Rand Brooks/Lucky Jenkins #2

Rand Brooks was a character actor of the 1930s, 1940s & 1950s. He portrayed Charles Hamilton, Scarlett O’Hara’s doomed husband in “Gone With the Wind” and acted as Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick, Lucky Jenkins, Cassidy’s sidekick in the last few Hoppy western films. His other best-known role was as Corporal Boone on TV’s “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin” series. He was a handsome man with wavy sandy hair, big eyes and thick full lips but in spite of his good looks was relegated to supporting roles. He despised the blandness and weakness of some of the characters he played and aspired to play more adventurous types but producers and directors ignored his pleas and he eventually quit acting. He did have a full career playing sidekicks and fascinating, if not heroic, characters. He was born on September 21, 1918 in St. Louis, Missouri the son of a wholesale jeweler with whom the family traveled quite often. In 1933 his father’s business went bankrupt and young Rand had to get a job to help support his mother and grandmother. He worked part time during high school (Beverly Hills H.S.) in a stock brokerage firm. After graduation he considered acting and made a screen test for MGM. It didn’t go over well but the studio kept him on and put him in a small role in “Love Finds Andy Hardy” (1938) with Mickey Rooney, as Young Man on Bandstand, his film debut. From there on he made over 100 films. Rand Brooks was at one time married to comedian Stan Laurel's daughter Lois, with whom he operated a successful emergency ambulance service.

 

 

 

 

 

Rand Brooks as Charles Hamilton in "Gone with the Wind" and Lucky Jenkins in Hopalong Cassidy.