Brooks, Geraldine (actress)

Geraldine Brooks (at birth - Strok) was born on October 29, 1925 in New York in a family with Dutch roots. Her family was closely associated with the theater: her father owned a leading theater costume company, and her mother was a stylist and clothing designer. One of her aunts was a dancer in the variety of Siegfeld’s Madness , and the other was a contralto in the Metropolitan Opera . Her older sister, Gloria Strok, also became an actress, playing mainly small roles in film and television ^[4] .

From two years old, Geraldine was engaged in dancing, as a teenager she studied at the Hunter Model School, and in 1942 she graduated from the Julia Richman School in Manhattan , where she was president of the drama club. In 1942-45, Geraldine studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Art and at the school of the Newborough Theater in New York , and played summer entreprise in the summer ^{[4] [5]} .

In 1944, Geraldine began playing in the musical “Follow the Girls,” which was a great success on Broadway , having stood 888 performances in two years. Not finishing the show until the end, in January 1946, Geraldine got the role of Perdita in the Broadway production of Shakespeare's play " Winter's Tale ", which was shown 39 times ^[8] . At this moment, a representative of the Warner Brothers film studio , who concluded a contract with her, drew attention to Geraldine ^[4] .

“Energetic, beautiful, little brunette” ^[5] , in 1947 she moved to Hollywood, where she changed her name to Geraldine Brooks. For the fiery game in Hollywood, journalists called the "new Hepburn " ^[5] .

Brooks made a “promising debut” in Peter Godfrey ’s Gothic thriller False Anxiety (1947), playing the second most important female role as the stubborn sister of the main character’s husband ( Barbara Stanwick ), who is actually held in her house by her uncle ( Errol Flynn ), “adding to the film tension ” ^{[4] [9]} . The film was finished in August 1946, but was released only in July 1947. Criticism generally gave Brooks positive feedback, although the film itself received conflicting ratings, in particular, the Wall Street Journal called it “as boring as it was scary, and its story is full of melodramatic cliches” ^[10] .

Brooks' second work at Warner Brothers Studios, Curtis Bernhardt ’s noir film Obsessed (1947) was shot later than False Alarm, but was released three weeks earlier. Joan Crawford played in the film the main role of a mentally unhealthy woman who marries a wealthy businessman ( Raymond Massey ). Brooks plays the second most important female role as the daughter of a businessman, who “goes through a series of dramatic clashes with the Crawford character” on the basis of love, jealousy and hatred, but her character is “much more balanced, humane and warm” than the “manic character Crawford” ^{[4 ]} . Film critic Bosley Crowther, in his review of The New York Times , wrote of Brooks as "a newcomer who shines brightly in the role of the sensual stepdaughter of Miss Crawford" ^[11] .

With the crime melodrama “ Seductive You ” (1948), Brooks transferred to the status of a leading dramatic actress ^[4] . She played an unfortunate girl who was hit by a car with two criminals during a police chase. Dane Clark, in the role of the kind guy who contacted the crime, the driver of the car that drove her down, visits her in the hospital, then falls in love with her, gets the money for her treatment, helps the police to detain the killer and, in the final part of the picture, marries the dying heroine Brooks. According to critic Jay Carr, Brooks plays “in the manner of doomed heroines, a luminous brunette beauty with shining eyes and a dazzling smile, ... and largely thanks to her, the film does not look sweet” ^[12] . The film, however, did not receive wide distribution, possibly due to its sad ending.

In 1948, Brooks played at the Universal Studios studio in Michael Gordon 's The Act of Murder (1948) with Frederick March , Edmond O'Brien and Florence Eldridge . In this crime drama about euthanasia ^[4], she played the role of the daughter of March and Eldridge, who were a married couple both in the film and in real life. According to the plot of the film, the character of March, the judge, decides to stop the torment of his terminally ill wife by killing her and herself in a car accident. Brooks in this picture, according to Crowther , “looks nice in the role of the daughter of a judge with a lively and light character” ^[13] . Although this gloomy film received positive reviews from critics, it nonetheless did not have commercial success.

