Louise Brooks

**Louise Brooks** (Cherryvale, Kansas, 14 November 1906 – Rochester, New York, 8 August 1985) was an American dancer and actress. She became a leading movie star, and a style icon famous for her beauty and her bobbed hair style.

In 2006, the centenary of Brooks' birth was celebrated by the release of three DVDs and three books, museum exhibits, screenings, and other events.

## Filmography

Brooks' signature movie role was as Lulu in G.W. Pabst's _Pandora's Box_ (_Die Büchse der Pandora_) in 1929. Brooks' portrayal was of a young woman whose raw sexuality and uninhibited nature brings ruin to herself and those who love her. It made the actress a star.

- _The Street of Forgotten Men_ (1925)
- _The American Venus_ (1926)
- _A Social Celebrity_ (1926)
- _It's the Old Army Game_ (1926)
- _The Show Off_ (1926)
- _Love 'Em and Leave 'Em_ (1926)
- _Just Another Blonde_ (1926)
- _Evening Clothes_ (1927)
- _Rolled Stockings_ (1927)
- _Now We're in the Air_ (1927)
- _The City Gone Wild_ (1927)
- _A Girl in Every Port_ (1928)
- _Beggars of Life_ (1928)
- _The Canary Murder Case_ (1929)
- _Pandora's Box_ (1929)
- _Diary of a Lost Girl_ (1929)
- _Prix de Beaute_ (1930)
- _Windy Riley Goes Hollywood_ (1931) (short subject)
- _It Pays to Advertise_ (1931)
- _God's Gift to Women_ (1931)
- _Empty Saddles_ (1936)
- _When You're in Love_ (1937)
- _King of Gamblers_ (1937) (scenes deleted)
- _Overland Stage Raiders_ (1938)
- _Film Firsts: Louise Brooks_ (1960) (television)
- _Lulu in Berlin_ (1984) (documentary)
- _Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu_ (1998) (documentary)
- _Mysteries and Scandals: Louise Brooks_ (1999) (television)

## Further reading

- Louise Brooks, _Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing_, United States: self-published, 1940
- _Pandora's Box (Lulu)_, United States: Simon & Schuster, 1971
- Rolland Jaccard (editor), _Louise Brooks: Portrait d'une Anti-Star_, France: Editions Phebus, 1977
- Louise Brooks, _Lulu in Hollywood_, United States: Knopf, 1982
- Vincenzo Mollica, _Louise Brooks: Una Fiaba Nocturne_, Italy: Editori del Grifo, 1984
- _Homenagem a Louise Brooks_, Portugal: Cinemateca Portuguesa, 1986
- Rolland Jaccard (editor), _Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star_, United States: New York Zoetrope, 1986
- Barry Paris, _Louise Brooks_, United States: Knopf, 1989
- _Omaggio a Louise Brooks e Maya Deren_, Italy: Cineteca D. W. Griffith, 1996
- _Louise Brooks: L'europeenne_, France: Transeuropa, 1999
- Louise Brooks, _Lulu in Hollywood: Expanded Edition_, United States: University of Minnesota Press, 2000
- Peter Cowie, _Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever_, United States: Rizzoli, 2006

## Quotations

- _There is no Garbo! There is no Dietrich! There is only Louise Brooks!_ – Henri Langlois,  1955.
- _I have a gift for enraging people, but if I ever bore you it will be with a knife._ – Louise Brooks, from her autobiography, 'Lulu in Hollywood'.

## Other websites

- Louise Brooks Society
- Louise Brooks, silent star
- All Movie Guide
- Louise Brooks Studies

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Louise Brooks
- **image**: Louise Brooks detail ggbain.32453u.jpg
- **birth place**: Cherryvale, Kansas, Cherryvale, Kansas, United States, US
- **death place**: Rochester, New York, US
- **death cause**: Heart attack
- **restingplace**: Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (Rochester, New York), US
- **nationality**: United States, American
- **occupation**: Actress
- **known for**: Playing Lulu in _Pandora's Box_
- **spouse**: A. Edward Sutherland
(m. 1926-1928, divorced)
Deering Davis
(m. 1933-1938, divorced)
- **parents**: Leonard Brooks
Myra (née Rude)