Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress. A child model starting at the age of 11 months, Shields gained widespread notoriety at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film Pretty Baby (1978), in which she appeared in nude scenes shot when she was 11 years old. She continued to model into her late teenage years and starred in several dramas in the 1980s, including The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love (1981).
Shields in 1986
Shields aboard USS Midway during a USO tour on January 1, 1991
Shields at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival
Shields in 2008
Pretty Baby is a 1977 American historical drama film directed by Louis Malle, written by Polly Platt, and starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon. Set in 1917, it focuses on a 12-year-old girl being raised in a brothel in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans by her prostitute mother. Barbara Steele, Diana Scarwid, and Antonio Fargas appear in supporting roles. The film is based on the true account of a young girl who was sexually exploited by being forced into prostitution by her mother, a theme which was recounted in historian Al Rose's 1974 book Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red-Light District; it is also based on the life of photographer Ernest Bellocq, who photographed various New Orleans prostitutes in the early twentieth century. The title, Pretty Baby, is derived from the Tony Jackson song of the same name, which is featured on the film's soundtrack.
Theatrical release poster