Less impressive was the standard Western Warner Brothers category B category “ Younger Brothers ” (1949), in color, where Brooks was in fourth place following Wayne Morris , Janice Page, and Bruce Bennett ^[4] . Unhappy with the quality of her roles, after completing the filming of the movie “The Younger Brothers” (1949) in July 1948, Brooks asked Warner to terminate her contract and decided to work independently.

In 1949, the studio of Columbia released the film Noir Max Ofuhlsa “ The Moment of Recklessness ” (1949), in which the 24-year-old Brooks played the third most important role as a 17-year-old artist who falls in love with an elderly semi-criminal pseudo-art dealer, who soon find dead. Her mother ( Joan Bennett ) is trying to hide the murder, believing that his daughter committed it, but becomes a subject of blackmail by a gangster ( James Mason ), who in turn falls in love with her with tragic consequences for herself. The film received positive feedback, including a cast of actors. So, Dennis Schwartz described the film as “a dense and rich, very exciting thriller, in no way inferior to the more recognized films of Ofyulsa” ^[14] .

Her last American film of the 1940s (it was released only in 1950), the family melodrama “ Calling Lassie ” (1949) was made in Technicolor at the Metro-Goldwin-Mayer studio ^[4] . In the credits Brooks was listed third after Edmund Gwenn and Donald Crisp , who, in this version on the classic story of the dog Greyfriars Bobby , played the role of elderly Scots . As Crowther noted, “playing the role of the daughter of a cemetery watchman, she played the only significant female role, but the main attention, of course, was focused on the dog” ^[15] .

Brooks’s career, however, “didn’t rise to the expected level”, she was not satisfied with the quality of the roles, “in most of which she presented as an engineer ” ^[5] , and she decided to dramatically change the course of her career.

“In order not to get bogged down completely without ever achieving stardom,” Brooks decided to experience happiness in several European films ^[4] , and in mid-1949 accepted the invitation of director William Dieterle to star in the Italian film “ Vulcano ” (1950) ^[5] . The film was shot mainly on the volcanic islands of Vulcano and Lipari , as well as on the sea near Sicily . The film brings Brooks back to the familiar role of an innocent engineer who takes advantage of the unprincipled exploiter of women ( Rossano Brazzi ), while her older sister ( Anna Magnani ) returns to her home island after 18 years as a prostitute in Naples . The film was censored and released in America only three years after its Italian premiere. In a review of Time magazine in June 1953, it was noted that although his “story and plot resemble Stromboli ”, “Vulcano” is a significantly better film. Against the backdrop of the harsh conditions of the island, the primitive passions of history do not look particularly excessive or inappropriate ” ^[16] .

In the film “ I dreamed that I was in Paradise ” (1950), Brooks was the only time in her film career to be placed at the head of the list of actors. She played the main role of a street prostitute who, desperately and with tragic consequences, is trying to prevent the beautiful judge ( Vittorio Gassman ), who falls in love with her, from learning about her occupation. Only three years later, the film was released in American distribution under the name "Street of Sorrow" in a heavily edited and trimmed form. In November 1952, critic A.H. Weiler, in a review of The New York Times , noted that “Geraldine Brooks, an American who has played in more than one Italian film, is elegantly and convincingly trying to create from a prostitute an image of a yearning heroine desperately clutching for the opportunity to live a decent life. " However, he called the film "a sad and listless melodrama, banal, tearful and largely repulsive" ^[17] .

Brooks' Italian films "did not have commercial success" ^[5] , and "quickly disappointed, she returned to the USA" ^[4] .

Work in the theater (1952-1970)

Returning to America, Brooks turned her attention to the theater. In 1952, she began to play a major role in the Broadway comedy Cuckoo Time. Her partner was Shirley Booth , who was awarded Tony for her work ^[4] . The performance lasted the entire season of 1952-1953 and withstood 263 performances ^[18] .

In 1956, Brooks entered the Actors Studio in New York, which trained actors using its own methodology, based on the Stanislavsky system . However, despite the improvement in acting technique, Brooks' career did not go uphill ^[4] , and she reoriented, first of all, to television.

Brooks played her last role on Broadway after a long break in the performance of Brightauer (1970). Although the performance was shot after a single performance, the actress was nominated for Tony for playing in it ^[4] .

