Louise Brooks
In the 1920s and 1930s, Louise Brooks built a career that cut across several corners of the entertainment world — working as a dancer, model, film actor, and eventually a writer and autobiographer.
Born on November 14, 1906, in Cherryvale, she was a United States citizen who worked primarily in English. Her active years during the 1920s and 1930s placed her squarely in an era of significant cultural change, and she became associated with flapper culture, a connection that followed her long after that period ended. During those same years, she also helped bring the bob hairstyle into wider popularity, a look that became closely tied to her public image.
Brooks went on to work as a writer and autobiographer later in her life, adding a literary dimension to a career that had already moved through dance, modeling, and film. She died on August 8, 1985, in Rochester, having lived nearly eight decades. The record of her life spans the LCNAF catalog entry under "Brooks, Louise, 1906-1985," and her work is held in collections including Open Library, reflecting the lasting reach of both her screen presence and her written output.
Quotes by Louise Brooks
In writing the history of a life I believe absolutely that the reader cannot understand the character and deeds of the subject unless he is given a basic understanding of that person’s sexual loves and hates and conflicts. It is the only way the reader can make sense out of innumerable apparently senseless actions.
And so I have remained... an abomination to all but those few people who have overcome their aversion to truth in order to free whatever is good in them.
Every actor has a natural animosity toward every other actor, present or absent, living or dead.
The great art of films does not consist of descriptive movement of face and body, but in the movements of thought and soul transmitted in a kind of intense isolation.
And so I have remained, in relentless pursuit of truth and excellence, an unforgiving executioner of the bogus, an abomination to all but those few people who have overcome their aversion to truth in order to free whatever is good in them.
Most beautiful dumb girls think they are smart and get away with it, because other people, on the whole, aren’t much smarter.
I do not excuse myself with the usual escape of ‘not trying.’ I tried with all my heart.
Anyone who has achieved excellence in any form knows that it comes as a result of ceaseless concentration.
A well dressed woman, even though her purse is painfully empty, can conquer the world.