Gary Cooper (bornFrank James Cooper; May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent screen persona and understated acting style. He won theAcademy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, as well as anAcademy Honorary Award in 1961 for his career achievements. He was one of the top-10 film personalities for 23 consecutive years and one of the top money-making stars for 18 years. TheAmerican Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper at number11 on its list of the50 greatest screen legends.
Cooper's career spanned 36 years, from 1925 to 1961, and included leading roles in 84 feature films. He was a major movie star from the end of thesilent film era through to the end of the golden age ofclassical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to both men and women, and his range included roles in most major film genres. His ability to project his own personality onto the characters he played contributed to his natural and authentic appearance on screen. Throughout his career, he sustained a screen persona that represented the ideal American hero.
Cooper began his career as a filmextra andstunt rider, but soon landed acting roles. After establishing himself as a Western hero in his earlysilent films, he became a movie star with his first sound picture, playing the title role in 1929'sThe Virginian. In the early 1930s, he expanded his heroic image to include more cautious characters in adventure films and dramas such asA Farewell to Arms (1932) andThe Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935). During the height of his career, Cooper portrayed a new type of hero, a champion of the common man in films such asMr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936),Meet John Doe (1941),Sergeant York (1941),The Pride of the Yankees (1942), andFor Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). He later portrayed more mature characters at odds with the world in films such asThe Fountainhead (1949) andHigh Noon (1952). In his final films, he played nonviolent characters searching for redemption in films such asFriendly Persuasion (1956) andMan of the West (1958).
Frank James Cooper was born inHelena, Montana, on May 7, 1901, the younger of two sons ofEnglish immigrant parents Alice (née Brazier) andCharles Henry Cooper .[2] His brother, Arthur, was six years his senior. Cooper's father came fromHoughton Regis, Bedfordshire, England[3] and became a prominent lawyer, rancher, andMontana Supreme Court justice.[4] His mother hailed fromGillingham, Kent, England, and married Charles in Montana.[5] In 1906, Charles purchased the 600-acre (240 ha) Seven-Bar-Nine cattle ranch,[6][7] about fifty miles (80 km) north of Helena, nearCraig.[8] Cooper and Arthur spent their summers at the ranch and learned to ride horses, hunt and fish.[9][10] Cooper attended Central Grade School in Helena.[11]
Alice wanted their sons to have a British education, so she took them back to the United Kingdom in 1909 to enroll them inDunstable Grammar School inDunstable, England. While there, Cooper and his brother lived with their father's cousins, William and Emily Barton, at their home in Houghton Regis.[12][13] Cooper studied Latin, French and English history at Dunstable until 1912.[14] While he adapted to English school discipline and learned the requisite social graces, he never adjusted to the formalEton collars he was required to wear.[15] He received hisconfirmation in theChurch of England at theChurch of All Saints in Houghton Regis on December 3, 1911.[16][17] His mother accompanied their sons back to the U.S. in August 1912 and Cooper resumed his education in Montana, at Johnson Grammar School in Helena.[11]
At age fifteen, Cooper injured his hip in a car accident. On his doctor's recommendation, he returned to the Seven-Bar-Nine ranch to recuperate with horseback riding.[18] The misguided therapy left Cooper with his characteristic stiff, off-balanced walk and slightly angled horse-riding style.[19] He leftHelena High School after two years in 1918 and returned to the family ranch to work full-time as a cowboy.[19] In 1919, his father arranged for his son to attendGallatin County High School inBozeman,[20][21] where English teacher Ida Davis encouraged him to focus on academics and participate in debating and dramatics.[21][22] Cooper later called Davis "the woman partly responsible for [his] giving up cowboy-ing and going to college".[22]
In 1922, to continue his art education, Cooper enrolled inGrinnell College inGrinnell, Iowa. He did well academically in most of his courses[24] but was not accepted into the school's drama club.[24] His drawings and watercolor paintings were exhibited throughout the dormitory and he was named art editor for the college yearbook.[25] During the summers of 1922 and 1923, Cooper worked atYellowstone National Park as a tour guide driving the yellow open-top buses.[26][27] Despite a promising first 18 months at Grinnell, he left college suddenly in February 1924, spent a month inChicago looking for work as an artist, and then returned to Helena,[28] where he sold editorial cartoons to the localIndependent newspaper.[29]
