
Rand Brooks
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1918-09-21
Day of Death
2003-09-01 (84 years old)
Place of Birth
Wright City, Missouri, USA
Rand Brooks
Biography
Arlington Rand Brooks Jr. (September 21, 1918 – September 1, 2003) was an American film and television actor.
Brooks was born in Wright City, Missouri. He was the son of Arlington Rand Brooks, a farmer. His mother and he moved to Los Angeles when he was four, though he continued to spend summers in Wright City. Brooks continued to make visits to his hometown of Wright City into the 1950s, up to and following the death of his father in 1950. His mother and his grandfather were actors.
After leaving school, Brooks got a screen test at MGM and was given a bit part in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938). His big fame came with his part as Charles Hamilton in Gone with the Wind (1939), a role which he later admitted he despised; he wanted to play more macho parts. He made $100 per week under contract at MGM, but when he was on loan to Selznick International Pictures for Gone with the Wind, he made $500 per week.
After Gone With the Wind, he had relatively small parts in other movies including Babes in Arms, then a regular role as Lucky in the Hopalong Cassidy series of Westerns in the mid-1940s; Brooks succeeded Russell Hayden in the role. Among the films, which starred William Boyd as Hopalong, were Hoppy's Holiday, The Dead Don't Dream, and Borrowed Trouble. He received positive notice for his work in Fool's Gold, with Variety reporting that he did "an excellent job." In edited, half-hour versions of some of the films, he appeared in 12 of the 52 episodes of the Hopalong Cassidy television series.
In 1948, he co-starred with Adele Jergens and Marilyn Monroe in the low-budget, black-and-white Columbia Pictures film, Ladies of the Chorus. Brooks became the first actor to share an on-screen kiss with Monroe, who in a few years was one of the world's biggest movie stars. Filmed in just 10 days, the film was released soon after its completion. Variety called his performance in the 1952 film The Steel Fist "capable."
Television brought new opportunities, again often in Westerns. He played Cpl. Randy Boone in the 1950s television series, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. Brooks had guest roles in 1950s Western series, including Mackenzie's Raiders, The Lone Ranger, Maverick, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza. He appeared twice on the syndicated adventure series, Rescue 8, as well as on CBS's Perry Mason courtroom drama series.
In 1962, he directed and produced a movie about brave dogs, Bearheart, but the film was entangled in legal troubles due to his business manager's involvement in crimes such as forgery and graft. The film was finally released in 1978, under the title Legend of the Northwest.
After he left show business, Brooks ran a private ambulance company in Glendale, California. He commented that he "died in more pictures than almost anyone" and that though he was never very big in show business, he was willing to return to it. Brooks sold the ambulance company in 1994, and retired to his ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley, where he bred champion Andalusian horses. He attended a Gone with the Wind reunion for Clark Gable's birthday, along with Ann Rutherford and Fred Crane, in Cadiz, Ohio, in 1992.
On September 1, 2003, Brooks died in Santa Ynez, California.
Acting
(1991)
Rin-Tin-Tin: Hero of the West
as Cpl. Boone
(1974)
The Sex Symbol
as Edward Kelly (voice)
(1967)
In Like Flint
as Missle Control Officer (uncredited)
(1962)
Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock
as Quint Rucker
(1960)
Comanche Station
as Station Man
(1959)
(1958)
The Last Hurrah
as Votes Tallyman (uncredited)
(1958)
(1954)
Crash of Moons
as Andrews
(1954)
Silver Needle in the Sky
as Ranger Andrews
(1953)
Born to the Saddle
as John Grant
(1952)
The Gunman
as Jud Calvert
(1952)
Montana Incident
as Dave Connors
(1952)
Waco
as Al
(1952)
The Maverick
as Trooper Barnham
(1952)
Behind Southern Lines
as Captain Loomis
(1952)
Man from the Black Hills
as Fake Jimmy Fallon
(1952)
The Steel Fist
as Captain Giorg Nicholoff
(1951)
Yukon Manhunt
as Len Kaufman
(1951)
Heart of the Rockies
as Jim Corley
(1950)
Riding High
as Henry Early
(1950)
Bunco Squad
as Robert (uncredited)
(1950)
The Vanishing Westerner
as Sanderson's First Victim
(1949)
The Wyoming Bandit
as Jimmy Howard
(1949)
Black Midnight
as Daniel Jordan
(1948)
Joan of Arc
as Jean d'Arc, Joan's older brother
(1948)
Ladies of the Chorus
as Randy Carroll
(1948)
False Paradise
as Lucky Jenkins
(1948)
Sinister Journey
as Lucky Jenkins
(1948)
Silent Conflict
as Lucky Jenkins
(1948)
Borrowed Trouble
as Lucky Jenkins
(1948)
Sundown in Santa Fe
as Tom Wyatt
(1948)
Strange Gamble
as Lucky Jenkins
(1948)
The Dead Don't Dream
as Lucky Jenkins
(1947)
Unexpected Guest
as Lucky Jenkins
(1947)
The Marauders
as Lucky Jenkins
(1947)
Dangerous Venture
as Lucky Jenkins
(1947)
Hoppy's Holiday
as Lucky Jenkins
(1947)
Kilroy Was Here
as Rodney Meadows
(1946)
Fool's Gold
as Lucky Jenkins
(1946)
The Devil's Playground
as Lucky Jenkins
(1945)
The Great Morgan
as Film Character (uncredited)
(1944)
Resisting Enemy Interrogation
as Pilot
(1944)
Lady in the Dark
as Ben
(1944)
Ditch and Live
as T / Sgt. Ryan
(1943)
Air Force
as Co-Pilot (uncredited)
(1943)
High Explosive
as Jimmy Baker
(1942)
Fingers at the Window
as Young Reporter (uncredited)
(1942)
(1942)
Cowboy Serenade
as Jim Agnew
(1942)
The Sombrero Kid
as Philip Martin
(1941)
Niagara Falls
as Honeymooner
(1941)
Lady Scarface
as James 'Jimmy' Powell
(1941)
Life with Henry
as Daniel Gordon (uncredited)
(1940)
Northwest Passage
as Eben Towne
(1940)
Florian
as Victor
(1940)
The Son of Monte Cristo
as Hans Mirbach
(1940)
Laddie
as Peter Dover
(1940)
And One Was Beautiful
as Joe Havens
(1940)
Andy Hardy's Dilemma: A Lesson in Mathematics... and Other Things
as Mechanic (uncredited)
(1940)
The Girl from Avenue A
as Steve
(1939)
Gone with the Wind
as Charles Hamilton
(1939)
Thunder Afloat
as Listener (uncredited)
(1939)
The Old Maid
as Jim
(1939)
Balalaika
as Crying Soldier (uncredited)
(1939)
Babes in Arms
as Jeff Steele
(1939)
Dancing Co-Ed
as Steve (uncredited)
(1938)
Love Finds Andy Hardy
as Young Man on Bandstand (uncredited)
(1938)
Dramatic School
as Pasquel Jr.
Crew
(1978)
Legend of the Northwest
Director
(1967)
The King's Pirate
Dialogue Coach