Jean Brooks
Fluent in Spanish, Jean Brooks began professionally by singing with Enric Madriguera and Orchestra in New York. She had a small role in the New York City-filmed The Crime of Doctor Crespi (1935) and the second lead in a Broadway play, "Name Your Poison" (1938), with Lenore Ulric, all under her real name of Jeanne Kelly. She was signed by an independent film production company that had gone under by the time she got to Hollywood. She spent several years at Universal as a leading lady in "B" pictures, including several Johnny Mack Brown westerns, but her option was dropped in late 1941. By this time she had married writer (later director) Richard Brooks and, with a certain Broadway hoofer having just signed at MGM, dropped the Kelly and became Jean Brooks. She signed with RKO, where film buffs know her for her three appearances for cult producer Val Lewton, particularly her stunning performance as a haunted devil worshiper in The Seventh Victim (1943). Her clipped delivery and intense, forceful acting style made her a promising bet for stardom, but RKO lost interest in her by mid-'44 and her roles got gradually smaller until she was dropped in 1946. She and Brooks divorced (his later studio biographies omitted her name as one of his ex-wives). For many years she was listed as a "Lost Player" championed in several magazine articles by writer Doug McClelland. She was eventually located in San Francisco, where she had moved after her film career petered out, and was employed as a classified ad solicitor on the "San Francisco Examiner" newspaper. She had married a printer called Leddy. Her death at the Kaiser Hospital in Richmond, California, in 1963 was due to nutritional problems caused by alcoholism, a sad ending for a stylish and talented performer who didn't get the breaks she deserved, both personally and professionally. Date of Death 25 November 1963, Richmond, California (extreme malnutrition & alcoholism)
Known for
ActingBirthday
December 23, 1915Deathday
November 25, 1963Gender
FemaleKnown Movie Credits
33Place of birth
Houston, Texas, USAAlso known as
Ruby M. Kelly, Jeanne Kelly, Ruby Matilda KellyCast credits
The Seventh Victim
Jacqueline GibsonWomen in the Night
MayaThe Leopard Man
Kiki WalkerTwo O'Clock Courage
Barbara BordenThe Falcon in Hollywood
Roxanna MilesThe Falcon in Danger
Iris FairchildThe Falcon and the Co-Eds
Vicky GainesThe Falcon's Alibi
Baroness LenaThe Boss of Big Town
Iris MooreYouth Runs Wild
Mary Hauser CoatesThe Bamboo Blonde
MarshaA Night of Adventure
Julie ArdenMiracle on Main Street
NinaMan from Montana
Linda ThompsonThe Devil's Pipeline
Laura Larson (as Jeanne Kelly)Frankie and Johnnie
Cabaret GirlThe Invisible Killer
Gloria CunninghamThe Invisible Man Returns
Minor Role (uncredited)The Green Hornet Strikes Again!
Gloria ManningRiders of Death Valley
Mary Morgan (as Jeanne Kelly)The Crime of Doctor Crespi
Nurse Gordon (as Jeanne Kelly)