Brooks, Geraldine (1925–1977)
Brooks, Geraldine (1925–1977)
American actress. Born Geraldine Stroock in New York City on October 29, 1925; died of cancer, age 52, in Riverhead, New York, on June 19, 1977; daughter of a costume manufacturer and designer; attended American Academy of Dramatic Arts; married second husband, novelist-screenwriter Budd Schulberg, 1964.
Selected films:
Possessed (1947); Cry Wolf (1947); The Younger Brothers (1949); The Reckless Moment (1949); Challenge for Lassie (1950); Volcano (1950); The Green Glove (1952); Street of Sinners (1956); Johnny Tiger (1966).
When Geraldine Brooks arrived at Warner Bros. in 1947, she had already appeared in a stage musical, toured in Shakespeare with the Theater Guild, and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After playing ingénue roles in a number of films, she grew disillusioned with the quality of most of her pictures and signed on with Italian director William Dieterle to play Anna Magnani 's younger sister in Volcano. Although the movie did not do well, Brooks stayed in Europe to make a few more films before returning to the United States, where she concentrated mostly on stage and television work. In later years, she became an accomplished nature photographer and, in 1975, published a book of bird photographs called Swan Watch, with accompanying essays written by her second husband Budd Schulberg.