Birthday:
05-18-1912
Deathday:
03-11-1992 (79 years)
Birthplace:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Biography
Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, director, novelist and occasional producer. His outstanding works as director are Blackboard Jungle (1955); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958); Elmer Gantry (1960) – for which he won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay); In Cold Blood (1967); and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977).
Brooks was one of the relatively few filmmakers whose careers bridged the transition from the classic studio system to the independent productions that marked the 1960s and beyond. He was also among the postwar writer-directors who made some of their best films as they struggled to break free of industry censorship. His legacy is that of a filmmaker who sought independence in a collaborative art and tried to bring his own vision to the screen.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Brooks, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Brooks was one of the relatively few filmmakers whose careers bridged the transition from the classic studio system to the independent productions that marked the 1960s and beyond. He was also among the postwar writer-directors who made some of their best films as they struggled to break free of industry censorship. His legacy is that of a filmmaker who sought independence in a collaborative art and tried to bring his own vision to the screen.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Brooks, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Their works
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Bacall on Bogart
Act like Self
event1988 star_border 6
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Lauren Bacall tells the story of her late husband Humphrey Bogart, presenting clips from his movies and interview clips with his peers.
Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man
Act like Self
event1988 star_border 7
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A retrospective of the life and career of actor Cary Grant, including clips from his films and interviews with his friends and co-workers.
Elizabeth Taylor: An Intimate Portrait
Act like Self
event1975 star_border 4
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Vintage 1975 documentary about the life of movie queen Elizabeth Taylor hosted by Peter Lawford, and featuring appearances by actors Roddy McDowall and Rock Hudson, directors Richard Brooks and Vincente Minnelli, Elizabeth's mother Sara Taylor, costumer Helen Rose, and producer Sam Marx.
A Special Friendship
Act like Matt Bowser
event1987
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During the American Civil War, two women, a wealthy white woman and a freed black slave, join forces to fight for freedom and the abolition of slavery.
MGM: When the Lion Roars
(3 ep.)
event1992 star_border 7.8
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On April 24, 1924, the movies changed forever: The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio opened and soon assembled “more stars than there are in the heavens.” Patrick Stewart hosts this enthralling Emmy® winner as Outstanding Informational Series, a three-part story of M-G-M’s reign as Hollywood’s class act and legendary entertainment empire. Bursting with memorable film clips, rare interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and insider info, this is a mother lode for film fans, profiling perfectionist moguls, glamorous and charismatic actors, innovative filmmakers and landmark movies.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Director (1 ep.)
event1958 star_border 7.7
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An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
Key Largo
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1948 star_border 7.5
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A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud.
Elmer Gantry
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1960 star_border 7.2
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A charismatic charlatan begins a business — and eventually romantic — relationship with a roadside evangelist to sell religion to 1920s America. Based on Sinclair Lewis' novel of the same name.
Lord Jim
Director (1 ep.)
event1965 star_border 6.8
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After being discredited as a coward, a 19th century seaman lives for only one purpose: to redeem himself. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2000.
The Professionals
Producer (1 ep.)
event1966 star_border 7.1
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An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.
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Director (1 ep.)
event1971 star_border 6.1
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A bank security expert plots with a call girl to rob the safety deposit boxes of three very different criminals from a high-tech bank in Hamburg.
Wrong Is Right
Writer (1 ep.)
event1982 star_border 5.5
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Political double-talk, dirty tricks, hidden microphones, spy satellites, bugging the Oval Office and a nuclear bomb for sale are all ingredients in this swift, funny and frightening look at the possibilities in today's political arenas. Sean Connery stars as TV Newsman Patrick Hale on an international chase to track two suitcase sized nuclear weapons and to uncover the twisting maze of apparent involvement of US Government agencies.
Bite the Bullet
Writer (1 ep.)
event1975 star_border 6.4
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At the beginning of the 20th century, a newspaper organizes an endurance horse race : 700 miles to run in a few days. 9 adventurers are competing, among them a woman, Miss Jones, a Mexican, an Englishman, a young cow-boy, an old one and two friends, Sam Clayton and Luke Matthews. All those individualists will learn to respect each other.