In autumn 1924, Cooper's father left the state supreme court bench and moved with his wife toLos Angeles to administer the estates of two relatives,[30][31] and Cooper joined his parents there in November at his father's request.[30] After briefly working a series of unpromising jobs, he met two friends from Montana,[32][33] who were working as filmextras andstunt riders in low-budgetWestern films for the small movie studios onPoverty Row.[34] They introduced him to another Montana cowboy, rodeo champion Jay "Slim" Talbot, who took him to see a casting director.[32] Wanting money for a professional art course,[30] Cooper worked as a film extra for five dollars a day and as a stunt rider for $10. Cooper and Talbot became close friends and hunting companions; Talbot later worked as Cooper's stuntman and stand-in for over three decades.[34]
In early 1925, Cooper began his film career in silent pictures such asThe Thundering Herd andWild Horse Mesa withJack Holt,[35]Riders of the Purple Sage andThe Lucky Horseshoe withTom Mix,[36][37] andThe Trail Rider withBuck Jones.[36] He worked for several Poverty Row studios, but also the already emergentmajor studios,Famous Players–Lasky andFox Film Corporation.[38] While his skilled horsemanship led to steady work in Westerns, Cooper found the stunt work, which sometimes injured horses and riders, "tough and cruel".[35] Hoping to move beyond the risky stunt work and obtain acting roles, Cooper paid for a screen test and hired casting director Nan Collins to work as his agent.[39] Knowing that other actors were using the name "Frank Cooper", Collins suggested he change his first name to "Gary" after her hometown ofGary, Indiana.[40][41][42] Cooper immediately liked the name.[43][Note 1]
Cooper also found work in a variety of non-Western films, appearing, for example, as a maskedCossack inThe Eagle (1925), as a Roman guard inBen-Hur (1925), and as a flood survivor inThe Johnstown Flood (1926).[36] Gradually, he began to land credited roles that offered him more screen time, in films such asTricks (1925), in which he played the film'santagonist, and theshort filmLightnin' Wins (1926).[45] As a featured player, he began to attract the attention of major film studios.[46] On June 1, 1926, Cooper signed a contract withSamuel Goldwyn Productions for $50 a week.[47]
Cooper's first important film role was a supporting part inThe Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) starringRonald Colman andVilma Bánky,[47] in which he plays a young engineer who helps a rival suitor save the woman he loves and her town from an impending dam disaster.[48] Cooper's experience living among the Montana cowboys gave his performance an "instinctive authenticity", according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers.[49] The film was a major success.[50] Critics singled out Cooper as a "dynamic new personality" and future star.[51][52] Goldwyn rushed to offer Cooper a long-term contract, but he held out for a better deal – a five-year contract withJesse L. Lasky atParamount Pictures for $175 a week.[51] In 1927, with help fromClara Bow, Cooper landed high-profile roles inChildren of Divorce andWings (both 1927), the latter being the first film to win anAcademy Award forBest Picture.[53] That year, Cooper also appeared in his first starring roles inArizona Bound andNevada, both films directed byJohn Waters.[54]
Paramount paired Cooper withFay Wray inThe Legion of the Condemned andThe First Kiss (both 1928), advertising them as the studio's "glorious young lovers".[55] Their on-screen chemistry failed to generate much excitement with audiences.[55][56][57] With each new film, Cooper's acting skills improved and his popularity continued to grow, especially among female movie-goers.[57] During this time, he was earning as much as $2,750 per film[58] and receiving 1,000 fan letters a week.[59] Looking to exploit Cooper's growing audience appeal, the studio placed him opposite popular leading ladies such asEvelyn Brent inBeau Sabreur,Florence Vidor inDoomsday, andEsther Ralston inHalf a Bride (all 1928).[60] Around the same time, Cooper madeLilac Time (1928) withColleen Moore forFirst National Pictures, his first movie with synchronized music and sound effects. It became one of the most commercially successful films of 1928.[60]
Cooper became a major movie star in 1929 playing the lead role in his first talking picture,The Virginian (1929), which was directed byVictor Fleming and co-starredMary Brian andWalter Huston. Based on the popularnovel byOwen Wister,The Virginian was one of the first sound films to define the Western code of honor and helped establish many of the conventions of the Western movie genre that persist to the present day.[61] According to biographerJeffrey Meyers, the romantic image of the tall, handsome, and shy cowboy hero who embodied male freedom, courage, and honor was created in large part by Cooper in the film.[62] Unlike some silent-film actors who had trouble adapting to the new sound medium, Cooper transitioned naturally, with his "deep and clear" and "pleasantly drawling" voice, which perfectly suited the characters he portrayed on screen.[63] Looking to capitalize on Cooper's growing popularity, Paramount cast him in several Westerns andwartime dramas, includingOnly the Brave,The Texan,Seven Days' Leave,A Man from Wyoming, andThe Spoilers (all released in 1930).[64]Norman Rockwell depicted Cooper in his role asThe Texan for the cover ofThe Saturday Evening Post on May 24, 1930.[65]
