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).
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)
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0112046
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1089513
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Filmography (Movies)
Women in the Night
Character:Maya
Release Date:02/01/1948
The Bamboo Blonde
Character:Marsha
Release Date:15/07/1946
The Falcon's Alibi
Character:Baroness Lena
Release Date:12/04/1946
Two O'Clock Courage
Character:Barbara Borden
Release Date:13/04/1945
The Falcon in Hollywood
Character:Roxanna Miles
Release Date:08/12/1944
Youth Runs Wild
Character:Mary Hauser Coates
Release Date:01/09/1944
A Night of Adventure
Character:Julie Arden
Release Date:02/06/1944
The Falcon and the Co-Eds
Character:Vicky Gaines
Release Date:10/11/1943
The Seventh Victim
Character:Jacqueline Gibson
Release Date:21/08/1943
The Falcon in Danger
Character:Iris Fairchild
Release Date:17/07/1943
The Leopard Man
Character:Kiki Walker
Release Date:08/05/1943
The Boss of Big Town
Character:Iris Moore
Release Date:07/12/1942
Boot Hill Bandits
Character:May Meadows
Release Date:24/04/1942
Klondike Fury
Character:Rae Langton
Release Date:20/03/1942
Fighting Bill Fargo
Character:Linda Tyler (as Jeanne Kelly)
Release Date:09/12/1941
Badlands of Dakota
Character:Bella Union Girl
Release Date:15/09/1941
Man from Montana
Character:Linda Thompson
Release Date:05/09/1941
A Dangerous Game
Character:Anne Bennett (as Jeanne Kelly)
Release Date:21/08/1941
Riders of Death Valley
Character:Mary Morgan (as Jeanne Kelly)
Release Date:01/07/1941
Meet the Chump
Character:Madge Reilly (as Jeanne Kelly)
Release Date:14/02/1941
Buck Privates
Character:Camp Hostess
Release Date:31/01/1941
The Green Hornet Strikes Again!
Character:Gloria Manning
Release Date:24/12/1940
Junior G-Men
Character:Waitress (uncredited)
Release Date:01/11/1940
The Devil's Pipeline
Character:Laura Larson (as Jeanne Kelly)
Release Date:31/10/1940
Son of Roaring Dan
Character:Eris Brooke (as Jeanne Kelly)
Release Date:25/07/1940
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
Character:Olga (uncredited)
Release Date:03/03/1940
The Invisible Man Returns
Character:Minor Role (uncredited)
Release Date:12/01/1940
Miracle on Main Street
Character:Nina
Release Date:19/12/1939
The Invisible Killer
Character:Gloria Cunningham
Release Date:14/11/1939
Frankie and Johnnie
Character:Cabaret Girl
Release Date:30/04/1936
The Crime of Doctor Crespi
Character:Nurse Gordon (as Jeanne Kelly)
Release Date:23/09/1935
Tango Bar
Character:Young Ship's Passenger on Lower Deck (uncredited)
Release Date:16/07/1935
Obeah
Character:
Release Date:01/02/1935
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