Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks ( born November 14, 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas; † August 8, 1985 in Rochester, New York; Full Name: Mary Louise Brooks) was an American film actress. She was known primarily as an actress in silent films, in which she struck visually by their bobbed hair.

Biography

After her engagement as a dancer in the Broadway production of Ziegfeld Follies in New York Brooks was awarded a contract with Paramount over five years. Your screen debut in 1925 and then was promoted in numerous comedies as " Flapper", the silent film star. During this time they should have also maintained a love affair with Greta Garbo. One of her greatest successes had Brooks in 1928 with the comedy in each port a bride (A girl in every port), directed by Howard Hawks. In this film she discovered Georg Wilhelm Pabst and engaged her at the height of their U.S. career - Beggars of Life was just Brooks ' greatest popular success - to Berlin.

In Pabst's director played Louise Brooks Lulu in Frank Wedekind film Pandora's Box ( 1929). The film attracted above all by its hints of a lesbian relationship quite a stir. It was followed in the same year, Diary of a Lost before Brooks turned in France with Pabst and Rene Clair Prix de beauté ( Price of Beauty / Miss Europe ) 1929. Started as a silent movie Prix de beauté was fashioned to talkies.

Back in the United States, could not repeat her earlier success, the only 1.57 m tall actress. The reasons were probably their conformist roles that she played in Europe, as well as their contractual disputes with Paramount. From her former production company from now the rumor was spread that the voice of Brooks was not suitable for the talkies. As a result, they only got a few parts in a few movies. Then she returned to Hollywood back, performed in nightclubs and worked for radio. In 1933 she married the millionaire Deering Davesund, but separated after a few months of marriage from him again. Between 1936 and 1938, she then played smaller parts in four films before she went to New York as a saleswoman and her film career ended for good.

Almost forgotten, Louise Brooks was rediscovered by French film historians in the 1950s. After they showed a retrospective of her films at the Cinémathèque Française, she was declared a film icon, whose work is comparable with Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. This also led to a reputation in their homeland, where they write encouraged by film curator James Card began. This was followed by relentless articles about their own careers, the star system in Hollywood and other film stars, including Lillian Gish, Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin and WC Fields. Your collected essays published in 1982 in the book Lulu in Hollywood, which became a surprise hit on the bestseller lists. You could see Louise Brooks in the 1960s and 70s, even in some TV documentaries for which it partially gave interviews in her nightgown.

Posthumously was Louise Brooks, who lived until her death in 1985 in Rochester in upstate New York, was honored by the British pop duo OMD. Their single Pandora 's Box and the accompanying video of 1991 were a complete homage to the silent film star.

Filmography

Silent films

Sound films

Documentary

Works

• Lulu in Hollywood. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY 1982, ISBN 0-394-52071-8.
• Lulu in Berlin and Hollywood. Schirmer / Mosel, Munich, 1983, ISBN 3-88814-116-8 ( autobiography).