Sweet Bird of Youth
Director (1 ep.)
event1962 star_border 6.8
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Gigolo and drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom "Boss" Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.
Blackboard Jungle
Director (1 ep.)
event1955 star_border 6.9
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Richard Dadier is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes.
Crossfire
Novel (1 ep.)
event1947 star_border 6.6
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A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why?
Brute Force
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1947 star_border 7.3
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Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?
Storm Warning
Writer (1 ep.)
event1951 star_border 6.6
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A fashion model witnesses the brutal assassination of an investigative journalist by the Ku Klux Klan while traveling to a small town to visit her sister.
The Happy Ending
Producer (1 ep.)
event1969 star_border 6
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The triumphs and failures of middle age as seen through the eyes of runaway American housewife Mary Wilson, a woman who believes that ultimate reality exists above and beyond the routine procedures of conscious, uninspired, everyday life. She feels cheated by an older generation that taught her to settle for nothing less than storybook finales, people who are disillusioned and restless and don't know why, people for whom life holds no easy answers.
Deadline - U.S.A.
Director (1 ep.)
event1952 star_border 6.8
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With three days before his paper folds, a crusading editor tries to expose a vicious gangster.
The Brothers Karamazov
Director (1 ep.)
event1958 star_border 6.6
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Ryevsk, Russia, 1870. Tensions abound in the Karamazov family. Fyodor is a wealthy libertine who holds his purse strings tightly. His four grown sons include Dmitri, the eldest, an elegant officer, always broke and at odds with his father, betrothed to Katya, herself lovely and rich. The other brothers include a sterile aesthete, a factotum who is a bastard, and a monk. Family tensions erupt when Dmitri falls in love with one of his father's mistresses, the coquette Grushenka. Two brothers see Dmitri's jealousy of their father as an opportunity to inherit sooner. Acts of violence lead to the story's conclusion: trials of honor, conscience, forgiveness, and redemption.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
Director (1 ep.)
event1977 star_border 6.3
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A dedicated schoolteacher spends her nights cruising bars, looking for abusive men with whom she can engage in progressively more violent sexual encounters.
Cobra Woman
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1944 star_border 5.2
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A man tracks his kidnapped bride to a jungle island, where her twin is the high priestess.
Something of Value
Director (1 ep.)
event1957 star_border 5.5
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As Kenya's Mau Mau uprising tears the country apart, former childhood friends Kimani (Sidney Poitier), a native, and Peter (Rock Hudson), a British colonist, find themselves on opposite sides of the struggle in this provocative drama. Though each is devoted to his cause, both wish for a more moderate path -- but their hopes for a peaceful resolution are thwarted by rage, colonial arrogance and escalating violence on both sides.
In Cold Blood
Director (1 ep.)
event1967 star_border 7.5
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After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.
Mystery Street
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1950 star_border 6.7
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When a young woman's skeletal remains turn up on a Massachusetts beach, Barnstable cop Peter Moralas teams with Boston police and uses forensics, with the help of a Harvard professor, to determine the woman's identity, how she died, and who killed her.
Crisis
Director (1 ep.)
event1950 star_border 6.6
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An American doctor gets caught in the middle of a revolution when he's forced to operate on a South American dictator.
Battle Circus
Writer (1 ep.)
event1953 star_border 6
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A young Army nurse, Lt Ruth McGara, newly assigned to the 66th MASH during the Korean War, attracts the sexual attention of the unit's commander Dr. (MAJ) Jed Webbe. Webbe, who has a drinking problem, at first wants a "no strings" relationship. McGara is warned by the other nurses of Webbe's womanizing ways. Despite these initial handicaps, their love flourishes against a background of war, enemy attacks, death and injury. The relationship deepens and uplifts both characters.
