Theodore Marley Brooks

Theodore Marley "Ham" Brooks is a fictional associate of the 1930s and 1940s pulp hero Doc Savage. Ham is a Harvard educated lawyer, one of the sharpest legal minds the university ever turned out. He is known for his love of fancy clothes, and is often ranked as one of the best dressed men in New York City. He always carries a black sword cane, the blade of which is coated with a knock-out chemical.

Ham loves to fight with his friend "Monk" Mayfair, another of Doc Savage's associates. This began during World War I, when a practical joke of Ham's landed Monk in a military jail. Ham had taught Monk some insulting French words telling him they were compliments. Monk used them while speaking to a French General and got locked in the guard house. Shortly after that, Ham was framed for stealing a truckload of hams, which is how he got his insulting nickname. Ham was able to beat the rap, but the fact that he never was able to prove that Monk was behind this has always been a source of irritation for the lawyer.

In the novel "The Dust of Death", Ham found an anthropoid of unknown species in Central America. Noting its resemblance to Monk, he adopted it as a pet and named it "Chemistry," in honor of his rival's profession.

In the 1942 novel "The Too-Wise Owl" we learn that Ham had an older half-brother Oliver Brooks who was a British subject living in southern Africa employed as an actor. Ham did not know his half-brother very well. Oliver Brooks was killed at the beginning of the story and we learn almost nothing about him.

In the 1975 film , he was played by Darrell Zwerling.