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.
I've Been Around
(Gay Blackstone)
Charlie Chan in Honolulu
(Judy Hayes)
Charlie Chan in Reno
(Vivian Wells)
The Shanghai Gesture
(Dixie Pomeroy)
The Unseen
(Maxine)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
(Lola Lee)
Little Miss Broadway
(Barbara Shea)
In Old Chicago
(Ann Colby)
Lady in the Dark
(Allison DuBois)
Slightly Honorable
(Sarilla Cushing)
Dangerous Passage
(Nita)
City Girl
(Ellen Ward)
Foolish Hearts
(Gloria Seabury / Jeanette Hardwick)
Another Face
(Sheila Barry)
Silver Spurs
(Mary Johnson)
You Can't Have Everything
(Evelyn Moore)
Strange Wives
(The Actress)
To Beat the Band
(Rowena)
The Flying Squad
(Ann Perryman)
High Powered
(Marian Blair)
McFadden´s Flats
(Mary Ellis Hall)
Dangerously Yours
(Valerie Barton)
Straight, Place and Show
(Barbara 'Babs' Drake)
No Place for a Lady
(Dolly Adair)
Hi'ya, Sailor
(Nanette)
Two in the Dark
(Undetermined Role)
Lucky to Me
(Pamela Stuart)
Walking Down Broadway
(Vicki Stone)
Up the River
(Helen Lindsay)
Ali Baba Goes to Town
(Herself)