The Last Time I Saw Paris
Director (1 ep.)
event1954 star_border 6
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Reporter Charles Wills, in Paris to cover the end of World War II, falls for the beautiful Helen Ellswirth following a brief flirtation with her sister, Marion. After he and Helen marry, Charles pursues his novelistic ambition while supporting his new bride with a deadening job at a newspaper wire service. But when an old investment suddenly makes the family wealthy, their marriage begins to unravel — until a sudden tragedy changes everything.
Any Number Can Play
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1949 star_border 6.9
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When illegal casino owner Charley Kyng develops heart disease, he is advised by a doctor to spend more time with his family. However, he finds it difficult to keep his work separate from his life at home. His son, Paul, feels ashamed of Charley's career and gets into a fight at his prom because of it. Meanwhile, Charley's brother-in-law, Robbin, who works at the casino, begins fixing games due to his extreme gambling debts.
Take the High Ground!
Director (1 ep.)
event1953 star_border 5.7
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Sgt. Thorne Ryan, who once fought bravely in Korea, now serves as a hard-nosed drill instructor to new Army recruits at Fort Bliss, Texas. But is he really the man he is often described as? His fellow instructor, and friend helps him to face the ghosts of his past experiences in Korea. One night in a bar across the border in Juarez, Mexico, Sgt. Ryan meets a lady who begins to turn his life around. Will this be enough to help him deal with the past? Or will he continue to be so hard on his troops?
The Catered Affair
Director (1 ep.)
event1956 star_border 7.1
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An Irish cabby in the Bronx watches his wife go overboard planning their daughter's wedding.
The Last Hunt
Director (1 ep.)
event1956 star_border 6.7
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A buffalo hunter has a falling-out with his partner, who kills for fun.
Fever Pitch
Writer (1 ep.)
event1985 star_border 3.7
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An investigative journalist gets hooked on the subject of his inquiry — organized gambling.
The Light Touch
Director (1 ep.)
event1951 star_border 6.2
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An art thief tries to double cross his gangster boss.
Flame and the Flesh
Director (1 ep.)
event1954 star_border 10
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American woman in Europe romanced by local gigolo; problems ensue.
White Savage
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1943 star_border 5.2
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A native boy plays Cupid for a shark fisherman and a South Sea Islands princess.
The Killers
Writer (1 ep.)
event1946 star_border 7.3
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Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.
My Best Gal
Story (1 ep.)
event1944
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A girl from a show-business family seeks a backer for her boyfriend's musical.
Men of Texas
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1942
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A Chicago reporter (Robert Stack) and photographer focus on a Confederate outlaw (Brod Crawford) in post-Civil War Texas.
Swell Guy
Writer (1 ep.)
event1946
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Perception vs. reality in a tale of a scoundrel and user whose jovial manner masks his true nature until a climatic redemption.
Sin Town
Additional Dialogue (1 ep.)
event1942 star_border 3
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Two con artists arrive in a western boom town that they think is ripe for the pickings, only to get swindled themselves.
To the Victor
Writer (1 ep.)
event1948
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An American serviceman remains in France after WWII and becomes a black marketeer.
With the Marines at Tarawa
Director (1 ep.)
event1944 star_border 6.8
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Documentary short film depicting the harrowing battle between the U.S. Marines and the Japanese for control of the Pacific island of Tarawa. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with National Archives and Records Administration in 2005.
Don Winslow of the Coast Guard
Additional Dialogue (1 ep.)
event1943
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Don Winslow (titular hero of the serial "Don Winslow of the Navy") is reassigned to the United States Coast Guard, to guard the coast against saboteurs and sneak attacks.
Return to Guam
Director (1 ep.)
event1944 star_border 6
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Return to Guam is a 1944 short propaganda film produced by the US Navy about the taking and recapture of the island of Guam. The film starts when a convoy of ships nearing the island sees strange lights flashing from the island in Morse code "information". After cautiously investigating the signal, they find that it was made by a white man, George Tweed, the last survivor of the original garrison at Guam. Tweed relates his harrowing story of how he survived in the bush for 31 months with the help of the natives, Chamorros.
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