Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. Nominated for eight
Oscars
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
in his career, he was best known for ''
Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), ''
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' (1958), ''
Elmer Gantry'' (1960; for which he won the
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, music ...
), ''
In Cold Blood
''In Cold Blood'' is a non-fiction novel by American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.
Capote learned of the ...
'' (1967) and ''
Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977).
Early life and career
Brooks was born as Reuben Sax to Hyman and Esther Sax, Russian Jewish immigrants. Married teenagers when they immigrated to the United States in 1908, they found employment in Philadelphia's textile and clothing industry. Their only child, Reuben Sax, was born in 1912 in Philadelphia. He attended public schools Joseph Leidy Elementary,
Mayer Sulzberger Junior High School and
West Philadelphia High School
West Philadelphia High School is a secondary school located in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the intersection of 49th Street and Chestnut Street.
History
The original West Philadelphia High School (WPHS) building ...
,
graduating from the latter in 1929.
Sax took classes at
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...
for two years, studying journalism and playing on the school's baseball team. He dropped out and left home when he discovered that his parents were going into debt to pay for his tuition. He rode freight trains around the East and Midwest for a period of time, eventually returning to Philadelphia to seek work as a newspaper reporter. At some point in the 1930s, during the
Great Depression, Sax began using the name Richard Brooks professionally. He changed his name legally in 1943.
Brooks wrote sports for the ''
Philadelphia Record'' and later joined the staff of the ''Atlantic City Press-Union.'' He moved to New York to work for the ''
World-Telegram
The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.
History
Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...
;'' shortly afterward he took a job with radio station
WNEW for a larger paycheck. As a newsman for the station, he reported and read stories on the air and provided commentary.
Brooks also began writing plays in 1938 and tried directing for Long Island's
Mill Pond Theater
Mill may refer to:
Science and technology
*
* Mill (grinding)
* Milling (machining)
* Millwork
* Textile manufacturing, Textile mill
* Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel
* List of types of mill
* Mill, the arithmetic unit of the A ...
in 1940. A falling out with his theater colleagues that summer led him to drive to Los Angeles on a whim, hoping to find work in the film industry. He also may have been trying to escape a marriage; a legal document indicates he was married at least part of the time he lived in New York.
He did not find film work but was hired by the NBC affiliate to write original stories and read them for a daily fifteen-minute broadcast called ''Sidestreet Vignettes.'' His second marriage, in 1941, to
Jeanne Kelly
Jean Brooks (born Ruby Matilda Kelly; December 23, 1915November 25, 1963) was an American film actress and singer who appeared in over thirty films. Though she never achieved major stardom in Hollywood, she had several prominent roles in the ea ...
, an actress at
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
, may have helped to open the door to writing for the studio. He contributed dialogue to a few films and wrote two screenplays for the popular actress
Maria Montez, known as the "Queen of Technicolor." With no prospect of moving into more prestigious productions, he quit Universal and joined the
Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
in 1943 during World War II.
Brooks never served overseas during the war, instead working in the Marine Corps film unit at Quantico, Virginia, and at times at Camp Pendleton, California. In his two years in uniform he learned more about the basics of filmmaking, including writing and editing documentaries. He also found time to write a novel, ''The Brick Foxhole,'' a searing portrait of some stateside soldiers who were tainted by religious and racial bigotry, and opposed to homosexuals. In 1944 he divorced his wife, then known in films as Jean Brooks. Later he said he had been a self-centered husband and unsuitable for what she needed.
His book was published in 1945 to favorable reviews. It was adapted as the film ''
Crossfire
A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I.
...
'' (1947) with the homosexual element removed. It was the first major Hollywood film to deal with
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Ant ...
, receiving an Oscar nomination. The novel drew the attention of independent producer
Mark Hellinger, who hired Brooks as a screenwriter after he left the Marines.
Working for Hellinger brought Brooks back to the film industry and led to a long friendship with actor
Humphrey Bogart, a close friend of the producer. Brooks provided an uncredited screen story for ''
The Killers
The Killers are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After going through a number of short-term bass players and drum ...
