Brooke Adams was born on February 8, 1949 in New York City, to Rosalind (Gould), an actress, and Robert K. Adams, a former CBS vice president. She is of English and German descent, and is said to be related to President John Adams. She was educated at the prestigious High School for the Performing Arts and the School of the American Ballet. Starting her career on the stage while still a juvenile, her film career took off when she became an adult with a well-received performance, opposite Richard Gere and Sam Shepard, in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven (1978). Although she has starred in Philip Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and repeated her off-Broadway role in the film version of Kevin Wade's romantic comedy Key Exchange (1985), her recent work has gotten sidetracked to mostly horror films and supernatural thrillers. In 1995, she retired from acting because of family responsibilities and a dearth of good roles, resuming her career in 2002. Adams most recently appeared in the films At Last (2005) and The Legend of Lucy Keyes (2005), starred on Broadway in "The Cherry Orchard and "Lend Me a Tenor", and guest-starred on the television series Monk (2002).