Hildy Brooks

Hildy Brooks, born Hilda Blumgold on December 29, 1934, is an American actress whose career spanned Broadway, film, and television across several decades. She performed on Broadway under the name Hilda Brawner before adopting the stage name Hildy Brooks in 1964.

Her Broadway career ran from 1958 to 1970 and included productions such as Happiness Is Just a Little Thing Called a Rolls Royce, the play Inquest, Rape of the Belt, The Good Soup, and Sweet Bird of Youth. The last of these was a Tennessee Williams play directed by Elia Kazan.

Concurrent with her stage work, Brooks built a substantial television résumé. In 1960, she appeared in Sidney Lumet's videotaped production of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, broadcast as a two-part episode of Play of the Week, playing the role of Margie. She returned to the same role in John Frankenheimer's 1973 film adaptation of The Iceman Cometh. Also in 1960, she appeared in an episode of Route 66 and in the film One Plus One, both credited under the name Hilda Brawner. In 1961, she played the wife of a prison inmate — the inmate portrayed by Robert Duvall — in Reginald Rose's episode "Metamorphosis" for The Defenders. She appeared three times on Naked City, and in 1963 took on roles in episodes of both The Guiding Light and The Nurses.

Following her name change to Hildy Brooks in 1964, she continued working in television throughout the following decades. In 1972, she played Eleanor Jordan in "A Very Strange Triangle," an episode of The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, and went on to guest-star in numerous television productions during the 1970s and 1980s. Her later credits include three episodes of Boston Legal between 2004 and 2007, one episode of ER in 2005, one episode of Cold Case in 2009, and a final credit in an episode of Nip/Tuck in 2010.

In April 1965 in New York City, Brooks married actor James Antonio, the elder brother of actor and director Lou Antonio.