Phyllis Brooks (July 18, 1915 – August 1, 1995) was an American actress and model. She was born in

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...

. Some sources have also inaccurately cited 1914 as her year of birth, but 1915 is the correct year according to Social Security records.

Career

Modeling

She was a model for two years before progressing to a career in film. She stated, "I started posing for photographers as a lark, and it was a lot of fun." She had been known as the "

Ipana Ipana was a toothpaste product manufactured by Bristol-Myers Company. The wintergreen flavored toothpaste (0.243% sodium fluoride was its active ingredient) reached its peak market penetration during the 1950s in North America. Marketing of Ipan ...

Toothpaste Girl", due to her work for that product.Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books; , pg. 170.

Film

Initially known as Mary Brooks, she began her career in films in 1934 at age 20, in '' I've Been Around''. 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 ''Little Miss Broadway'' is a 1938 American musical drama film directed by Irving Cummings. The screenplay was written by Harry Tugend and Jack Yellen. The film stars Shirley Temple in a story about a theatrical boarding house and its occupants ...

'' (1938) and '' The Shanghai Gesture'' (1941). Cesar Romero and Phyllis Brooks

She appeared in

Sidney Toler Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr., April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second European-American actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his ...

's ''

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

'' series, in the Shirley Temple films '' Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' and in ''

''.

Stage

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, Brooks appeared in ''Stage Door'' (1936–37), '' Panama Hattie'' (1940–42), ''The Night Before Christmas'' (1941), and ''Round Trip'' (1945).

Wartime activities

Gary Cooper Phyllis Brooks Una Merkel, Brisbane 1943 (1)

Brooks was reported (UK ''Sunday Telegraph'' December 1942) as being president of Parties Unlimited Inc. in an article about Hollywood at war. Along with actress

Una Merkel Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress. Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film ...

and accompanied by film star

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...

, Brooks was the first civilian woman to travel to the Pacific theater of war during World War II on a USO tour.

Personal life

Brooks was engaged at one time to

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

. She married Torbert Macdonald on June 23, 1945, in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

. Macdonald, who had been

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

's roommate at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, went on to become an 11-term

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

Congressman. Brooks moved East to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

with her new husband in 1945 so that he could complete his studies at Harvard Law School. He had been a Harvard football captain and a decorated

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the war ...

captain in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He died in office in 1976.

Death

Brooks died on August 1, 1995, in

Cape Neddick, Maine Cape Neddick is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of York in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,568 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statisti ...

, aged 80.

Partial filmography

* ''

One Exciting Adventure ''One Exciting Adventure'' is a 1934 American comedy film directed by Ernst L. Frank and starring Binnie Barnes, Neil Hamilton and Paul Cavanagh.Goble p.229 It is a remake of the 1933 German film ''What Women Dream''. Cast * Binnie Barnes as R ...

'' (1934) - Minor Role (uncredited) * '' Strange Wives'' (1934) - The Actress * '' The Man Who Reclaimed His Head'' (1934) - Secretary (uncredited) * '' I've Been Around'' (1935) - Gay Blackstone * '' McFadden's Flats'' (1935) - Mary Ellis Hall * '' Lady Tubbs'' (1935) - Debutante (uncredited) * '' Another Face'' (1935) - Sheila Barry * ''

To Beat the Band ''To Beat the Band'' is a 1935 American romantic comedy directed by Benjamin Stoloff using a screenplay by Rian James based on a story by George Marion, Jr. The film stars Hugh Herbert, Helen Broderick, Roger Pryor, and Fred Keating, and featu ...

'' (1935) - Rowena * ''

Two in the Dark ''Two in the Dark'' is a 1936 American mystery film directed by Benjamin Stoloff and starring Walter Abel, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford, Gail Patrick, and Alan Hale. The screenplay concerns an amnesiac suspected of murder. In 1945, Stoloff ...

'' (1936) - Minor Role * ''

Follow the Fleet ''Follow the Fleet'' is a 1936 American RKO musical comedy film with a nautical theme starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their fifth collaboration as dance partners. It also features Randolph Scott, Harriet Hilliard, and Astrid Allwyn, ...

'' (1936) - Minor Role (uncredited) * ''

You Can't Have Everything ''You Can't Have Everything'' is a 1937 Fox musical film directed by Norman Taurog and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. The film stars Alice Faye and Don Ameche, and was the film debut for Gypsy Rose Lee credited as Louise Hovick part of her bir ...

'' (1937) - Evelyn Moore * '' Dangerously Yours'' (1937) - Valerie Barton * '' Ali Baba Goes to Town'' (1937) - Phyllis Brooks - at Premiere (uncredited) * '' In Old Chicago'' (1938) - Ann Colby * '' City Girl'' (1938) - Ellen Ward * '' Walking Down Broadway'' (1938) - Vicki Stone * '' Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' (1938) - Lola Lee * ''

'' (1938) - Barbara Shea * '' Straight Place and Show'' (1938) - Barbara 'Babs' Drake * ''

Up the River ''Up the River'' is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film directed by John Ford, and starring Claire Luce, Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart. The plot concerns escaped convicts, as well as a female convict. It was the feature film debut role of ...

'' (1938) - Helen Lindsay * ''

Charlie Chan in Honolulu ''Charlie Chan in Honolulu'' is a 1939 American film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, starring Sidney Toler as the fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan. The film is the first appearance of both Toler as Chan and Victor Sen Yung as ...

'' (1938) - Judy Hayes * '' Charlie Chan in Reno'' (1939) - Vivian Wells * '' Lucky to Me'' (1939) - Pamela Stuart * '' Slightly Honorable'' (1939) - Sarilla Cushing * '' The Flying Squad'' (1940) - Ann Perryman * '' The Shanghai Gesture'' (1941) - The Chorus Girl * ''

No Place for a Lady ''No Place for a Lady'' is a 1943 black and white mystery film, directed by James P. Hogan. Plot At a warehouse in Los Angeles, trucks are loaded with stacks of tires to be delivered to a San Francisco warehouse. On a country road under cover ...

'' (1943) - Dolly Adair * '' Silver Spurs'' (1943) - Mary Hardigan * '' Hi'ya, Sailor'' (1943) - Nanette * ''

Lady in the Dark ''Lady in the Dark'' is a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart. It was produced by Sam Harris. The protagonist, Liza Elliott, is the unhappy female editor of a fictional fashion magazine ...

'' (1944) - Allison DuBois * '' Wilson'' (1944) - Granddaughter (uncredited) * ''

Dangerous Passage ''Dangerous Passage'' is a 1944 American film noir drama film directed by William Berke, starring Robert Lowery and Phyllis Brooks. Plot summary Oil company employee Joe Beck ( Robert Lowery) is stationed in the jungle in Honduras. When his g ...

'' (1944) - Nita Paxton * '' High Powered'' (1945) - Marian Blair * '' The Unseen'' (1945) - Maxine

References

External links

* * * *
Photos of Phyllis Brooks from ''The Shanghai Gesture''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Phyllis 1915 births 1995 deaths Actresses from Idaho Female models from Idaho American film actresses American stage actresses Spouses of Massachusetts politicians People from Boise, Idaho 20th-century American actresses