Work in the cinema (1952-1975)

After returning from Italy, Brooks played in only four films. In 1952, Rudolph Mate 's noir thriller “The Green Glove ” (1952) was released, in which a former American paratrooper ( Glenn Ford ) conducts a search for a valuable relic in post-war France, in which he is assisted by an attractive American guide, played by Brooks. Despite the sound acting, the film did not have much success with criticism. So, Bosley Crowther in the New York Times called it “just a standard race for a medieval, jeweled glove stolen from a rural French church”, and “the scale of history draws on the melodrama of a minor league” ^[19] .

Even less successful was the crime action drama Street of Sinners (1957), which talked about the first year of New York policeman John Dean ( George Montgomery ), where Brooks plays an attractive lady who, after a divorce, loses interest in life and begins to drink heavily . When Dean detains her for drunkenness in a public place, she falls in love with him, and some time later she saves during a gang attack. Subsequently, realizing that she is not able to stop her further fall, she is thrown out of the window. Almost ten years later, in the drama Johnny Tiger (1966), which takes place on the reservation of the Indian Seminole tribe in Florida , Brooks played the role of a doctor, who falls in love with a newly arrived teacher ( Robert Taylor ), full of plans to establish the Indians at a local school. Brooks played her last movie role almost ten years later in Paul Bogart ’s rather boring crime film, Mr. Ricco (1975). The main role of the private investigator of the lawyer was played by Dean Martin in his last major role, and Brooks appeared in the image of the woman with whom the hero begins an affair ^[4] .

Work on television (1949-1976)

After returning to the United States, Brooks “almost completely went to television” ^[5] , where she made a very prominent career as a guest star of popular television series ^[4] . In total, from 1949-1976, she played in 109 different series ^[20] .

Especially memorable were her roles in the episodes of the series “ Adventures in Paradise ” (1961), “ Bus Stop ” (1961) (for which she was nominated for an Emmy ), “ Bonanza ” (1961), “ Perry Mason ” (1962), “ Laramie "(1963)," Defenders "(1963)," Beyond the Possible "(1963-1964), in three episodes of the television series" The Fugitive "(1963-1967), including the last decisive episode of this multi-year series," Smoke from the barrel " (1966) and Mannix (1968), as well as in the pilot television movie Ironside (1967). She also played a regular role as a friend of a private detective ( Dan Daily ) in the television series Faraday and Company (1973-1974, 4 episodes), in episodes of the series Kung Fu (1972), and Streets of San Francisco (1972), “ Cannon ” (1973) and “ McMillan and wife ” (1975), in this series her sister Gloria Strok played a constant role). Brooks played her last role in the short-lived series Dumplings (1976, 10 episodes), which was a rare comedic work for her ^[4] .

In 1958-1961, Brooks was married to the television screenwriter Herbert Sargent , after a divorce with which in 1964 she married the writer Budd Schulberg , best known as the screenwriter of the drama " In the Port " (1954), which brought him Oscar ^{[4] [ 7]} .

The families of her sisters and husbands were also involved in the movie. Сценарист Леонард Стерн был мужем её сестры Глории Строк . Сценарист Алвин Сарджент был братом её первого мужа. Известный продюсер компаний « Парамаунт » и « Коламбиа » Б. П. Шульберг был отцом её второго мужа, а продюсер Стюарт Шульберг — его братом ^[7] .

В 1964 году после женитьбы Брукс с Шульбергом поселились в Лос-Анджелесе , где открыли писательскую школу для малоимущих. Кроме того, она писала детские стихи, хотя своих детей у неё не было ^[4] . Она стала искусным фотографом природы. В 1975 году была опубликована книга «Наблюдение за лебедями» с её фотографиями птиц, текст для которой написал Шульберг ^[5] .

В мае 1977 года Брукс выступала с надгробным словом на похоронах Джоан Кроуфорд в Нью-Йорке, это было менее чем за месяц до её собственной смерти ^[7] .

Джеральдин Брукс умерла 19 июня 1977 года в больнице Риверхэда , штат Нью-Йорк , от инфаркта , она была серьёзно больна раком . Ей был 51 год ^{[4] [5]} .

• Geraldine Brooks at IMDB
• Geraldine Brooks on Allmovie
• Geraldine Brooks at Turner Classic Movies