---
name: "Richard Brooks"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/richard-brooks-3632"
roles: ["Writer","Director"]
born: "18 May 1912"
died: "11 March 1992"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T03:47:20.009653+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Richard Brooks

Writer and director. Born 18 May 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Died 11 March 1992.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Director
- **Born:** 18 May 1912, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- **Died:** 11 March 1992
- **Active:** 1947–1960
- **Also known as:** Ruben Sax , Ричард Брукс, Reuben Sax
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 directing, 1 writing
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 7 nominated)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1940s 77 (1), 1960s 78 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Brooks, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q434342, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0112218/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3632

## Streaming the US now

- **Pluto TV:** [*Elmer Gantry*](https://film.one/film/elmer-gantry.md) (78)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Richard Brooks

> Richard Brooks took big American novels and made them into loud, decent, well-built films that never trust the audience to notice a point without being told. At his best, with Burt Lancaster in *Elmer Gantry*, the telling hardly matters.

Watch the first sermon in *Elmer Gantry* (1960). Burt Lancaster gives it uninvited, from the floor of Sister Sharon Falconer's tent, arms out and teeth bared, leaning in as if he means to climb over the rail. Richard Brooks lets us see the wheels turning, and we laughed, and then noticed we had leaned forward. A scene or two later, somebody tells us what we have just watched. That is Brooks in one film: a gift for a big room and a crowd turning, and a habit of underlining it afterwards.

He came to films through journalism and radio, and through a novel. *The Brick Foxhole*, written while he was in the Marines, was about the murder of a homosexual man; when Edward Dmytryk filmed it as *Crossfire* (1947) the victim became a Jew, because one prejudice could be named on screen and the other could not. What survived was the mood, soldiers with nothing to do drinking through the evenings, and a taste for hard subjects that Brooks kept for the rest of his career. He wrote noirs for Mark Hellinger, *Brute Force* (1947) and *Key Largo* (1948), directed his first film, *Crisis*, at MGM in 1950, and broke through with *Blackboard Jungle* (1955). After that he mostly took on other people's books: Tennessee Williams in *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* (1958), Sinclair Lewis in *Elmer Gantry*, Truman Capote in *In Cold Blood* (1967).

He was good with actors who could fill a room. Lancaster made three films with him, and *Elmer Gantry* gives him the part of his life, a fraud having a wonderful time whose pleasure is catching. The trouble is that Brooks the screenwriter did not trust Brooks the director. Lefferts is handed speeches that explain what we have just seen; the converts are played for laughs and then offered up for our sympathy; the second half turns to melodrama and the satire thins. *The Brothers Karamazov* (1958) has the same reputation, a large book made literal, and *Lord Jim* (1965) is generally counted a misfire. Brooks wanted control of script, cutting and direction, and got it, which meant nobody was left to tell him that a point made once does not need making again.

And yet the most tender thing in any film with his name on it is a speech in *Crossfire*, given by Sam Levene's Samuels in a single flashback, to a stranger, about men who have fought for years and do not know what to do with a quiet night. It moved us more than we expected, because Levene says it kindly and we already know what is going to happen to him. Brooks did not direct that one; it is his book in someone else's hands, and it does not stop to explain itself. Start with *Elmer Gantry* for Lancaster and *Crossfire* for that scene, and forgive the second half of the first, which will not stop explaining.

## Biography

Richard Brooks (born Reuben Sax, 18 May 1912 – 11 March 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director and novelist. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he attended Temple University before working as a journalist and radio commentator. He served in the US Marine Corps during the Second World War and wrote the novel The Brick Foxhole (1945), which was adapted as the film Crossfire (1947).

Brooks began directing feature films in 1950. His notable credits as writer and director include Blackboard Jungle (1955), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Elmer Gantry (1960), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, The Professionals (1966) and In Cold Blood (1967). He received eight Academy Award nominations in total and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Directed (1)

- *Elmer Gantry* (1960), Fi1m 78, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/elmer-gantry.md)

### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these

- *Crossfire* (1947), Fi1m 77, Novel — [page](https://film.one/film/crossfire.md)

## Complete filmography (44)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *MGM: When the Lion Roars* (1992), series, Actor
- *A Special Friendship* (1987), as Matt Bowser
- *Fever Pitch* (1985), Writer, Director
- *Wrong Is Right* (1982), Writer, Director, Producer
- *Hill Street Blues* (1981), series, as Tyrone Crane — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/hill-street-blues.md)
- *Looking for Mr. Goodbar* (1977), Director, Screenplay
- *Bite the Bullet* (1975), Writer, Director, Producer
- *$* (1971), Director, Writer
- *The Happy Ending* (1969), Producer, Director, Writer
- *In Cold Blood* (1967), Director, Screenplay
- *The Professionals* (1966), Producer, Director, Screenplay
- *Lord Jim* (1965), Director, Producer, Writer
- *Sweet Bird of Youth* (1962), Director, Screenplay
- *Elmer Gantry* (1960), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/elmer-gantry.md)
- *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* (1958), Director, Screenplay
- *The Brothers Karamazov* (1958), Director, Writer
- *Something of Value* (1957), Director, Screenplay
- *The Catered Affair* (1956), Director
- *The Last Hunt* (1956), Director, Writer
- *Blackboard Jungle* (1955), Director, Screenplay
- *The Last Time I Saw Paris* (1954), Director, Screenplay
- *Flame and the Flesh* (1954), Director
- *Take the High Ground!* (1953), Director
- *Battle Circus* (1953), Writer, Director
- *Deadline - U.S.A.* (1952), Director, Writer
- *The Light Touch* (1951), Director, Screenplay
- *Storm Warning* (1951), Writer
- *Crisis* (1950), Director, Writer
- *Mystery Street* (1950), Screenplay
- *Any Number Can Play* (1949), Screenplay
- *To the Victor* (1948), Writer
- *Key Largo* (1948), Screenplay
- *Crossfire* (1947), Novel — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/crossfire.md)
- *Brute Force* (1947), Screenplay
- *Swell Guy* (1946), Writer
- *The Killers* (1946), Writer, Additional Writing
- *Cobra Woman* (1944), Screenplay
- *My Best Gal* (1944), Story
- *Return to Guam* (1944), Director
- *With the Marines at Tarawa* (1944), Director
- *White Savage* (1943), Screenplay
- *Don Winslow of the Coast Guard* (1943), Additional Dialogue
- *Sin Town* (1942), Additional Dialogue
- *Men of Texas* (1942), Screenplay

