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.
1945
as Maxine
1945
as Marian Blair
1944
as Nita
1944
as Allison DuBois
1943
as Nanette
1943
as Mary Johnson
1943
as Dolly Adair
1941
as Dixie Pomeroy
1940
as Ann Perryman
1939
as Sarilla Cushing
1939
as Pamela Stuart
1939
as Vivian Wells
1938
as Judy Hayes
1938
as Helen Lindsay
1938
as Barbara 'Babs' Drake
1938
as Barbara Shea
1938
as Ann Colby
1938
as Lola Lee
1938
as Vicki Stone
1938
as Ellen Ward
1937
as Herself
1937
as Valerie Barton
1937
as Evelyn Moore
1936
as Undetermined Role
1935
as Gloria Seabury / Jeanette Hardwick
1935
as Sheila Barry
1935
as Rowena
1935
as Mary Ellis Hall
1935
as Gay Blackstone
1934
as The Actress