Phyllis Brooks

Phyllis Brooks

Phyllis Brooks was an American actress and model. Brooks was born Phyllis Seiler in Boise, Idaho on July 18, 1915. She began her career in films at age 20, and had been known as the "Ipana Toothpaste Girl" due to her work as a model. Brooks, who had about 30 performances in films, was a B-movie leading lady during the 1930s and 1940s, with roles in such films as In Old Chicago (1937), Little Miss Broadway (1938), and the Shanghai Gesture (1941). In the late 1930s, she dated Cary Grant, who called her Brooksie, and rumors that the two would be married were circulated. Brooks, something of a socialite, also dated Howard Hughes. Along with fellow actress Una Merkel, and accompanied by noted actor Gary Cooper, Phyllis was the first civilian woman to travel to the Pacific Theater of War during World War II, on a USO tour. She was married to Torbert Macdonald, an 11-term Massachusetts Congressman who was John F. Kennedy's roommate at Harvard, and who remained a close friend and confidante throughout his life. She moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts with her new husband in 1945 so he could complete his Harvard Law degree. Congressman Macdonald had been a Harvard football captain and a decorated PT boat captain in World War II. He died in office in 1976. Phyllis continued performing in summer stock theater after her marriage, and hosted the first television interview program in Boston in the early 1950s (on WBZ-TV). She retired from public performances after that, concentrating on raising her family. The couple had four children, the eldest of whom was President Kennedy's godson. She died on August 1, 1995 in Cape Neddick, Maine at the age of 80.

  • Title : Phyllis Brooks
  • Popularity : 3.155
  • Known For : Acting
  • Birthday : 1915-07-18
  • Place of Birth : Boise, Idaho, USA
  • Homepage :
  • Also Known As : Mary Brooks, Phyllis Seiler, Phyllis Walker, The Ipana Girl
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Phyllis Brooks Movies

  • 1935
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    I've Been Around

    I've Been Around

    2.5 1935 HD

    Romantic problems of a society girl and an engineer.

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  • 1939
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    Charlie Chan in Reno

    Charlie Chan in Reno

    6.2 1939 HD

    Mary Whitman has gone to Reno to obtain a divorce. While there she is arrested on suspicion of murdering a fellow guest at her hotel (which...

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  • 1938
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    Charlie Chan in Honolulu

    Charlie Chan in Honolulu

    6.4 1938 HD

    While Charlie is distracted with the birth of his first grandchild, son Jimmy impersonates his father in order to investigate a murder aboard a...

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  • 1941
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    The Shanghai Gesture

    The Shanghai Gesture

    6.2 1941 HD

    A gambling queen uses blackmail to stop a British financier from closing her Chinese clip joint.

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  • 1945
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    The Unseen

    The Unseen

    4.5 1945 HD

    David Fielding, who has recently lost his wife, moves into a new neighborhood under a cloud of suspicion. Many feel that his wife's death in a car...

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  • 1938
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    Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

    Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

    6.7 1938 HD

    Rebecca's Uncle Harry leaves her with Aunt Miranda who forbids her to associate with show people. But neighbor Anthony Kent is a talent scout who...

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  • 1938
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    Little Miss Broadway

    Little Miss Broadway

    6.6 1938 HD

    An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. The hotel's owner doesn't like the entertainers and...

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  • 1938
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    In Old Chicago

    In Old Chicago

    6.4 1938 HD

    The O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.

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  • 1944
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    Lady in the Dark

    Lady in the Dark

    4.7 1944 HD

    A neurotic editor sees a psychoanalyst about the advertising man, movie star and other man in her life.

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  • 1939
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    Slightly Honorable

    Slightly Honorable

    5.1 1939 HD

    A lawyer is framed for the murder of a young party girl and tries to clear his name.

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  • 1944
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    Dangerous Passage

    Dangerous Passage

    4.9 1944 HD

    Joe Beck leaves Central America so that he can return to Texas and collect a large inheritance, but he picks a dangerous ship on which to travel.