## Gallery

- ![Richard Brooks, an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and occasional film producer. (1986)](https://film.one/media/person/1235728/gallery-dd33ff62a8a3.jpg) Richard Brooks, an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and occasional film producer. (1986) — Roland Godefroy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Richard_Brooks_%28director%29.JPG/1280px-Richard_Brooks_%28director%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Collectie / Archief : Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie : [ onbekend ] Beschrijving : Filmpremiere in Du Midi, "In Koelen Bloede" ("In Cold Blood") naar het (1968)](https://film.one/media/person/1235728/gallery-03e1b0caa52e.jpg) Collectie / Archief : Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie : [ onbekend ] Beschrijving : Filmpremiere in Du Midi, "In Koelen Bloede" ("In Cold Blood") naar het (1968) — Eric Koch for Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Filmpremiere_in_Du_Midi%2C_In_Koelen_Bloede_%28In_Cold_Blood%29_naar_het_boek_van_%2C_Bestanddeelnr_921-1638.jpg/1280px-Filmpremiere_in_Du_Midi%2C_In_Koelen_Bloede_%28In_Cold_Blood%29_naar_het_boek_van_%2C_Bestanddeelnr_921-1638.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Collectie / Archief : Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie : [ onbekend ] Beschrijving : Aankomst schrijver Truman Capote (links) en regisseur Richard Brooks o (1968)](https://film.one/media/person/1235728/gallery-c5c615702bfe.jpg) Collectie / Archief : Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie : [ onbekend ] Beschrijving : Aankomst schrijver Truman Capote (links) en regisseur Richard Brooks o (1968) — Eric Koch for Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Aankomst_schrijver_Truman_Capote_%28links%29_en_regisseur_Richard_Brooks_op_Schiphol%2C_Bestanddeelnr_921-1633.jpg/1280px-Aankomst_schrijver_Truman_Capote_%28links%29_en_regisseur_Richard_Brooks_op_Schiphol%2C_Bestanddeelnr_921-1633.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Collectie / Archief : Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie : [ onbekend ] Beschrijving : Aankomst schrijver Truman Capote (links) en regisseur Richard Brooks o (1968)](https://film.one/media/person/1235728/gallery-0c719a6995d0.jpg) Collectie / Archief : Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie : [ onbekend ] Beschrijving : Aankomst schrijver Truman Capote (links) en regisseur Richard Brooks o (1968) — Eric Koch for Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Aankomst_schrijver_Truman_Capote_%28links%29_en_regisseur_Richard_Brooks_op_Schiphol%2C_Bestanddeelnr_921-1634.jpg/1280px-Aankomst_schrijver_Truman_Capote_%28links%29_en_regisseur_Richard_Brooks_op_Schiphol%2C_Bestanddeelnr_921-1634.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Richard Brooks](https://film.one/media/person/1235728/gallery-b371c60f9975.jpg) Richard Brooks — Image via TMDB
- ![Richard Brooks](https://film.one/media/person/1235728/gallery-5b80ed9ff603.jpg) Richard Brooks — Image via TMDB
- ![Collectie / Archief : Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie : [ onbekend ] Beschrijving : Aankomst schrijver Truman Capote (links) en regisseur Richard Brooks o (1968)](https://film.one/media/person/1235728/gallery-88cb46242632.jpg) Collectie / Archief : Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie : [ onbekend ] Beschrijving : Aankomst schrijver Truman Capote (links) en regisseur Richard Brooks o (1968) — Eric Koch for Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Aankomst_schrijver_Truman_Capote_%28links%29_en_regisseur_Richard_Brooks_op_Schiphol%2C_Bestanddeelnr_921-1631.jpg/1280px-Aankomst_schrijver_Truman_Capote_%28links%29_en_regisseur_Richard_Brooks_op_Schiphol%2C_Bestanddeelnr_921-1631.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 7 nominated

- 1968: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *In Cold Blood*
- 1968: Best Director (nominated), for *In Cold Blood*
- 1967: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Professionals*
- 1967: Best Director (nominated), for *The Professionals*
- 1961: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won), for *Elmer Gantry*
- 1959: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof*
- 1959: Best Director (nominated), for *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof*
- 1956: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Blackboard Jungle*

### Other awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director 1986: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director (nominated), for *Fever Pitch*
- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay 1986: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay (nominated), for *Fever Pitch*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/richard-brooks-3632