Louise Brooks was born in Cherryville, Kansas, in 1906. She started her show business career at an early age as a dancer, before moving to Hollywood in 1924 and making several not very distinguished films. In 1928 she was persuaded to go to Germany by the director G. W. Pabst. There she made two films, 'Pandora's Box' and 'Diary of a Lost Girl' and it's on these two Pabst vehicles, plus her looks, that her modern day iconic status rests. On her return to Hollywood her difficult and uncompromising temperament meant that roles became fewer and less rewarding and her career finally petered out in 1938. She died in 1985.