'' (1946), which introduced actor
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
. He wrote the scripts for two other Hellinger films, notably ''
Brute Force
Brute Force or brute force may refer to:
Techniques
* Brute force method or proof by exhaustion, a method of mathematical proof
* Brute-force attack, a cryptanalytic attack
* Brute-force search, a computer problem-solving technique
People
* Brut ...
'' (1947), also starring Lancaster. After Hellinger died suddenly in 1947, Brooks wrote screenplays for three
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
films, including ''
Key Largo
Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected b ...
'' (1948), starring Bogart and wife
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary Aw ...
and directed and co-written by
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...
, another Brooks mentor. Huston and Brooks had both worked together previously in the uncredited rewrite for ''The Killers'', and Huston would be the only co-writer Brooks ever had.
While filming ''Key Largo'', Huston allowed Brooks to be on the ''Key Largo'' set during shooting, so that he could learn more about directing a Hollywood film.
Brooks wrote two more novels shortly after the war, ''The Boiling Point'' (1948) and ''The Producer'' (1951), a thinly disguised portrait of Mark Hellinger. It may also have contained autobiographical elements about Brooks. In 1946 he married again, to Harriette Levin, who had no apparent connection to the film industry. Their marriage lasted until 1957, when she sought a default divorce.
Writing and directing at MGM
Success as a screenwriter with Hellinger and Warner Brothers led Brooks to a contract with
MGM and the promise of a chance to direct. He wrote two screenplays for the studio before he was given the opportunity. His first film as writer and director, ''
Crisis
A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...
'' (1950), starred
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 ...
as a brain surgeon forced to save the life of a South American dictator, played by
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors during his lifetime, ...
. His second film, ''
The Light Touch'' (1951), an art-theft
caper film starring
Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger (born James Lablache Stewart; 6 May 1913 – 16 August 1993) was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame thr ...
, was shot in Italy.
Brooks recounted useful advice he received just before his directorial debut from cinematographer
Karl Freund
Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. (January 16, 1890 – May 3, 1969) was an Austrian cinematographer and film director best known for photographing ''Metropolis'' (1927), ''Dracula'' (1931), and television's ''I Love Lucy'' (1951-1957). Freund was an innova ...
while speaking at the
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Lead ...
. Freund gave Brooks reels of 16mm film, calling them "Lesson Number One." When Brooks watched the reels at home, he saw that they were pornography. The next day, Freund explained: "I produced them. My pictures, 1922. Many times you will be wondering, do you put the camera here, or up here, or down here? Maybe you make the scene a little bigger, or a little smaller. Lesson Number One. Get to the fucking point."
Brooks came into his own when he directed an original screenplay, ''
Deadline – U.S.A.
''Deadline – U.S.A.'' is a 1952 American film noir crime film and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore and Kim Hunter, written and directed by Richard Brooks. It is the story of a crusading newspaper editor who exposes a gangster's cri ...
'' (1952), for
20th Century-Fox, starring his friend Humphrey Bogart. Based on the closing of the ''
New York World
The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publ ...
'', the film was part
gangster picture, part newspaper drama. At its core was an issue Brooks cared about: the consolidation of the newspaper industry and its effect on the diversity of voices in the press. The film remains one of the more highly regarded dramas about American newspapers.
Brooks directed four more films before achieving an unqualified hit with ''
Blackboard Jungle'' (1955) starring
Glenn Ford. Based on a best-seller by
Evan Hunter, the film was shocking for its time in its presentation of juvenile delinquency. It also offered a career-making supporting role for a young black actor,
Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive Go ...
, and early roles for actors
Vic Morrow
Victor Morrow (born Victor Morozoff; February 14, 1929 – July 23, 1982) was an American actor. He came to prominence as one of the leads of the ABC drama series '' Combat!'' (1962–1967), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstan ...
,
Jamie Farr and
Paul Mazursky
Irwin Lawrence "Paul" Mazursky (April 25, 1930 – June 30, 2014) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Known for his dramatic comedies that often dealt with modern social issues, he was nominated for five Academy Awards: three t ...
. Brooks chose to begin and end the film with the song "
Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the Twelve-bar blues, 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful ren ...
", bringing
rock 'n' roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
to a major Hollywood production for the first time and sparking a No. 1 hit for
Bill Haley and the Comets. ''Blackboard Jungle'' was nominated for an Oscar for its screenplay, and was MGM's top moneymaker that year.