One of the most important performances in Cooper's early career was his portrayal of a sullenlegionnaire inJosef von Sternberg's filmMorocco (also 1930)[66] withMarlene Dietrich in her introduction to American audiences.[67] During production, von Sternberg focused his energies on Dietrich and treated Cooper dismissively.[67] Tensions came to a head after von Sternberg yelled directions at Cooper in German. The 6-foot-3-inch (191 cm) actor approached the 5-foot-4-inch (163 cm) director, picked him up by the collar, and said, "If you expect to work in this country, you'd better get on to the language we use here."[68][69] Despite the tensions on the set, Cooper produced "one of his best performances", according to Thornton Delehanty of theNew York Evening Post.[70]
During his time abroad, Cooper stayed with the Countess Dorothydi Frasso, the former Dorothy Cadwell Taylor, at theVilla Madama in Rome, where she taught him about good food and vintage wines, how to read Italian and French menus, and how to socialize among Europe's nobility and upper classes.[78] After guiding him through the great art museums and galleries of Italy,[78] she accompanied him on a 10-weekbig-game hunting safari on the slopes ofMount Kenya in East Africa,[79] where he was credited with more than 60 kills, including two lions, a rhinoceros, and various antelopes.[80][81] His safari experience in Africa had a profound influence on Cooper and intensified his love of the wilderness.[81] After returning to Europe, the countess and he set off on a Mediterranean cruise of theItalian andFrench Rivieras.[82] Rested and rejuvenated by his year-long exile, a healthy Cooper returned to Hollywood in April 1932[83] and negotiated a new contract with Paramount for two films per year, a salary of $4,000 a week, and director and script approval.[84]
In 1932, after completingDevil and the Deep withTallulah Bankhead to fulfill his old contract,[85] Cooper appeared inA Farewell to Arms,[86] the first film adaptation of anErnest Hemingway novel.[87] Co-starringHelen Hayes, a leading New York theatre star and Academy Award winner,[88] andAdolphe Menjou, the film presented Cooper with one of his most ambitious and challenging dramatic roles,[88] playing an American ambulance driver wounded in Italy, who falls in love with an English nurse during World War I.[86] Critics praised his highly intense and emotional performance,[89][90] and the film became one of the year's most commercially successful pictures.[88] In 1933, after makingToday We Live withJoan Crawford andOne Sunday Afternoon with Fay Wray, Cooper appeared in theErnst Lubitschcomedy filmDesign for Living, based on the successfulNoël Coward play.[91][92] Co-starringMiriam Hopkins andFredric March, the film was a box-office success,[93] ranking as one of the top-10 highest-grossing films of 1933. All three of the lead actors – March, Cooper, and Hopkins – received attention from this film, as they were all at the peak of their careers. Cooper's performance, as an American artist in Europe competing with his playwright friend for the affections of a beautiful woman, was singled out for its versatility[94] and revealed his genuine ability to do light comedy.[95] Cooper changed his name legally to "Gary Cooper" in August 1933.[96]
Back at Paramount, Cooper appeared in his first of seven films by directorHenry Hathaway,[99]Now and Forever, with Carole Lombard andShirley Temple.[100] In the film, he plays a confidence man who tries to sell his daughter to the relatives who raised her, but is eventually won over by the adorable girl.[101] Impressed by Temple's intelligence and charm, Cooper developed a close rapport with her, both on and off screen.[99][Note 2] The film was a box-office success.[98]
In 1935, Cooper was lent to Samuel Goldwyn Productions to appear inKing Vidor'sromance filmThe Wedding Night withAnna Sten,[102] who was being groomed as "anotherGarbo".[103][104] In the film, Cooper plays an alcoholic novelist who retreats to his family's New England farm, where he meets and falls in love with a beautiful Polish neighbor.[102] Cooper delivered a performance of surprising range and depth, according to biographer Larry Swindell.[105] Despite receiving generally favorable reviews,[106] the film was not popular with American audiences, who may have been offended by the film's depiction of an extramarital affair and its tragic ending.[105]
