Leslie Brooks
Leslie Brooks was an American film actress, model and dancer.
Early life
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, her parents brought her to Southern California at an early age, where around 1940 she started work as a photographic model. At the beginning of her career in show business she appeared as Lorraine Gettman.
Career
As Leslie Brooks, she began appearing in movie bit roles for Columbia in 1941. Brooks started landing more sizable parts in such movies as Nine Girls, Cover Girl, and the lead in the film noir classic Blonde Ice. She retired from films in 1949, but returned to make one last film in 1971.
Personal life
Brooks was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 13, 1922, the daughter of Paul and Fern Clark Gettman. She spent much of her childhood with her paternal grandparents who ran a hotel in Crofton, and attended high school in Omaha. Brooks was married twice and had four daughters. She wed her first husband, actor Donald Anthony Shay, on January 6, 1945, in Beverly Hills, California. They had a daughter, Leslie Victoria, and divorced in 1948. In 1950, she married Russ Vincent, an actor and, later, a successful Hollywood land developer. She had appeared with him in the 1948 film Blonde Ice. They remained married until his death 51 years later. Brooks and Vincent had three daughters together; Dorena Marla, Gina L. and Darla R..
Death
Brooks died on July 1, 2011, at the age of 88 in Sherman Oaks, California and was buried at the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Selected filmography
Yankee Doodle Dandy as Chorus Girl in "Little Johnny Jones" You Were Never Lovelier as Cecy AcuñaLucky Legs as Jewel PerkinsOverland to Deadwood as Linda BanningUnderground Agent as Ann CarterTwo Señoritas from Chicago as Lena WorthCity Without Men as GwenWhat's Buzzin', Cousin? as Josie Nine Girls as Roberta HollowayCover Girl as Maurine MartinTonight and Every Night as AngelaI Love a Bandleader as Ann StuartThe Secret of the Whistler as Kay MorrellThe Man Who Dared as Lorna ClaibourneCigarette Girl as Ellen WilcoxRomance on the High Seas as Miss MedwickBlonde Ice as Claire Cummings HannemanHollow Triumph as Virginia Taylor The Cobra Strikes as Olga KaminoffHow's Your Love Life? as Dr. Maureen John