In 1955, Brooks was one of four American
auteur
An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...
filmmakers named as "rebels" by the French magazine ''
Cahiers du Cinéma
''Cahiers du Cinéma'' (, ) is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.Itzkoff, Dave (9 February 2009''Cahiers Du Cinéma Will Continue to Publish''The New York TimesMacnab, ...
.''
Box-office success was what gave the writer/director more freedom at MGM, but Brooks also recognized that he would never have complete control of his films while under contract. He determined to avoid writing original screenplays and focused on adaptations of best-sellers or classic novels. He later noted that adapting a novel gave him a head start on developing the story structure required for a screenplay.
He spent the rest of the decade at MGM, where his most notable film was an adaptation of
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...
's sexually charged play ''
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' (1958). A huge hit for MGM – it drew more money and a larger audience than any other film Brooks ever directed – the film revived the career of
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
and made a star of
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...
. It brought Brooks his first Oscar nomination for directing and the first Best Picture nomination in his directorial career.
Independent writer-producer-director
Brooks spent the last third of his film career working in relative independence. In 1958, he signed a non-exclusive, seven-year writer-director deal with
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...
that was to earn him over $1 million. He followed the success of ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' with an independent production for
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...
of ''
Elmer Gantry'' (1960), based on the novel by
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which wa ...
. The story of a phony preacher, played by
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
, and a sincere revivalist, played by
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and afte ...
, was edgy for the time. As it had for ''Blackboard Jungle'' and ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'', controversy accompanied the film's release and helped bring people to theaters. The movie received five Academy Award nominations, including one for best picture, and won Oscars for Lancaster as lead actor, for
Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as ''Oklahoma!'' (1955), '' Carousel'' (1956), and ''The M ...
as supporting actress, and for Brooks' script.
Brooks adapted and directed another Tennessee Williams play, ''
Sweet Bird of Youth'' (1962).
Ed Begley
Edward James Begley Sr. (March 25, 1901 – April 28, 1970) was an American actor of theatre, radio, film, and television. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film '' Sweet Bird of Youth'' (1962) an ...
won a Best Supporting Oscar for his role in the film. While popular and well-received critically, the MGM production did not duplicate the success of the previous Williams film. A dream project followed, an adaptation for Columbia Pictures of
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not sp ...
's ''
Lord Jim
''Lord Jim'' is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in ''Blackwood's Magazine'' from October 1899 to November 1900. An early and primary event in the story is the abandonment of a passenger ship in distress by its crew, i ...
'' (1965), but the lavish film proved to be a misfire at the box office and with most critics. Brooks had spent years writing the script and planning the most expensive project of his career. He had assembled a stellar cast led by
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vi ...
,
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...
,
Jack Hawkins,
Paul Lukas
Paul Lukas (born Pál Lukács; 26 May 1894 – 15 August 1971) was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his performance in the film '' Wat ...
, and
James Mason
James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films inc ...
. While beautifully photographed in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia by
Freddie Young and scored by
Bronisław Kaper
Bronisław Kaper (; February 5, 1902 – April 26, 1983) was a Polish film composer who scored films and musical theater in Germany, France, and the USA. The American immigration authorities misspelled his name as Bronislau Kaper. He was also va ...
, ''Lord Jim'' did not find the audience that had made
David Lean
Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics '' The Bridge on the Rive ...
's epics ''
Lawrence of Arabia
Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–19 ...
'' and ''
Doctor Zhivago'' such notable hits of the 1960s.
To recover professionally from the failure of ''Lord Jim,'' Brooks surprised Hollywood by choosing to adapt a minor western novel about a wealthy husband who hires mercenaries to rescue his kidnapped wife from Mexican bandits. Brooks worked quickly and within a year released ''
The Professionals'' (1966), which became Columbia's biggest hit that year. The slick crowd-pleaser starred Burt Lancaster,
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alth ...
