Rand Brooks
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Sep 21, 1918
- Died
- Sep 1, 2003 (aged 84)
- Place of birth
- Wright City, Missouri, USA
- Credits
- 116
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
Filmography
Rin-Tin-Tin: Hero of the West
1991Movie
Cpl. Boone
The Sex Symbol
1974Movie
Edward Kelly (voice)
Columbo
1971TV
Jerry - Wine Lab Assistant (uncredited)
Adam-12
1968TV
Mr. Edwards, Bus Driver, Mr. Marshall
In Like Flint
1967Movie
Missle Control Officer (uncredited)
The Green Hornet
1966TV
Conway
Requiem for a Gunfighter
1965Movie
Abe Gentry
The Munsters
1964TV
The Man
12 O'Clock High
1964TV
Finance Officer
Petticoat Junction
1963TV
Ernest Belden
Combat!
1962TV
G.I. Lieutenant
Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock
1962Movie
Quint Rucker
The Virginian
1962TV
Henry
My Three Sons
1960TV
Frank Walker, Ed Henson
Comanche Station
1960Movie
Station Man
Stump Run
1960Movie
Hawaiian Eye
1959TV
Agent
Bonanza
1959TV
Cowboy
Tightrope
1959TV
Young Man
The Last Hurrah
1958Movie
Votes Tallyman (uncredited)
Bat Masterson
1958TV
Willard Wynant
Peter Gunn
1958TV
The Challenge of Rin Tin Tin
1958Movie
Jefferson Drum
1958TV
Ray Comstock
Tombstone Territory
1957TV
Ed
The Real McCoys
1957TV
Mr. Foster
Maverick
1957TV
Second at Duel (uncredited), Jack Blair
Perry Mason
1957TV
Trainer, Ted Richert
M Squad
1957TV
Purser
Wagon Train
1957TV
Thomas Pope
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956TV
Banker Wilson
The Man Called X
1956TV
Highway Patrol
1955TV
Bill Rinker
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
1955TV
Gunsmoke
1955TV
Rand, Man
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1955TV
Sheriff Del Mathey
The Millionaire
1955TV
Allan Carter
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954TV
Baseball Coach (uncredited)
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
1954TV
Cpl. Boone, Cpl. Boone (uncredited)
Studio 57
1954TV
Lassie
1954TV
Bulldozer Operator
Crash of Moons
1954Movie
Andrews
Silver Needle in the Sky
1954Movie
Ranger Andrews
City Detective
1953TV
Born to the Saddle
1953Movie
John Grant
The Maverick
1952Movie
Trooper Barnham
Behind Southern Lines
1952Movie
Captain Loomis
Montana Incident
1952Movie
Dave Connors
Man from the Black Hills
1952Movie
Fake Jimmy Fallon
Waco
1952Movie
Al
The Cimarron Kid
1952Movie
Emmett Dalton (uncredited)
The Steel Fist
1952Movie
Captain Giorg Nicholoff
The Gunman
1952Movie
Jud Calvert
The Roy Rogers Show
1951TV
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951TV
Boston Blackie
1951TV
Hutch
The Adventures of Kit Carson
1951TV
Yukon Manhunt
1951Movie
Len Kaufman
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
1951TV
Capt. Loomis, Ed Chandler, Bob Purdy, Ben Webb, Ob Wilkins
Heart of the Rockies
1951Movie
Jim Corley
Lux Video Theatre
1950TV
Uncle George
The Cisco Kid
1950TV
Clint Riley
Bunco Squad
1950Movie
Robert (uncredited)
The Gene Autry Show
1950TV
Jeff Elwood, Young Deputy
Riding High
1950Movie
Henry Early
The Vanishing Westerner
1950Movie
Sanderson's First Victim
Black Midnight
1949Movie
Daniel Jordan
The Lone Ranger
1949TV
Dick Larrabee, Deputy Jim Tyler, Marshal Roy Bell, Private Phillips, Private Jack Carey, Al Sommers, Express Rider, Lieutenant Tipton, Ben
The Wyoming Bandit
1949Movie
Jimmy Howard
Ladies of the Chorus
1948Movie
Randy Carroll
Joan of Arc
1948Movie
Jean d'Arc, Joan's older brother
Sundown in Santa Fe
1948Movie
Tom Wyatt
Strange Gamble
1948Movie
Lucky Jenkins
False Paradise
1948Movie
Lucky Jenkins
Borrowed Trouble
1948Movie
Lucky Jenkins
Sinister Journey
1948Movie
Lucky Jenkins
The Dead Don't Dream
1948Movie
Lucky Jenkins
Silent Conflict
1948Movie
Lucky Jenkins
Kilroy Was Here
1947Movie
Rodney Meadows
Hoppy's Holiday
1947Movie
Lucky Jenkins
The Marauders
1947Movie
Lucky Jenkins
Dangerous Venture
1947Movie
Lucky Jenkins
Unexpected Guest
1947Movie
Lucky Jenkins
The Devil's Playground
1946Movie
Lucky Jenkins
Fool's Gold
1946Movie
Lucky Jenkins
The Harvey Girls
1946Movie
Townsman at Saloon (uncredited)
The Great Morgan
1945Movie
Film Character (uncredited)
Resisting Enemy Interrogation
1944Movie
Pilot
Lady in the Dark
1944Movie
Ben (uncredited)
Ditch and Live
1944Movie
T / Sgt. Ryan
High Explosive
1943Movie
Jimmy Baker
Air Force
1943Movie
Co-Pilot (uncredited)
The Sombrero Kid
1942Movie
Philip Martin
Fingers at the Window
1942Movie
Young Reporter (uncredited)
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine
1942Movie
Cowboy Serenade
1942Movie
Jim Agnew
Niagara Falls
1941Movie
Honeymooner
Lady Scarface
1941Movie
James 'Jimmy' Powell
Double Date
1941Movie
Jerry Baldwin
Life with Henry
1941Movie
Daniel Gordon (uncredited)
Jennie
1940Movie
Karl Schermer
The Son of Monte Cristo
1940Movie
Hans Mirbach
The Girl from Avenue A
1940Movie
Steve
Florian
1940Movie
Victor
And One Was Beautiful
1940Movie
Joe Havens
Northwest Passage
1940Movie
Eben Towne
Laddie
1940Movie
Peter Dover
Andy Hardy's Dilemma: A Lesson in Mathematics... and Other Things
1940Movie
Mechanic (uncredited)
Gone with the Wind
1939Movie
Charles Hamilton
Balalaika
1939Movie
Crying Soldier (uncredited)
Babes in Arms
1939Movie
Jeff Steele
Dancing Co-Ed
1939Movie
Steve (uncredited)
Thunder Afloat
1939Movie
Listener (uncredited)
The Old Maid
1939Movie
Jim
Dramatic School
1938Movie
Pasquel Jr.
Love Finds Andy Hardy
1938Movie
Young Man on Bandstand (uncredited)