Mary Louise Brooks November 14, — August 8, was an American film actress during the s and s. She is regarded today as an icon of the flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helped popularize during the prime of her career. At the age of 15, Brooks began her career as a dancer and toured with the Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts where she performed opposite Ted Shawn. By , she had starred in 17 silent films and eight sound films.
After retiring from acting, she fell upon financial hardship and became what she termed "a kept woman" by three wealthy men. Brooks was born in Cherryvale, Kansas , [ 19 ] the daughter of Leonard Porter Brooks, [ 20 ] a lawyer, who was usually preoccupied with his legal practice, [ 21 ] and Myra Rude, [ 20 ] an artistic mother who said that any "squalling brats she produced could take care of themselves".
Brooks described the hometown of her childhood as a typical Midwestern community where the inhabitants "prayed in the parlor and practiced incest in the barn. That early abuse caused her later to acknowledge that she was incapable of real love, explaining that this man: "must have had a great deal to do with forming my attitude toward sexual pleasure For me, nice, soft, easy men were never enough — there had to be an element of domination. Brooks began her entertainment career as a dancer, joining the Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts modern dance company in Los Angeles at the age of 15 in Denis and Ted Shawn , as well as a young Martha Graham.
But one day, a long-simmering personal conflict between Brooks and St. Denis boiled over, and St. Denis abruptly fired Brooks from the troupe in the spring of , telling her in front of the other members: "I am dismissing you from the company because you want life handed to you on a silver salver. As a result of her work in the Follies , Brooks came to the attention of Walter Wanger , a producer at Paramount Pictures.
Brooks made her screen debut in the silent The Street of Forgotten Men , in an uncredited role in Fields , [ 30 ] among others. After her small roles in , both Paramount and MGM offered her contracts. In the early sound film drama Beggars of Life , Brooks plays an abused country girl who kills her foster father when he "attempts, one sunny morning, to rape her. The filming of Beggars of Life proved to be an ordeal for Brooks.