,
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor and activist. Known for his portrayals of hardened cops and ruthless villains, Ryan performed for over three decades. He was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...
and
Woody Strode
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 – December 31, 1994) was an American athlete and actor. He was a decathlete and football star who was one of the first Black American players in the National Football League in the postwar era. ...
as "the professionals" with
Jack Palance
Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...
as the bandit leader and
Claudia Cardinale
Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale (; born 15 April 1938) is an Italian actress. She has starred in some of the most iconic European films of the 1960s and 1970s, acting in Italian, French, and English.
Born and raised in La Goulette, a ...
as the kidnapped wife. The film received Oscar nominations for Brooks' screenplay and direction, and for
Conrad Hall's cinematography. It has been lauded as one of the most entertaining westerns ever filmed.
Brooks landed the property of the decade when author
Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
selected him to adapt his best-selling book ''
In Cold Blood
''In Cold Blood'' is a non-fiction novel by American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.
Capote learned of the ...
''. Once again rejecting the methodical pace that had slowed him with other productions, Brooks worked quickly to adapt the "nonfiction novel," as Capote called it. As a reporter, Brooks also conducted his own research into the murders of four members of a Kansas farm family and the lives of the two drifters responsible for the crime. Brooks rejected Columbia's suggestion that he hire stars to play the killers and instead cast two relative unknowns,
Scott Wilson and
Robert Blake. He resisted the studio on another point, shooting the film in black and white rather than color because he thought it was a more frightening medium. He used locations where the events occurred, including the house where the family had been killed. ''
In Cold Blood
''In Cold Blood'' is a non-fiction novel by American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.
Capote learned of the ...
'' had a documentary style and was considered among the films of the mid-1960s that ushered in a more mature Hollywood style. Brooks received double Oscar nominations; cinematographer
Conrad Hall and composer
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
also were nominated.
''The Professionals'' and ''In Cold Blood'' marked the apex of Brooks' career. In the two decades that followed, he wrote and directed just six more films. Of note was ''
The Happy Ending
''The Happy Ending'' is a 1969 drama film written and directed by Richard Brooks, which tells the story of a repressed housewife who longs for liberation from her husband and daughter. It stars Jean Simmons (who received an Oscar nomination), ...
'' (1969). From his original screenplay about a woman dealing with disappointments in her marriage and her life, it was the kind of low-key personal film more likely to come from Europe than an American director. The film earned an Oscar nomination for star Jean Simmons. (Her own marriage to Brooks ended in divorce in 1980.)
In 1972 Brooks was hired by
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...
to direct ''
First Blood
''First Blood'' (also known as ''Rambo: First Blood'') is a 1982 American action film directed by Ted Kotcheff, and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also stars as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. It co-stars Richard Crenna as Rambo's mento ...
,'' with
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...
to be cast as a psychiatrist and either
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alth ...
or
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
to be cast as
Sheriff Will Teasle
There are many characters in the ''Rambo'' franchise, although the only two to appear in multiple films are Rambo himself and Colonel Trautman.
Main characters John James Rambo
John James Rambo is an iconic titular character and the protag ...
. Brooks intended the film to be a commentary on the perceptions of
veterans
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that h ...
from both
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. He also intended to make Teasle a more sympathetic character, who at the end of the film would have ordered his men to drop their guns to try to reason with
John Rambo
John James Rambo (born July 6, 1947) is a fictional character in the ''Rambo'' franchise. He first appeared in the 1972 novel '' First Blood'' by David Morrell, but later became more famous as the protagonist of the film series, in which he wa ...
before Rambo was shot by unknown gunman. The film was cancelled because the Vietnam War had not ended, and the rights were sold to
Warner Bros. Pictures.
''
Bite the Bullet
To "bite the bullet" is to “accept the inevitable impending hardship and endure the resulting pain with fortitude”. '' (1975) was Brooks' return to the western. He based his original screenplay on the endurance horse races popular at the turn of the century. In 1977, he released another controversial film, an adaptation of
Judith Rossner
Judith Rossner (March 31, 1935 – August 9, 2005) was an American novelist, best known for her acclaimed best sellers '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1975) and ''August'' (1983).
Life and career, 1935–1973
Born in New York City, on March 31, 1 ...
's 1975 novel ''
Looking for Mr. Goodbar.'' 'Goodbar'starred
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...
as a Catholic school teacher who searches for sexual satisfaction in singles bars. Brooks made the film on a tight budget, and its frank treatment of sex and its horrific storyline brought praise and condemnation and sold tickets. He ended his career with ''
Wrong Is Right'' (1982), a satire about the news media and world unrest starring
Sean Connery
Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...
