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.
Gay Blackstone
I've Been Around
Judy Hayes
Charlie Chan in Honolulu
Vivian Wells
Charlie Chan in Reno
Dixie Pomeroy
The Shanghai Gesture
Maxine
The Unseen
Lola Lee
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Barbara Shea
Little Miss Broadway
Ann Colby
In Old Chicago
Allison DuBois
Lady in the Dark
Sarilla Cushing
Slightly Honorable
Nita
Dangerous Passage
Ellen Ward
City Girl
Gloria Seabury / Jeanette Hardwick
Foolish Hearts
Sheila Barry
Another Face
Mary Johnson
Silver Spurs
Evelyn Moore
You Can't Have Everything
The Actress
Strange Wives
Rowena
To Beat the Band
Ann Perryman
The Flying Squad
Marian Blair
High Powered
Mary Ellis Hall
McFadden´s Flats
Valerie Barton
Dangerously Yours
Barbara 'Babs' Drake
Straight, Place and Show
Dolly Adair
No Place for a Lady
Nanette
Hi'ya, Sailor
Pamela Stuart
Lucky to Me
Vicki Stone
Walking Down Broadway
Helen Lindsay
Up the River
Herself
Ali Baba Goes to Town
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
29
Gender
Female
Birthday
1915-07-18
Place of Birth
Boise, Idaho, USA
Also Known As
Mary Brooks