Rand Brooks
Personal Info
Known For Actor
Gender Male
Birthday 1918-09-21
Deathday 2003-09-01 (84 years old)
Place of Birth Wright City, Missouri, USA
Also Known As Arlington Rand Brooks Jr.
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.
Known For
Actor
as Cpl. Boone
as Edward Kelly (voice)
as Jerry - Wine Lab Assistant (uncredited)
as Mr. Edwards
as Bus Driver
as Mr. Marshall
as Missle Control Officer (uncredited)
as Conway
as The Man
as Ernest Belden
as Quint Rucker
as G.I. Lieutenant
as Henry
as Station Man
as Cowboy
as Young Man
as Votes Tallyman (uncredited)
as Willard Wynant
as Ray Comstock
as Second at Duel (uncredited)
as Jack Blair
as Trainer
as Purser
as Thomas Pope
as Banker Wilson
as Rand
as Man
as Sheriff Del Mathey
as Allan Carter
as Andrews
as Ranger Andrews
as Baseball Coach (uncredited)
as Cpl. Boone
as John Grant
as Trooper Barnham
as Captain Loomis
as Dave Connors
as Fake Jimmy Fallon
as Al
as Captain Giorg Nicholoff
as Jud Calvert
as Len Kaufman
as Jim Corley
as Robert (uncredited)
as Henry Early
as Sanderson's First Victim
as Uncle George
as Clint Riley
as Jeff Elwood
as Young Deputy
as Daniel Jordan
as Jimmy Howard
as Dick Larrabee
as Deputy Jim Tyler
as Marshal Roy Bell
as Private Phillips
as Private Jack Carey
as Randy Carroll
as Jean d'Arc, Joan's older brother
as Tom Wyatt
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Rodney Meadows
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Lucky Jenkins
as Film Character (uncredited)
as Pilot
as Ben
as T / Sgt. Ryan
as Jimmy Baker
as Co-Pilot (uncredited)
as Philip Martin
as Young Reporter (uncredited)
as Jim Agnew
as Honeymooner
as James 'Jimmy' Powell
as Daniel Gordon (uncredited)
as Hans Mirbach
as Steve
as Victor
as Joe Havens
as Eben Towne
as Peter Dover
as Mechanic (uncredited)
as Crying Soldier (uncredited)
as Jeff Steele
as Steve (uncredited)
as Listener (uncredited)
as Jim
as Charles Hamilton
as Pasquel Jr.
as Young Man on Bandstand (uncredited)
Director
as Director
Crew
as Dialogue Coach