Louise Brooks

Mary Louise Brooks, also known by my childhood name of Brooksie, was born in the midwestern town of Cherryvale, Kansas, on November 14, 1906.
I began dancing at an early age with the Denishawn Dancers (which was how I left Kansas and went to New York) and then with George White's Scandals before joining the Ziegfeld Follies, but became one of the most fascinating and alluring personalities ever to grace the silver screen. I was always compared to my Lulu role in Büchse der Pandora, Die , which was filmed in 1928. My performances in A Girl in Every Port and Beggars of Life , both filmed in 1928, proved to all concerned that I had real talent. I became known, mostly, for my bobbed hair style. Thousands of women were attracted to that style and adopted it as their own. As you will note by my photographs, I was no doubt the trend setter of the 1920s with my Buster Brown-Page Boy type hair cut, much like today's women imitate stars. Because of my dark haired look and being the beautiful woman that I was, plus being a modern female, I was not especially popular among Hollywood's clientle. I just did not go along with the norms of the film society. I really came into my own when I left Hollywood for Europe. There I appeared in a few German productions which were very well made and continued to prove I was an actress with an enduring talent. Until I ended my career in film in 1938, I had made only 25 movies. After that, I spent most of my time reading and painting. I also became an accomplished writer, authoring a number of books, including her autobiography. On August 8, 1985, I died of a heart attack in Rochester, New York. I was 78 years old.