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person_profile-Jean Brooks

Jean Brooks Died at age: 47

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Jean Brooks

Date of Birth:

Dec 23, 1915

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Nov 25, 1963

Biography of

Jean Brooks

    Fluent in Spanish, Jean Brooks began professionally by singing with Enric Madriguera and Orchestra in New York. She had a small role in the New York City-filmed The Crime of Doctor Crespi (1935) and the second lead in a Broadway play, "Name Your Poison" (1938), with Lenore Ulric, all under her real name of Jeanne Kelly. She was signed by an independent film production company that had gone under by the time she got to Hollywood. She spent several years at Universal as a leading lady in "B" pictures, including several Johnny Mack Brown westerns, but her option was dropped in late 1941. By this time she had married writer (later director) Richard Brooks and, with a certain Broadway hoofer having just signed at MGM, dropped the Kelly and became Jean Brooks. She signed with RKO, where film buffs know her for her three appearances for cult producer Val Lewton, particularly her stunning performance as a haunted devil worshiper in The Seventh Victim (1943).

    Her clipped delivery and intense, forceful acting style made her a promising bet for stardom, but RKO lost interest in her by mid-'44 and her roles got gradually smaller until she was dropped in 1946. She and Brooks divorced (his later studio biographies omitted her name as one of his ex-wives). For many years she was listed as a "Lost Player" championed in several magazine articles by writer Doug McClelland. She was eventually located in San Francisco, where she had moved after her film career petered out, and was employed as a classified ad solicitor on the "San Francisco Examiner" newspaper. She had married a printer called Leddy. Her death at the Kaiser Hospital in Richmond, California, in 1963 was due to nutritional problems caused by alcoholism, a sad ending for a stylish and talented performer who didn't get the breaks she deserved, both personally and professionally.

    Date of Death 25 November 1963, Richmond, California  (extreme malnutrition & alcoholism)

Photos of

Jean Brooks

Photos ( 3 Photos

Filmography of

Jean Brooks

Found 31 Movies in total

Women in the Night

Maya ( Actor )

... 1948

The Bamboo Blonde

Marsha ( Actor )

... 1946

The Falcon's Alibi

Baroness Lena ( Actor )

... 1946

Two O'Clock Courage

Barbara Borden ( Actor )

... 1945

The Falcon in Hollywood

Roxanna Miles ( Actor )

... 1944

Youth Runs Wild

Mary Hauser Coates ( Actor )

... 1944

A Night of Adventure

Julie Arden ( Actor )

... 1944

The Falcon and the Co-Eds

Vicky Gaines ( Actor )

... 1943

The Seventh Victim

Jacqueline Gibson ( Actor )

... 1943

The Falcon in Danger

Iris Fairchild ( Actor )

... 1943

The Leopard Man

Kiki Walker ( Actor )

... 1943

The Boss of Big Town

Iris Moore ( Actor )

... 1942

Boot Hill Bandits

May Meadows ( Actor )

... 1942

Klondike Fury

Rae Langton ( Actor )

... 1942

Fighting Bill Fargo

Linda Tyler (as Jeanne Kelly) ( Actor )

... 1941

Badlands of Dakota

Bella Union Girl ( Actor )

... 1941

Man from Montana

Linda Thompson ( Actor )

... 1941

A Dangerous Game

Anne Bennett (as Jeanne Kelly) ( Actor )

... 1941

Riders of Death Valley

Mary Morgan (as Jeanne Kelly) ( Actor )

... 1941

Buck Privates

Camp Hostess ( Actor )

... 1941

The Green Hornet Strikes Again!

Gloria Manning ( Actor )

... 1940

Junior G-Men

Waitress ( Actor )

... 1940

The Devil's Pipeline

Laura Larson (as Jeanne Kelly) ( Actor )

... 1940

Son of Roaring Dan

Eris Brooke (as Jeanne Kelly) ( Actor )

... 1940

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe

Olga (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1940

The Invisible Man Returns

Minor Role (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1940

... 1939

The Invisible Killer

Gloria Cunningham ( Actor )

... 1939

Frankie and Johnnie

Cabaret Girl ( Actor )

... 1936

The Crime of Doctor Crespi

Nurse Gordon (as Jeanne Kelly) ( Actor )

... 1935

Obeah

Actor

... 1935