Acting

Rand Brooks

136 titles74 movies · 62 series

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.

Filmography

Rin-Tin-Tin: Hero of the West

Film · 1991

The Sex Symbol

Film · 1974

Columbo

Series · 1971

Adam-12

Series · 1968

Adam-12

Series · 1968

Adam-12

Series · 1968

In Like Flint

Film · 1967

The Green Hornet

Series · 1966

Requiem for a Gunfighter

Film · 1965

The Munsters

Series · 1964

12 O'Clock High

Series · 1964

Petticoat Junction

Series · 1963

Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock

Film · 1962

Combat!

Series · 1962

The Virginian

Series · 1962

Stump Run

Film · 1960

Comanche Station

Film · 1960

My Three Sons

Series · 1960

My Three Sons

Series · 1960

Hawaiian Eye

Series · 1959

Bonanza

Series · 1959

Tightrope

Series · 1959

The Last Hurrah

Film · 1958

The Challenge of Rin Tin Tin

Film · 1958

Peter Gunn

Series · 1958

Bat Masterson

Series · 1958

Jefferson Drum

Series · 1958

Maverick

Series · 1957

Perry Mason

Series · 1957

The Real McCoys

Series · 1957

M Squad

Series · 1957

Wagon Train

Series · 1957

Maverick

Series · 1957

Tombstone Territory

Series · 1957

Perry Mason

Series · 1957

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Series · 1956

The Man Called X

Series · 1956

Gunsmoke

Series · 1955

The Millionaire

Series · 1955

Sergeant Preston of the Yukon

Series · 1955

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

Series · 1955

Gunsmoke

Series · 1955

Highway Patrol

Series · 1955

Silver Needle in the Sky

Film · 1954

Crash of Moons

Film · 1954

Lassie

Series · 1954

The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin

Series · 1954

Studio 57

Series · 1954

The Wonderful World of Disney

Series · 1954

The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin

Series · 1954

Born to the Saddle

Film · 1953

City Detective

Series · 1953

Behind Southern Lines

Film · 1952

The Gunman

Film · 1952

The Steel Fist

Film · 1952

Montana Incident

Film · 1952

Man from the Black Hills

Film · 1952

The Maverick

Film · 1952

Waco

Film · 1952

The Cimarron Kid

Film · 1952

Heart of the Rockies

Film · 1951

Yukon Manhunt

Film · 1951

The Roy Rogers Show

Series · 1951

The Adventures of Kit Carson

Series · 1951

Boston Blackie

Series · 1951