The Canary Murder Case - Directed by Malcolm St. Clair / Frank Tuttle
  • 1929: Diary of a Lost Person - Director: GW Pabst

Sound films

  • 1930: Miss Europa ( Prix ​​de Beauté ) - a silent film with a soundtrack - only the soundtracked version preserved; Director: Augusto Genina
  • 1931: It Pays to Advertise - Director: Frank Tuttle
  • 1931: God's Gift to Women - Directed by Michael Curtiz
  • 1931: Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (short film) - Director: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
  • 1936: Empty Saddles - Director: Lesley Selander
  • 1937: When You're in Love - Director: Robert Riskin (minor supporting role - not featured in the credits)
  • 1937: King of Gamblers - Director: Robert Florey (scenes with Brooks have been cut out and have not been preserved)
  • 1938: Gold in den Wolken ( Overland Stage Raiders ) - directed by George Sherman , with John Wayne in the lead role

Documentaries

  • 1984: Lulu in Berlin
  • 1998: Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu

Works

literature

Web links

Commons : Louise Brooks  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barry Paris: Greta Garbo , Ullstein, Berlin 1997, p. 383.
personal data
SURNAME Brooks, Louise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brooks, Mary Louise
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film actress
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Cherryvale , Kansas
DATE OF DEATH August 8, 1985
Place of death Rochester , New York