Louise Brooks (1906 – 1985)

Portrait of Louise Brooks, 1920’s

Portrait of Louis Brooks by Edward Thayer Monroe, 1926

19 Jun 1928 — Actress Louise Brooks plays Nancy in the 1928 film . — Image by © John Springer Collection/CORBIS

Louise Brooks in Love’Em and Leave’ Em directed Frank Tuttle, 1926

Portrait of Louise Brooks by George P. Hommel, 1928

Portrait of Louise Brooks for American Venus directed by Frank Tuttle, 1926

Robert Amstrong and Louise Brooks in A Girl in Every Port directed by Howard Hawks, 1928

Louise Brooks and Walace Beery in Now We’re in the Air directed by Frank Strayer, 1927. Photo by Eugene Robert Richee

Portrait of Louise Brooks, 1925

Portrait of Louise Brooks for the Ziegfeld Follies publicity by Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1920’s

Portrait of Louise Brooks for The Canary Murder Case directed by Malcolm St. Clair and Frank Tuttle, 1929. Photo by George P. Hommel

Portrait of Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box directed by George Wilhem Pabst, 1929. photo by Guenther Krampf

Portrait of Louise Brooks in Now We’re in the Air directed by Frank R. Strayer, 1927. Photo by Eugene Robert Richee

Portrait of Louise Brooks, 1920’s

Portrait of Louise Brooks for the Ziegfeld Follies publicity by Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1920’s

Portrait of Louise Brooks, 1920’s

circa 1925: US film actress Louise Brooks, (1900 – 1985), wearing a chiffon afternoon frock with puff sleeves and a bow at the waist.

Portrait of Louise Brooks by Horst P. Horst, 1940

The American dancer and actress started as a chorus girl before signing a contract with the Paramount. However, loathing Hollywood and its clique, Louise Brooks moved to Germany where she worked with the expressionist director, G.W Pabst, and starred in her best-known films, before retiring in 1935. This choice gave her immortality as a silent film legend as much as her iconic garçonne bobbed haircut, imitated by many independent women. The actress was rediscovered in the 1950s by French historians who rehabilitated her as a major acting figure which amused Louise Brooks who saw her career with a cynical eye: ‘there is no other occupation in the world that so closely resembled enslavement as the career of a film star.’ She definitely inspired many epigones with this German cabaret style of hers that praises a playful attitude towards sex boundaries.

Portrait of Louise Brooks in Now We’re in the Air directed by Frank R. Strayer, 1927. Photo by Eugene Robert Richee

Portrait of Louise Brooks for The Canary Murder Case directed by Malcolm St. Clair and Frank Tuttle, 1929