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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/010_1.jpg]]
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3->''"The great art of films does not consist in descriptive movement of face and body, but in the movements of thought and soul transmitted in a kind of intense isolation."''
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5Louise Brooks (born Mary Louise Brooks; November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was one of the notable stars of the SilentFilm era, whose smoldering eyes and dark bobbed hair helped to codify the screen image of TheFlapper.
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7Born in Kansas, she was known in her youth for her dancing ability prior to landing several roles in ''Follies'' and other theater acts under Florenz Ziegfeld. She signed a contract with Creator/{{Paramount}} in 1925 (against the wishes of her friend and studio producer Walter Wanger, who feared that the perception would be he curried favor with her signing). By 1928, she was disenchanted with Paramount and quit when the studio wouldn't give her a raise.
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9She subsequently moved to Germany, joined with director Creator/GWPabst, and starred in her StarMakingRole as Lulu in ''Film/PandorasBox''. She'd follow it up with ''Film/DiaryOfALostGirl'' the next year but both films would be flops at the box office thanks to the transition and immediate rise of the talkies in theaters. Brooks made some poor career decisions around this time, such as refusing to dub lines when Creator/{{Paramount}} flick ''The Canary Murder Case'' (1929) was converted into a talkie, and, worse, turning down the female lead in ''Film/{{The Public Enemy|1931}}''. That proved the death toll to her movie career, although she struggled on in a few cheap {{B Movie}}s. Her last film, the Poverty Row western ''Overland Stage Raiders'', had her looking [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ac/bc/8d/acbc8d4acd8dcc00790bd7ddc50c62cd.png unrecognizeable]] in long hair, appearing opposite an obscure, unknown cowboy actor named Creator/JohnWayne.
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11Brooks spent the rest of her life mostly reading, painting, and authoring several autobiographies including ''Lulu In Hollywood'', still considered one of the best movie memoirs ever written.
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13The biography ''Brooks'' by Barry Paris is a must-read for anybody wanting to learn more about her.
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15----
16!!Filmography:
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18* ''Film/TheAmericanVenus'' (1926)
19* ''Film/ItsTheOldArmyGame'' (1926)
20* ''Film/TheShowOff'' (1926)
21* ''Film/JustAnotherBlonde'' (1926)
22* ''Film/LoveEmAndLeaveEm'' (1926)
23* ''Film/RolledStockings'' (1927)
24* ''Film/NowWereInTheAir'' (1927)
25* ''Film/AGirlInEveryPort'' (1928)
26* ''Film/BeggarsOfLife'' (1928)
27* ''Film/PandorasBox'' (1929)
28* ''Film/TheCanaryMurderCase'' (1929)
29* ''Film/DiaryOfALostGirl'' (1929)
30* ''Film/MissEurope'' (1930)
31* ''Film/ItPaysToAdvertise'' (1931)
32* ''Film/GodsGiftToWomen'' (1931)
33* ''Film/EmptySaddles'' (1936)
34* ''Film/WhenYoureInLove'' (1937)
35* ''Film/OverlandStageRaiders'' (1938)
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37----
38!! Tropes associated with her work:
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40* TwentiesBobHaircut: This is currently the page image for good reason.[[note]]As noted above, she abandoned the '20s bob in the 1930s, and when she was making B-movies towards the end of her career, is almost unrecognizeable.[[/note]]
41* DeadpanSnarker: Could be this at times. Also served as a SilentSnarker at times in her films.
42* TheFlapper: One of the quintessential models of the concept in the 1920s.
43* MethodActing: A rare and very notable inversion. Brooks has said she'd never even read a script and had a very laidback attitude towards acting and directors on set.
44* MoneyDearBoy: Why she returned to Hollywood in the 1930s despite openly despising the place.
45* RavenHairIvorySkin: Was known for her pale skin and jet-black hair, the latter of which stood out due to her hairstyle.
46* SilentMovie: Most of her work is categorized as this due to the era she worked in.
47* TheVamp: Utilized this role most famously in ''Pandora's Box''.
48* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
49** She turned down the lead female role in ''Film/{{The Public Enemy|1931}}'' to take a trip to New York City to see George Marshall, owner of the Washington NFL franchise, and the role instead went to Creator/JeanHarlow, who then began her own rise to stardom, while in the opinion of biographer Barry Paris, "turning down ''Public Enemy'' marked the real end of Louise Brooks's film career." Although Brooks later claimed she declined the role because she "hated Hollywood," film historian James Card, who came to know Brooks later in her life, stated that Brooks "just wasn't interested."
50** At one point, she was attached to star in an adaptation of ''Literature/TheBlueLagoon'' that was going to be produced by Herbert Wilcox. However, the onslaught of TheGreatDepression halted these plans.

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