,
and a gambling addiction film with
Ryan O'Neal
Ryan O'Neal (born April 20, 1941) is an American actor and former boxer. He trained as an amateur boxer before beginning his career in acting in 1960. In 1964, he landed the role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera '' Peyton Pla ...
and
Catherine Hicks in ''
Fever Pitch'' (1985). 'Fever Pitch' featured a story about a renowned Los Angeles sportswriter who becomes a sports gambling addict. Brooks himself had been a sportswriter when a young man. Both movies were critical and commercial failures.
Brooks tried developing other projects in the last years of his life. He suffered from heart ailments and a stroke before dying at his home in 1992 at the age of 79.
Personal life
In 1960, he married
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and afte ...
, after her divorce from
Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger (born James Lablache Stewart; 6 May 1913 – 16 August 1993) was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame thr ...
. Brooks helped to raise Tracy, Simmons' daughter by Granger. The couple had another daughter, Kate, together in 1961. They separated in 1977 and were legally divorced in 1980. Previously, Brooks had been married for 11 years to Harriette Levin, a relationship that also ended in divorce.
Character
Brooks hated bigotry, which was a central theme of his novel ''The Brick Foxhole'', his co-written screenplay for ''
Storm Warning'' (1951), and his first western, ''
The Last Hunt'' (1956). Racial division and reconciliation was also at the heart of ''
Something of Value'' (1957). He saw ''Blackboard Jungle'' as encouraging teachers to continue striving to help their students and as reassuring them that they can make a difference. Opposed to the death penalty, he used ''In Cold Blood'' to suggest that executing criminals solves nothing and only creates more violence.
While he worked in the studio system for most of the 1940s and 1950s, Brooks often clashed with studio policies about the look and feel of films and the stories they presented. He also chafed against the Production Code's limitations on subject matter and expression. His goal as a filmmaker was total control of a production, and he achieved that with most films after the success of ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof''. The failure of ''Lord Jim'' threatened that independence. Brooks responded by becoming a fast and efficient filmmaker, operating with a tight budget and often forgoing a high up-front salary in exchange for a guarantee of control.
Brooks was developing a reputation as a hard-driving, difficult and perpetually angry man as early as his tenure with radio station WNEW in the late 1930s. He was not averse to quitting a job when in conflict with those in charge—as he did while directing at the Mill Pond Theater in 1940 and writing for Universal in 1943. At MGM he was known for almost daily eruptions of anger, often aimed at his crew and sometimes at his cast. That did not change even after he was the producer of his films, and he was known throughout the industry as a talented filmmaker yet a difficult man to deal with.
Debbie Reynolds
Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...
recounts that, while as a young and relatively inexperienced actress filming ''
The Catered Affair'' (1956), Brooks hit her in the face and had to be pulled away from further assault by the assistant director. Later during filming, a heavy piece of equipment fell on his foot, breaking it, and the crew were noticeably slow in removing it which Reynolds attests to a general dislike of the director.
Brooks was much the same way in his personal life. He readily acknowledged that he was a trying husband and that his work was the most important activity in his life. He was not interested in Hollywood's social scene, preferring to entertain guests at his home with tennis and movies when he wasn't working on screenplays or other projects. Yet his wife Jean Simmons found him to be a humorous, stimulating husband and a loving father to their daughters. But from all accounts, he was a "tough as nails" father as well.
Death and legacy
Brooks was one of the relatively few filmmakers whose careers bridged the transition from the classic studio system to the independent productions that marked the 1960s and beyond. He was also among the postwar writer-directors who made some of their best films as they struggled to break free of industry censorship. His legacy is that of a filmmaker who sought independence in a collaborative art and tried to bring his own vision to the screen.
Surrounded by family (Jean Simmons and daughters) and longtime friend actor
Gene Kelly, Brooks died from
congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...
in 1992 at his house in Coldwater Canyon in
Studio City, California. He was interred in the
Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...