Also in 1935, Cooper appeared in two Henry Hathaway films: themelodramaPeter Ibbetson withAnn Harding, about a man caught up in a dream world created by his love for a childhood sweetheart,[107] and theadventure filmThe Lives of a Bengal Lancer, about a daring British officer and his men who defend their stronghold atBengal against rebellious local tribes.[108] While the former, championed by thesurrealists[109] became more successful in Europe than in the United States, the latter was nominated for seven Academy Awards[110] and became one of Cooper's most popular and successful adventure films.[111][112] Hathaway had the highest respect for Cooper's acting ability, calling him "the best actor of all of them".[99]
Cooper's career took an important turn in 1936.[113] After makingFrank Borzage'sromantic comedy filmDesire with Marlene Dietrich at Paramount, in which he delivered a performance considered by some contemporary critics as one of his finest,[113] Cooper returned to Poverty Row for the first time since his early silent-film days to makeFrank Capra'sMr. Deeds Goes to Town withJean Arthur forColumbia Pictures.[114] In the film, Cooper plays Longfellow Deeds, a quiet, innocent writer of greeting cards who inherits a fortune, leaves behind his idyllic life in Vermont, and travels to New York City, where he faces a world of corruption and deceit.[115] Capra and screenwriterRobert Riskin were able to use Cooper's well-established screen persona as the "quintessential American hero"[113] – a symbol of honesty, courage, and goodness[116][117][118] – to create a new type of "folk hero" for the common man.[113][119] Commenting on Cooper's impact on the character and the film, Capra observed:[120]
As soon as I thought of Gary Cooper, it wasn't possible to conceive anyone else in the role. He could not have been any closer to my idea of Longfellow Deeds, and as soon as he could think in terms of Cooper, Bob Riskin found it easier to develop the Deeds character in terms of dialogue. So it just had to be Cooper. Every line in his face spelled honesty. Our Mr. Deeds had to symbolize incorruptibility, and in my mind Gary Cooper was that symbol.
BothDesire andMr. Deeds opened in April 1936 to critical praise and were major box-office successes.[121] In his review inThe New York Times,Frank Nugent wrote that Cooper was "proving himself one of the best light comedians in Hollywood".[122] For his performance inMr. Deeds, Cooper received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.[123]
InCecil B. DeMille's sprawling frontier epicThe Plainsman, his first of four films with the director, Cooper portraysWild Bill Hickok in a highly fictionalized version of the opening of the American western frontier.[127] The film was an even greater box-office hit than its predecessor,[128] due in large part to Jean Arthur's definitive depiction ofCalamity Jane and Cooper's inspired portrayal of Hickok as an enigmatic figure of "deepening mythic substance".[129] That year, Cooper appeared for the first time on theMotion Picture Herald exhibitor's poll of top-10 film personalities, where he remained for the next 23 years.[130]
In late 1936, Paramount was preparing a new contract for Cooper that would raise his salary to $8,000 a week,[131] when Cooper signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn for six films over six years with a minimum guarantee of $150,000 per picture.[132] Paramount brought suit against Goldwyn and Cooper, and the court ruled that Cooper's new Goldwyn contract afforded the actor sufficient time to also honor his Paramount agreement.[133] Cooper continued to make films with both studios, and by 1939, theUnited States Treasury reported that Cooper was the country's highest wage earner, at $482,819 (equivalent to $10.91million in 2024).[132][134][135]
In contrast to his output the previous year, Cooper appeared in only one picture in 1937, Henry Hathaway's adventure filmSouls at Sea.[136] A critical and box-office failure,[137] Cooper referred to it as his "almost picture", saying, "It was almost exciting, and almost interesting. And I was almost good."[137] In 1938, he appeared inArchie Mayo's biographical filmThe Adventures of Marco Polo.[138] Plagued by production problems and a weak screenplay,[139] the film became Goldwyn's biggest failure to date, losing $700,000.[140] During this period, Cooper turned down several important roles,[141] including the role ofRhett Butler inGone with the Wind.[142] Cooper was producerDavid O. Selznick's first choice for the part.[142] He made several overtures to the actor,[143] but Cooper had doubts about the project,[143] and did not feel suited to the role.[130] Cooper later admitted, "It was one of the best roles ever offered in Hollywood... But I said no. I didn't see myself as quite that dashing, and later, when I saw Clark Gable play the role to perfection, I knew I was right."[130][Note 3]
Back at Paramount, Cooper returned to a more comfortable genre inErnst Lubitsch's romantic comedyBluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) with Claudette Colbert.[140][146] In the film, Cooper plays a wealthy American businessman in France who falls in love with an impoverished aristocrat's daughter and persuades her to become his eighth wife.[147] Despite the clever screenplay byCharles Brackett andBilly Wilder,[148] and solid performances by Cooper and Colbert,[146] American audiences had trouble accepting Cooper in the role of a shallow philanderer. It succeeded only at the European box-office market.[148]
