Brooks, Marla 1952–

PERSONAL:

Born July 17, 1952, in Los Angeles, CA; daughter of Gilbert (deceased) and Rusty (formerly Evalyn; deceased) Brooks. Ethnicity: "English/Russian." Education: High school graduate. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Agnostic.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office— Hollywood, CA. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

The Celebrity Cookbook: Kitchen Secrets of the Rich and Famous, S.P.I. Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Eat Like the Stars Cookbook: Celebrities Favorite Recipes, Magni (McKinney, TX), 2002.

The American Family on Television: A Chronology of 121 Shows, 1948-2004, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2005.

How to Cook Like a Jewish Grandmother, Pelican Publishing (Gretna, LA), 2005.

Ghosts of Hollywood: The Show Still Goes On, Schiffer Publishing (Atglen, PA), 2008.

Contributor to dozens of national magazines including Inside Hollywood and Los Angeles Magazine as an entertainment writer. Contributed a monthly feature about celebrity pets to Cat Fancy.

SIDELIGHTS:

Marla Brooks has had a lifelong connection to Hollywood. Born in Los Angeles, California, Brooks grew up in Hollywood; as a teen, she attended Hollywood High School; and as an adult, she began her career as a freelance writer, often writing about Hollywood celebrities and other aspects of the entertainment industry. She has contributed numerous articles to periodicals such as Inside Hollywood and Los Angeles Magazine. She even wrote a monthly feature in Cat Fancy about celebrity pets. Several of her book, including The Celebrity Cookbook: Kitchen Secrets of the Rich and Famous, Eat Like the Stars Cookbook: Celebrities Favorite Recipes, The American Family on Television: A Chronology of 121 Shows, 1948-2004, and Ghosts of Hollywood: The Show Still Goes On, also have ties to Hollywood.

Brooks published her first two cookbooks,The Celebrity Cookbook and Eat Like the Stars Cookbook, in 1996 and 2002, respectively. The Celebrity Cookbook includes over one hundred recipes from celebrities, including actor and director Clint Eastwood, author Stephen King, and former First Lady Barbara Bush. In a similar manner, Brooks's Eat Like the Stars Cookbook presents more celebrity recipes including, among others, Sally Struthers's peach pie, Doris Day's fettuccini primavera, and Arnold Palmer's Hawaiian meatballs.

In 2005, Brooks authored a third cookbook titled How to Cook Like a Jewish Grandmother. According to a biography of Brooks on the Pelican Publishing Web site,How to Cook Like a Jewish Grandmother is "her way of handing down family memories to future generations." Brooks's grandparents ran Slobod's Delicatessen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and she includes many of their recipes in the cookbook. The book does not include any calorie or other nutritional information—as a reviewer for Bookwatch remarked, the recipes focus "on plain, old-fashioned taste."

The same year that Brooks released How to Cook Like a Jewish Grandmother she authored a book about television families throughout history titled The American Family on Television. From the introduction of the first sitcom family on The Goldbergs in the late 1940s to families on television shows at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Brooks traces how sitcom families have evolved as American society has changed. She discusses the key social changes that took place during each decade and includes a list of the noteworthy shows from that time.

In her next book,Ghosts of Hollywood, Brooks returned to her Hollywood roots to write about the famous ghost stories that have long haunted the city. From the Hollywood Wax Museum to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Brooks relays the startling stories form her hometown.

Brooks told CA: "To me, writing is akin to breathing. It's something I must do every day. I challenge myself by writing about a variety of topics, but each is near and dear to my heart."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Bookwatch, November, 2005, review of How to Cook Like a Jewish Grandmother.

ONLINE

Magni Company Web site,http://catalog.magnico.com/ (October 1, 2007), description of Eat Like the Stars Cookbook: Celebrities Favorite Recipes.

McFarland Web site,http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/ (October 1, 2007), description of The American Family on Television: A Chronology of 121 Shows, 1948-2004.

Pelican Publishing Company Web site,http://www.pelicanpub.com/ (October 1, 2007), biography of Marla Brooks and description of How to Cook Like a Jewish Grandmother.

Schiffer Publishing Web site,http://www.schifferbooks.com/ (October 1, 2007), description of Ghosts of Hollywood: The Show Still Goes On.

S.P.I. Books Web site,http://www.spibooks.com/ (October 1, 2007), description of The Celebrity Cookbook: Kitchen Secrets of the Rich and Famous.