Elisabeth Brooks

Elisabeth Brooks Luyties was born on July 2, 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Elisabeth Brooks began acting at age five with her career encompassing both stage and screen. She started appearing in television roles in the mid-1970s and managed to pursue her acting career as a single mother while working a variety of jobs to support herself and her son. She regularly appeared on the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives (1965), and in such popular television series as The Rockford Files (1974), Hart to Hart (1979), Starsky and Hutch (1975), The Six Million Dollar Man (1974) and Emergency! (1972). She is probably best remembered for her role as the villainess Marsha Quist in the horror film The Howling (1981), a role that brought her considerable notoriety within the genre. Brooks was not only a beautiful actress, but also an accomplished writer, poet and musician. She had a wonderful deep, sultry voice and can be heard singing briefly in the film The Forgotten One (1989) - a horror film she appeared with longtime friend Kristy McNichol. She and McNichol had separated, but McNichol came back to care for Brooks on her final days. Brooks was also known for her spirituality and her encouragement to others. She created her own production company and became an established acting coach. She wrote and produced plays that taught children about the environment, and how they could work with parents to improve their community. An example of this was "Orphan Dreams", which she directed first at Calabasas High School and again at Chamber Theatre in Studio City. Elisabeth Brooks, after a three-year struggle with cancer, died in a hospice near her Palm Springs, California home at age 46. As Gigi Bannister wrote in a Tribute to Elisabeth Brooks, "let it be said, Elisabeth Brooks was no quitter. She was a fighter... a true warrior to the end".