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Jean Brooks

Actress / Film Actress | * 12/23/1915 († 47, 11/25/1963) | Houston, Texas
Jean Brooks (born Ruby Matilda Kelly; December 23, 1915 – November 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 early 1940s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures. Born in Houston, Brooks spent her early life in Texas and Costa Rica. She began her career as a club singer and guitarist in New York City before being cast in several minor walk-on parts in films. She would later appear in supporting roles in the Universal Pictures serial productions Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1941). In 1942, Brooks signed a contract with RKO and appeared in multiple films by the studio, including Jacques Tourneur's The Leopard Man (1943), Mark Robson's horror noir The Seventh Victim (1943), and drama ()
Photo 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 25November 1963,Richmond, California (extreme malnutrition & alcoholism)

Most frequent genres for this person: Mystery | Drama | Crime

Known for these Movies & Shows

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Movies with Jean Brooks as Actress(33)

as Maya1948 Women in the Night
as Marsha1946 The Bamboo Blonde
as Baroness Lena1946 The Falcon's Alibi
as Barbara Borden1945 Two O'Clock Courage
as Mary Hauser Coates1944 Youth Runs Wild
as Julie Arden1944 A Night of Adventure
as Roxanna Miles1944 The Falcon in Hollywood
as Jacqueline Gibson1943 The Seventh Victim
as Kiki Walker1943 The Leopard Man
as Iris Fairchild1943 The Falcon in Danger
as Vicky Gaines1943 The Falcon and the Co-Eds
as May Meadows1942 Boot Hill Bandits
as Iris Moore1942 The Boss of Big Town
as Rae Langton1942 Klondike Fury
as Linda Tyler (as Jeanne Kelly)1941 Fighting Bill Fargo
as Bella Union Girl1941 Badlands Of Dakota
as Linda Thompson1941 Man from Montana
as Camp Hostess1941 Buck Privates
as Anne Bennett (as Jeanne Kelly)1941 A Dangerous Game
as Mary Morgan (as Jeanne Kelly)1941 Riders of Death Valley
as Madge Reilly (as Jeanne Kelly)1941 Meet the Chump
as Olga (uncredited)1940 Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
as Eris Brooke (as Jeanne Kelly)1940 Son of Roaring Dan
as Laura Larson (as Jeanne Kelly)1940 The Devil's Pipeline
as Minor Role (uncredited)1940 The Invisible Man Returns
as Waitress1940 Junior G-Men
as Gloria Manning1940 The Green Hornet Strikes Again!
as Gloria Cunningham1939 The Invisible Killer
as Cabaret Girl1936 Frankie and Johnnie
1935 Obeah
as Nurse Gordon (as Jeanne Kelly)1935 The Crime of Doctor Crespi
as Young Ship's Passenger on Lower Deck (uncredited)1935 Tango Bar

Full Name: Jean Brooks
Born: Thursday, 12/23 1915 (December) in Houston, Texas
Died: Monday, 11/25 1963 (November) in Richmond (aged: 47)
Zodiac sign: Capricorn (Chinese zodiac sign: Rabbit)
Languages: English (EN)
Spouses (current/former): Richard Brooks, William Douglas Lansford
Other names for Jean Brooks (nicknames, foreign languages etc.):
"Ruby M. Kelly"
"Jeanne Kelly"
"Ruby Matilda Kelly"
Jean Brooks frequently works together with these people:
Darrell Silvera (9x, Crew)
Tom Conway (7x, Actor)
Renié (7x, Crew)
C. Bakaleinikoff (7x, Crew)
Ford Beebe (5x, Crew)
Emory Parnell (5x, Actor)
Vernon L. Walker (5x, Crew)
Ethan Laidlaw (5x, Actor)
John H. Auer (4x, Crew)
Ernie Adams (4x, Actor)
WatchPlayStream ID: PEOPLE:9377, Added: 05/06/2018, Last updated: 03/14/2024