Geraldine Brooks (born Geraldine Stroock; October 29, 1925 â€" June
19, 1977) was an American actress whose three-decade career on stage
as well as in films and on television was noted with nominations for
an Emmy in 1962 and a Tony in 1970. She was married to author Budd
Schulberg.A native of New York City, Geraldine Stroock was born to a
family descended from Dutch immigrants. Her parents had
entertainment-industry connections, with her father, James, as
owner-manager of the Brooks theatrical costume concern and her mother,
Bianca, with a career as stylist and designer of costumes. Two of her
aunts had also been in show business, one as a singer at the
Metropolitan Opera and another as a showgirl with the Ziegfeld
Follies. Her elder sister, Gloria, is an actress. Geraldine, who was
named after Metropolitan Opera's most famous diva of the era,
Geraldine Farrar, took dancing classes from the age of two and
attended the all-girls Hunter Modeling School and graduated in 1942
from Julia Richman High School, where she was president of the drama
club.The World War II years of 1942â€"45 found Geraldine Stroock
refining her craft at such traditional venues as the American Academy
of Dramatic Arts, the Neighborhood Playhouse and summer stock. Her
first Broadway show, Follow the Girls, a musical comedy, opened at the
New Century Theatre on April 8, 1944 and ran for 888 performances,
closing over two years later, on May 18, 1946. The young actress, who
was 18 when she was cast in this tuneful spoof of life in the theatre,
played a character tellingly named "Catherine Pepburn". She did not
stay with the production for its entire run, but was subsequently cast
in another Broadway show, The Winter's Tale. This Theatre Guild
production of the Shakespeare romance opened at the Cort Theatre on
January 15, 1946 and closed after 39 performances on February 16.
Playing the female lead, Perdita, the now-20-year-old actress was
noticed by a Warner Bros. representative and signed to a
contract.Unlike her two years elder sister, Gloria Stroock, who has a
long career as an actress in mostly small film and television roles,
keeping her real name, young Geraldine decided, at this point, to take
the surname of "Brooks" professionally. That name was also the name of
her father's costume company. Her debut under the new stage name was
also her first time in front of the cameras, as the studio's suspense
drama, Cry Wolf, went into national release on August 19, 1947,
although it was seen and reviewed in New York one month earlier.
Billed third after top-tier stars Errol Flynn and Barbara Stanwyck she
received mostly good notices, while the film itself encountered
critical resistance, with The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther
complaining that "[t]he final explanation of the mystery is ridiculous
and banal." Her second film at the studio, Possessed, was released
three weeks before Cry Wolf, on July 26, and was, again, reviewed in
New York earlier, on May 30. This time, she was in fourth place,
behind top-tier stars Joan Crawford and Van Heflin and third-billed
Raymond Massey. A much more vulnerable persona than the poised,
imperturbable one she played in Cry Wolf, she had a number of heavy
dramatic confrontations with the overwrought character played by Joan
Crawford (who received an Oscar nomination for the role) and became a
lifelong friend of the eighteen-years-older star, and spoke at her
memorial service in May 1977, five weeks before her own death. Seeing
the young actress for the first time in the latter film, Bosley
Crowther described her as "a newcomer who burns brightly ... as Miss
Crawford's sensitive step-daughter".
19, 1977) was an American actress whose three-decade career on stage
as well as in films and on television was noted with nominations for
an Emmy in 1962 and a Tony in 1970. She was married to author Budd
Schulberg.A native of New York City, Geraldine Stroock was born to a
family descended from Dutch immigrants. Her parents had
entertainment-industry connections, with her father, James, as
owner-manager of the Brooks theatrical costume concern and her mother,
Bianca, with a career as stylist and designer of costumes. Two of her
aunts had also been in show business, one as a singer at the
Metropolitan Opera and another as a showgirl with the Ziegfeld
Follies. Her elder sister, Gloria, is an actress. Geraldine, who was
named after Metropolitan Opera's most famous diva of the era,
Geraldine Farrar, took dancing classes from the age of two and
attended the all-girls Hunter Modeling School and graduated in 1942
from Julia Richman High School, where she was president of the drama
club.The World War II years of 1942â€"45 found Geraldine Stroock
refining her craft at such traditional venues as the American Academy
of Dramatic Arts, the Neighborhood Playhouse and summer stock. Her
first Broadway show, Follow the Girls, a musical comedy, opened at the
New Century Theatre on April 8, 1944 and ran for 888 performances,
closing over two years later, on May 18, 1946. The young actress, who
was 18 when she was cast in this tuneful spoof of life in the theatre,
played a character tellingly named "Catherine Pepburn". She did not
stay with the production for its entire run, but was subsequently cast
in another Broadway show, The Winter's Tale. This Theatre Guild
production of the Shakespeare romance opened at the Cort Theatre on
January 15, 1946 and closed after 39 performances on February 16.
Playing the female lead, Perdita, the now-20-year-old actress was
noticed by a Warner Bros. representative and signed to a
contract.Unlike her two years elder sister, Gloria Stroock, who has a
long career as an actress in mostly small film and television roles,
keeping her real name, young Geraldine decided, at this point, to take
the surname of "Brooks" professionally. That name was also the name of
her father's costume company. Her debut under the new stage name was
also her first time in front of the cameras, as the studio's suspense
drama, Cry Wolf, went into national release on August 19, 1947,
although it was seen and reviewed in New York one month earlier.
Billed third after top-tier stars Errol Flynn and Barbara Stanwyck she
received mostly good notices, while the film itself encountered
critical resistance, with The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther
complaining that "[t]he final explanation of the mystery is ridiculous
and banal." Her second film at the studio, Possessed, was released
three weeks before Cry Wolf, on July 26, and was, again, reviewed in
New York earlier, on May 30. This time, she was in fourth place,
behind top-tier stars Joan Crawford and Van Heflin and third-billed
Raymond Massey. A much more vulnerable persona than the poised,
imperturbable one she played in Cry Wolf, she had a number of heavy
dramatic confrontations with the overwrought character played by Joan
Crawford (who received an Oscar nomination for the role) and became a
lifelong friend of the eighteen-years-older star, and spoke at her
memorial service in May 1977, five weeks before her own death. Seeing
the young actress for the first time in the latter film, Bosley
Crowther described her as "a newcomer who burns brightly ... as Miss
Crawford's sensitive step-daughter".
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