, a few steps away from the graves of his parents. On his vault was placed a plaque inscribed, "First comes the word. . .". The quote was chosen by his step-daughter, film editor Tracy Granger, as Brooks always identified most strongly as a writer.
Brooks expressed his concept when he reportedly said to his assembled cast and crew on the first day of shooting ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar'': "I'm sure that all of you have your own ideas about what kind of contribution you can make to this film, what you can do to improve it or make it better. Keep it to yourself. It's my fucking movie and I'm going to make it my way!"
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Brooks has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
at 6422 Hollywood Blvd, between N. Cahuenga Boulevard and Wilcox Avenue.
After his death, Brooks' papers were donated to the
Margaret Herrick Library
The Margaret Herrick Library, located in Beverly Hills, California, is the main repository of print, graphic and research materials of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). The library contains a digital repository and has his ...
and his film collection was donated to the
Academy Film Archive
The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...
. The Academy Film Archive preserved ''Lord Jim'' in 2000 and various home movies made by Richard Brooks in 2009 and 2016.
Filmography
MGM
:Credited as both writer and director (unless stated)
* ''
Crisis
A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...
'' (1950)
* ''
The Light Touch'' (1951)
* ''
Deadline – U.S.A.
''Deadline – U.S.A.'' is a 1952 American film noir crime film and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore and Kim Hunter, written and directed by Richard Brooks. It is the story of a crusading newspaper editor who exposes a gangster's cri ...
'' (
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...
, 1952)
* ''
Battle Circus'' (1953)
* ''
Take the High Ground!'' (1953), only director
* ''
Flame and the Flesh'' (1954), only director
* ''
The Last Time I Saw Paris'' (1954)
* ''
Blackboard Jungle'' (1955)
* ''
The Last Hunt'' (1956)
* ''
The Catered Affair'' (1956), only director
* ''
Something of Value'' (1957)
* ''
The Brothers Karamazov
''The Brothers Karamazov'' (russian: Братья Карамазовы, ''Brat'ya Karamazovy'', ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing '' ...
'' (1958)
* ''
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' (1958)
Independent producer
:Credited as both writer and director
* ''
Elmer Gantry'' (Elmer Gantry Productions through United Artists, 1960)
* ''
Sweet Bird of Youth'', (
MGM and Roxbury Productions through MGM, 1962)
* ''
Lord Jim
''Lord Jim'' is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in ''Blackwood's Magazine'' from October 1899 to November 1900. An early and primary event in the story is the abandonment of a passenger ship in distress by its crew, i ...
'' (
Columbia
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
and Keep Films through Columbia, 1965)
* ''
The Professionals'' (Pax Enterprises through Columbia, 1966)
* ''
In Cold Blood
''In Cold Blood'' is a non-fiction novel by American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.
Capote learned of the ...
'' (Pax Enterprises through Columbia, 1967)
* ''
The Happy Ending
''The Happy Ending'' is a 1969 drama film written and directed by Richard Brooks, which tells the story of a repressed housewife who longs for liberation from her husband and daughter. It stars Jean Simmons (who received an Oscar nomination), ...
'' (Pax Enterprises through United Artists, 1969)
* ''
$'' (Frankovich Productions through Columbia, 1971)
* ''
Bite the Bullet
To "bite the bullet" is to “accept the inevitable impending hardship and endure the resulting pain with fortitude”. '' (Persky-Bright Productions/Vista through Columbia, 1975)
* ''
Looking For Mr. Goodbar'' (
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
, 1977)
* ''
Wrong Is Right'' (Columbia, 1982)
* ''
Fever Pitch'' (MGM, 1985)
References
Additional sources
External links
*
The Richard Brooks Collection at the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...
.
Papers of Edward K. Moss (Radio dramatist with Richard Brooks and WNEW in New York from September to December 1938), Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
*
Richard Brooks papers Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Richard
1912 births
1992 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American screenwriters
American male novelists
American male screenwriters
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners
Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
David di Donatello winners
Film directors from Los Angeles
Film producers from California
Film producers from Pennsylvania
Novelists from Pennsylvania
People from Studio City, Los Angeles
Screenwriters from California
Screenwriters from Pennsylvania
Temple University alumni
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
United States Marines
Writers from Philadelphia
Deaths from organ failure