In the fall of 1938, Cooper appeared inH. C. Potter's romantic comedyThe Cowboy and the Lady withMerle Oberon, about a sweet-natured rodeo cowboy who falls in love with the wealthy daughter of a presidential hopeful, believing her to be a poor, hard-working lady's maid.[149] The efforts of three directors and several eminent screenwriters could not salvage what could have been a fine vehicle for Cooper.[150] While more successful than its predecessor, the film was Cooper's fourth consecutive box-office failure in the American market.[151]
In the next two years, Cooper was more discerning about the roles he accepted and made four successful large-scale adventure and cowboy films.[151] InWilliam A. Wellman's adventure filmBeau Geste (1939), he plays one of three daring English brothers who join the French Foreign Legion in theSahara to fight local tribes.[152] Filmed in the sameMojave Desert locations as the original1926 version with Ronald Colman,[151][153]Beau Geste provided Cooper with magnificent sets, exotic settings, high-spirited action, and a role tailored to his personality and screen persona.[154] This was the last film in Cooper's contract with Paramount.[154]
In Henry Hathaway'sThe Real Glory (1939), he plays a military doctor who accompanies a small group of American Army officers to the Philippines to help the Christian Filipinos defend themselves against Muslim radicals.[155] Many film critics praised Cooper's performance, including author and film criticGraham Greene, who recognized that he "never acted better".[156]
FromThe Westerner toFor Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940–1943
Cooper returned to the Western genre inWilliam Wyler'sThe Westerner (1940) withWalter Brennan andDoris Davenport, about a drifting cowboy who defends homesteaders againstRoy Bean, a corrupt judge known as the "law west of thePecos".[156][157] ScreenwriterNiven Busch relied on Cooper's extensive knowledge ofWestern history while working on the script.[158] The film received positive reviews and did well at the box office,[159] with reviewers praising the performances of the two lead actors.[160] That same year, Cooper appeared in his first all-Technicolor feature,[161] Cecil B. DeMille's adventure filmNorth West Mounted Police (1940).[162][Note 4] In the film, Cooper plays aTexas Ranger who pursues an outlaw into western Canada, where he joins forces with theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police who are after the same man, a leader of theNorth-West Rebellion.[164] While not as popular with critics as its predecessor,[165] the film was another box-office success, the sixth-highest grossing film of 1940.[159][166]
The early 1940s were Cooper's prime years as an actor.[167] In a relatively short period, he appeared in five critically successful and popular films that produced some of his finest performances.[167] When Frank Capra offered him the lead role inMeet John Doe beforeRobert Riskin even developed the script, Cooper accepted his friend's offer, saying, "It's okay, Frank, I don't need a script."[168] In the film, Cooper plays Long John Willoughby, a down-and-out bush-league pitcher hired by a newspaper to pretend to be a man who promises to commit suicide on Christmas Eve to protest all the hypocrisy and corruption in the country.[169] Considered by some critics to be Capra's best film at the time,[170]Meet John Doe was received as a "national event"[170] with Cooper appearing on the front cover ofTime on March 3, 1941.[171] In his review in theNew York Herald Tribune, Howard Barnes called Cooper's performance a "splendid and utterly persuasive portrayal"[172] and praised his "utterly realistic acting which comes through with such authority".[171]Bosley Crowther, inThe New York Times, wrote, "Gary Cooper, of course, is 'John Doe' to the life and in the whole – shy, bewildered, nonaggressive, but a veritable tiger when aroused."[173]
Joan Fontaine and Cooper at the Academy Awards, 1942
That same year, Cooper made two films with director and good friendHoward Hawks.[174] In the biographical filmSergeant York, Cooper portrays war heroAlvin C. York,[175] one of the most decorated American soldiers in World WarI.[176] The film chronicles York's early backwoods days inTennessee, his religious conversion and subsequent piety, his stand as a conscientious objector, and finally his heroic actions at theBattle of the Argonne Forest, which earned him theMedal of Honor.[175][177] Initially, Cooper was nervous and uncertain about playing a living hero, so he traveled to Tennessee to visit York at his home, and the two quiet men established an immediate rapport and discovered they had much in common.[178] Inspired by York's encouragement, Cooper delivered a performance that Howard Barnes of theNew York Herald Tribune called "one of extraordinary conviction and versatility", and that Archer Winston of theNew York Post called "one of his best".[179] After the film's release, Cooper was awarded the Distinguished Citizenship Medal by theVeterans of Foreign Wars for his "powerful contribution to the promotion of patriotism and loyalty".[180] York admired Cooper's performance and helped promote the film forWarner Bros.[181]Sergeant York became the top-grossing film of the year and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards.[180][182] Accepting his first Academy Award for Best Actor from his friendJames Stewart, Cooper said, "It was Sergeant Alvin York who won this award. Shucks, I've been in the business 16 years and sometimes dreamed I might get one of these. That's all I can say... Funny when I was dreaming I always made a better speech."[182]
