Shields, Brooke
Identification American model and actor
Born May 31, 1965; New York, New York
Shields was a 1980’s personality icon who gained fame as
a result of her modeling and acting career. Because of her
numerous magazine cover shots, she is considered to be one
of the most photographed supermodels of the twentieth
centur y.
During the early 1980’s, it seemed that Brooke
Shields was everywhere: She was on the cover of fash-
ion magazines, the subject of newspaper and maga-
zine articles, in advertisements, on talk shows, a
costar of several films, and the subject of several
books. Shields began her career as a child model,
progressing to film roles in the late 1970’s. Her con-
troversial appearance as a child prostitute in the
1976 filmPretty Babygenerated much media atten-
tion about her career, her mother, and her looks.
She starred in several well-known teen films, includ-
ingBlue Lagoon(1980), costarring Christopher At-
kins, andEndless Love(1981). She also appeared in
fourteen controversial television commercials for
Calvin Klein jeans that were censored
by several networks. The jean commer-
cials generated much notoriety for
Shields with their sensual photography
and her statement in one of the ads,
“You know what comes between me
and my Calvins? Nothing.”
Shields appeared in numerous Bob
Hope television specials and several of
theCircus of the Starstelevision shows.
In 1982, a Brooke Shields doll was mass
produced in her likeness, as were sev-
eral outfits for it. Because much of
Shields’s work seemed to exploit her
beauty, critics were quick to accuse her
mother and manager, Terri Shields, of
pushing Brooke to pursue a modeling
and acting career that was not in her
best interests when she was too young
to make her own decisions. Shields was
often noted as being likable and down-
to-earth despite her child star status.
She attended Princeton University
from 1983 to 1987, graduating with
honors and a degree in French litera-
ture. During her college years, she con-
tinued to act in films such asThe Muppets Take Man-
hattan(1984) andSahara(1984). After completing
college, she appeared in several made-for-television
movies. With few exceptions, many of her film and
modeling appearances seemed to exploit her sensu-
ality, yet she maintained a wholesomeness that en-
deared her to many. She received People’s Choice
Awards for Favorite Young Performer four years in a
row, from 1981 to 1984.
Impact Brooke Shields’s career as a child star served
as an example to others. Despite her fame and pub-
lic attention, she and her mother both worked hard
to ensure that her childhood and education would
be as normal and mainstream as possible. Her fame
and noted average lifestyle when not working, cou-
pled with her above-average intelligence, beauty,
and sensibility, made her an attractive role model to
many.
Further Reading
Bonderoff, Jason.Brooke.New York: Zebra Books,
1981.
Italia, Bob.Brooke Shields. Minneapolis: Abdo &
Daughters, 1992.872 Shields, Brooke The Eighties in America
Brooke Shields poses in a public service image in the mid-1980’s.(Hulton
Archive/Getty Images)