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  • 1938
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    City Girl

    City Girl

    6 1938 HD

    In this tearful crime melodrama, a waitress becomes so taken with her dream of living in posh luxury and comfort that she leaves her honest boyfriend...

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  • 1935
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    Foolish Hearts

    Foolish Hearts

    1 1935 HD

    A little entry from the RKO shorts department serving also as an audition-type (stick 'em in one of these and see if they appeal to a real audience,...

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  • 1935
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    Another Face

    Another Face

    4.2 1935 HD

    The surgeon who did the job was dead. Only the nurse knew what this gangster looked like in his new face. He learned about women from her!

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  • 1943
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    Silver Spurs

    Silver Spurs

    3.5 1943 HD

    Jerry Johnson inherits a 50,000 acre ranch. Lucky Miller wants to take over the ranch. Roy is trying to get a railroad spur right of way. Lucky has a...

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  • 1937
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    You Can't Have Everything

    You Can't Have Everything

    5.7 1937 HD

    Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate of stolen spaghetti. He persuades producer Sam Gordon...

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  • 1934
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    Strange Wives

    Strange Wives

    1 1934 HD

    When a young man marries a Russian girl, he finds that he has "married" her entire family.

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  • 1935
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    To Beat the Band

    To Beat the Band

    1 1935 HD

    An eccentric heir must marry a widow in order to collect the millions left to him in his aunt's will, so a suicidal neighbor agrees to marry the...

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  • 1940
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    The Flying Squad

    The Flying Squad

    6 1940 HD

    Inspector Bradley of Scotland Yard is on the trail of the murderous ringleader of a smuggling organization in London.

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  • 1945
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    High Powered

    High Powered

    1 1945 HD

    Tim takes a job as a lowly chipper because he has been afraid to go high ever since a bad fall in which he was injured and another workman was killed.

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  • 1935
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    McFadden´s Flats

    McFadden´s Flats

    1 1935 HD

    Dan McFadden builds an apartment house in a working-class neighborhood on New York's East Side called "McFadden's Flats." At the same time, Dan and...

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  • 1937
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    Dangerously Yours

    Dangerously Yours

    6 1937 HD

    A detective poses as a jewel thief and joins a bunch of other crooks sailing from Europe to New York in search a famous gem. He falls in love with...

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  • 1938
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    Straight, Place and Show

    Straight, Place and Show

    6 1938 HD

    The Ritz Brothers go to the race track. They raise training end entrance money in a wrestling match and help a young man train the horse of his...

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  • 1943
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    No Place for a Lady

    No Place for a Lady

    6 1943 HD

    A private detective and a blonde acquaintance whom he has rescued from a misdirected murder charge, discover a body in his beachside cottage; only...

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  • 1943
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    Hi'ya, Sailor

    Hi'ya, Sailor

    6 1943 HD

    Bob Jackson and his three Merchant Marine shipmates have each invested $50 in a song Bob has written and which he thinks will be published for a fee...

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  • 1936
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    Two in the Dark

    Two in the Dark

    5.7 1936 HD

    Ford Adams regains consciousness in Boston, bloody and suffering from amnesia. Information he eventually uncovers (with the help of Marie Smith)...

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  • 1939
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    Lucky to Me

    Lucky to Me

    1 1939 HD

    Lucky to Me is a 1939 British musical comedy film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Stanley Lupino, Phyllis Brooks and Barbara Blair. It was...

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  • 1938
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    Walking Down Broadway

    Walking Down Broadway

    5.7 1938 HD

    Five closely knit showgirls sign a pact to reunite one year after the closing of their Broadway production, but the lives of all five take many...

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  • 1938
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    Up the River

    Up the River

    1 1938 HD

    A group of prison inmates pass the time playing football and romancing ladies in this prison escape crime musical screwball comedy that was...

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  • 1937
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    Ali Baba Goes to Town

    Ali Baba Goes to Town

    6.067 1937 HD

    While visiting Hollywood a starstruck movie fan (Eddie Cantor) fantasizes about himself cast in an Arabian adventure. Director David Butler's...

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