Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 12, 1992 TAG: 9203120135
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. LENGTH: Short
The director was brought up in the old Hollywood studio system. He made his mark with social melodramas and hard-boiled fare that reflected the macho style of leading men like Humphrey Bogart and Burt Lancaster.
He wrote the 1948 Bogart film "Key Largo," and received the Academy Award in 1960 for the screenplay of "Elmer Gantry," which starred Lancaster as a slick evangelist.
Brooks married another star of that film, Jean Simmons.
He directed "The Blackboard Jungle," a gritty 1955 tale that made Sidney Poitier a star and garnered Brooks an Oscar nomination for writing. The story of a teacher dealing with juvenile delinquents in a slum school also was notable for its use of rock 'n' roll, including "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets.
Brooks directed and produced "In Cold Blood," the brutal 1967 film based on the Truman Capote best-seller about the murder of a family. He received an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay.
His book, "The Producer," is considered a definitive Hollywood novel.
Other film credits include "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "The Last Hunt," "The Brothers Karamazov," "Sweet Bird of Youth," "Lord Jim," "The Professionals," "Bite the Bullet" "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and "Fever Pitch." - Associated Press
by CNB