Phyllis Brooks

Phyllis Brooks was an American actress and model Brooks was born Phyllis Seiler in Boise Idaho on July 18 1915 She began her career in films at age 20 and had been known as the Ipana Toothpaste Girl due to her work as a model Brooks who had about 30 performances in films was a Bmovie leading lady during the 1930s and 1940s with roles in such films as In Old Chicago 1937 Little Miss Broadway 1938 and the Shanghai Gesture 1941 In the late 1930s she dated Cary Grant who called her Brooksie and rumors that the two would be married were circulated Brooks something of a socialite also dated Howard Hughes Along with fellow actress Una Merkel and accompanied by noted actor Gary Cooper Phyllis was the first civilian woman to travel to the Pacific Theater of War during World War II on a USO tour She was married to Torbert Macdonald an 11term Massachusetts Congressman who was John F Kennedys roommate at Harvard and who remained a close friend and confidante throughout his life She moved to Cambridge Massachusetts with her new husband in 1945 so he could complete his Harvard Law degree Congressman Macdonald had been a Harvard football captain and a decorated PT boat captain in World War II He died in office in 1976 Phyllis continued performing in summer stock theater after her marriage and hosted the first television interview program in Boston in the early 1950s on WBZTV She retired from public performances after that concentrating on raising her family The couple had four children the eldest of whom was President Kennedys godson She died on August 1 1995 in Cape Neddick Maine at the age of 80