William Brooks Clift, Jr.

William Brooks Clift, Jr was born 4 Feb 1919 in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska. He was mostly called "Brooks" to distinguish him from his father. The family lived at times in Chicago, and New York and also Brooks with his mother and siblings lived in Europe for months at a time while growing up.

Brooks was at times an actor, producer and exporter. When his eldest child Suzanne was born in 1941 Brooks lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey as she is called "a native of that place, but raised in Boston from infancy." They also had another daughter Cathy who was "raised virtually by her grandmother [Ethel]". And they had a son William, who is called age 18 in 1962. William Brooks Clift III, born 5 Jan 1944 in Boston, became a well-known photographer, with several annual entries in Who's Who in American Art and also in Who's Who in the West. It's not yet clear when Brooks and his first wife divorced, but it was before 1962 when she is described as already remarried to Peter Thomson "a Boston engineer". In 1951 Brooks is mentioned as the producer of NBC-TV's "Home" show. Brooks also had three children by his second wife Eleanor (Roeloffs) Clift (b. 7 Jul 1940) the noted author and columnist. Those children were Edward Montgomery Clift, Woodbury Blair Clift and Robert Anderson Clift. Eleanor's NNDB entry here states that Brooks died in 1986. Brooks IMDb entry here states that he died 24 Sep 1986 in Los Angeles, California. His California Death Index entry is here, curiously his mother's name is there listed as Fogg.

Brooks also had a son Jamison Clift by actress Kim Stanley, although this son was known as Jamison Conway until the 1980s, when he changed his name. (see The New York Times, 21 Aug 2001, "Kim Stanley...dies at 76") Jamison does or did at one time live in New Mexico, possibly in the Santa Fe area, and might be an artist. In newspaper accounts dated 1962, Brooks is called a "movie and television producer in New York". Brooks, taking up his mother's passion in genealogy, has done extensive research on the family, according to Monty's biographer Patricia Bosworth. In 1967 Brooks was in a movie called "Vice Girls, Ltd". In an article dated 20 Aug 1975 in the Anderson Daily Bulletin by syndicated columnist Dorothy Manners she states that Brooks "a resident of Atlanta, Ga. with mostly TV commercials to his credit" did a good screen test and landed the part of a white baseball team owner who is the first to sign a black player in the 1930s. The Universal picture was called "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings", the executive producer was stated to be "boss of Motown" Berry Gordy.

Actor, motion picture and television director and producer.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 28 2022, 19:52:51 UTC