Louise Brooks - the Lonely Life of a Hollywood Icon - Documentary

Once dubbed the most beautiful woman ever, Louise Brooks was a trailblazer of the silent cinema and style icon of the Jazz Age. Her sharp modern look and provocative self-confidence made her adored by millions but her uncompromising attitude and unwillingness to bow down to studio moguls led to friction even at the height of her fame.

How did a little girl from Kansas rise to global stardom, then fall so low she had to work as a paid escort and then rise again to reinvent herself as a writer and commentator on all that she had lived through in the hedonistic heyday of Hollywood.

Louise Brooks' legacy is not just one of a ground breaking actress and an iconic figure of the silent film era, but also as a pioneer for women wanting to be independent and follow their own paths and as someone who brought attention to mental health issues long before it was fashionable to do so. By examining her life, we gain a deeper appreciation for her achievements both on and off the screen and a better understanding of the importance of mental health in our own lives.

The Rise, Fall, & Rise Again of "The Most Beautiful Woman Ever" - Louise Brooks

[jimalancook]

What a delightful tribute . To me she’s one of the most beautiful women ever in Hollywood.

[danieljordan]

She could go from stunningly beautiful to extremely adorable with a simple smile. Very magnetic.

[SuzanneO]

I have a tinted framed photo of her. I swear those smouldering peepers follow you around the room. I have always found her timeless, magnetic and gutsy. Great actress with so much presence, appeal and style. A real rebel spirit and pioneer in the creative arts. Great presentation, thankyou.

[Alpha-Andromeda]

Yes! My grandfather Alfred Savoir directed Louise in a couple of films while they were both still in Hollywood. He said she was not only gorgeous but intelligent and deep, and that she had no business in that business. I suppose she knew that too.
There’s even a picture of them
together on some Hollywood film set (maybe Ernst Lubitsch?)
He urged her to stay in Europe but at the end she wasn’t interested in all that. She was always a writer he said and a very witty conversationalist.
The way the camera captures her depth and charm and wily nature is nonpareil ❤

Thank you for a lovely video !

[balesjo]

She was a great beauty who had a look that transcends the styles that identify so many actresses as belonging to the 1920s. But I think it was her personality that also played a large part of her beauty, and I suspect she was far more interesting that she considered herself as being. Were she alive today and in Hollywood, she'd most likely be lighting up the movie screens. I'm so glad that there were people still interested enough in the 1950s to make it possible for the world to rediscover her, and for her to record at least parts of her life story and come to some place of peacefulness in her life.

[singlesideman]

I've loved her since I was 16 in 1983. She was simultaneously the cutest actress of all time, and one of the most intelligent, fiercely independent and determined women in Hollywood at that time, a time that was especially hard for women - it's bad enough now. That was an amazing time, but there is so much that we now take for granted that just didn't exist then. Louise Brooks really shone a light on so much of what made it so hard for women, and she inspired so many to fight for what they deserve.

[jujulionesselsa]

Absolutely agree she did her own thing, and to me she still remained beautiful in her later years.

[andreamiller]

Thank you, sir for taking the time and effort to create an honest and authentic portrayal of this mesmerizing woman. My home is a mere three blocks away from Louise's Rochester, NY apartment building. I do think of her often as I pass by, imagining her walking down East Ave to the George Eastman House

[leslieholland]

I empathize with her struggles. She was incredibly resilient and courageous. Childhood trauma, including neglect, leaves one with great emotional pain. I’m glad she made peace with her mom 😊

[janetduncan]

My mother looked like her when she was a teenager. Same hair and facial structure. She also had naturally full lips. My mother was born in 1922.

[chrish]

A wonderful video! I've always thought Louise Brooks was terribly underappreciated.

[JSB]

"There is no Garbo! There is no Dietrich! There is only Louise Brooks!" – Henri Langlois. I'm different from others because I fell in love with her back in 1980s in Richard Leacock's documentary that you shared in a clip. She was an old woman with bad teeth, anthric hands and a tattered bathrobe, but she was mesmerizing with her voice and facial and hand gestures. I saw "Pandora's Box" later and it was incredible. The camera really captured something special in her. I have only seen three female silent stars that had that quality: Louise, Marion Davies and Clara Bow.

[canalsoloparaverunvideodem]

No matter what year you watch her, she always looks like a contemporary woman had time-travelled to a silent movie

[velvetbees]

It's hard not to love her when presented like this.

[GenGrace-kgjb]

She was so intelligent. If you’ve read her film criticism, you’ll know she wasn’t simply recycling anecdotes from her movie hey-day or passing on old gossip. She had a very keen mind, a wicked sense of humour, and a gift for the telling phrase. In some ways she reminds me of the writer Jean Rhys, another woman who experienced childhood sexual abuse, a remote mother, unstable career, exploitative relationships, impulsive and self-defeating behaviour patterns, alcoholism, grey-area escort work, and decades of poverty and neglect -only to re-emerge from literary obscurity with her late novel ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ as a great, great author. Oh, and they even looked alike! (At least in their flapper finery and bobbed hairstyle).

[robertcongdon]

She was gorgeous, lived by her own rules, burned all her bridges, refused to kiss ass, made no apologies for the life she chose, and I love her for all of it!

[sanfordpress]

Fascinating. Thank you for this wonderful presentation

[pieterdutoit]

What a MARVELOUS tribute!!! She was absolutely iconic with a timeless beauty! I admire her brave spirit to always adapt & bounce back. She definitely had conviction!

[jamesdellaneve]

She was a person with a case of classic anxious attachment style. She could never get close to anyone and would in fact run away once they got close.

[OwlMinerva]

I adore Louise Brooks, from her acting, hair her ways. I only wish she would have done talkies…..is there a museum about her anywhere? I’ve seen all her interviews over and over again, all her silent movies, and yes even her last one with John Wayne. When I was a teenager some of my friends and I, would call her in seances. I had a scrap book with a lot of her photographs, pictures….She was very unique! Thank you for the documentary.