Cooper concluded the year back at Goldwyn with Howard Hawks to make the romantic comedyBall of Fire withBarbara Stanwyck.[183] In the film, Cooper plays a shy linguistics professor who leads a team of seven scholars who are writing an encyclopedia. While researching slang, he meets Stanwyck's flirtatious burlesque stripper Sugarpuss O'Shea who blows the dust off their staid life of books.[184] The screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder provided Cooper the opportunity to exercise the full range of his light comedy skills.[184] In his review for theNew York Herald Tribune, Howard Barnes wrote that Cooper handled the role with "great skill and comic emphasis" and that his performance was "utterly delightful".[185] Though small in scale,Ball of Fire was one of the top-grossing films of the year[186] and Cooper's fourth consecutive picture to make the top 20.[186]
Cooper's only film appearance in 1942 was also his last under his Goldwyn contract.[187] InSam Wood's biographical filmThe Pride of the Yankees,[188] Cooper portrays baseball starLou Gehrig, who established a record with theNew York Yankees for playing in 2,130 consecutive games.[189] Cooper was reluctant to play the seven-timeAll-Star, who had died only the previous year fromALS (now commonly called "Lou Gehrig's disease").[190] Beyond the challenges of effectively portraying such a popular and nationally recognized figure, Cooper knew very little about baseball[191] and was not left-handed like Gehrig.[190]
After Gehrig's widow visited the actor and expressed her desire that he portray her husband,[190] Cooper accepted the role that covered a 20-year span of Gehrig's life: his early love of baseball, his rise to greatness, his loving marriage, and his struggle with illness, culminating in his farewell speech atYankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, before 62,000 fans.[192] Cooper quickly learned the physical movements of a baseball player and developed a fluid, believable swing.[193] Thehandedness issue was solved by reversing the print for certain batting scenes.[194] The film was one of the year's top-10 pictures[195] and received 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Cooper's third).[196]
Soon after the publication of Ernest Hemingway's novelFor Whom the Bell Tolls, Paramount paid $150,000 for the film rights with the express intent of casting Cooper in the lead role of Robert Jordan,[197] an American explosives expert who fights alongside theRepublican loyalists during theSpanish Civil War.[198] The original director, Cecil B. DeMille, was replaced by Sam Wood, who brought inDudley Nichols for the screenplay.[197] After the start of principal photography in theSierra Nevada in late 1942,Ingrid Bergman was brought in to replace ballerinaVera Zorina as the female lead, a change supported by Cooper and Hemingway.[199] The love scenes between Bergman and Cooper were "rapturous" and passionate.[200][201] Howard Barnes in theNew York Herald Tribune wrote that both actors performed with "the true stature and authority of stars".[202] While the film distorted the novel's original political themes and meaning,[203][204]For Whom the Bell Tolls was a critical and commercial success and received 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Cooper's fourth).[201]
Cooper signing an autograph for a servicewoman inBrisbane during his tour of the South West Pacific, November 1943
Due to his age and health, Cooper did not serve in the military during World War II,[167] but like many of his colleagues, he got involved in thewar effort by entertaining the troops.[195] In June 1943, he visited military hospitals in San Diego,[195] and often appeared at theHollywood Canteen serving food to the Servicemen.[205] In late 1943, Cooper undertook a 23,000-mile (37,000 km) tour of theSouth West Pacific with actressesUna Merkel andPhyllis Brooks and accordionist Andy Arcari.[195][205][206]
The group often shared the same sparse living conditions and K-rations as the troops.[208] Cooper met with the servicemen and women, visited military hospitals, introduced his attractive colleagues and participated in occasional skits.[208] The shows concluded with Cooper's moving recitation of Lou Gehrig's farewell speech.[208] When he returned to the United States, he visited military hospitals throughout the country.[208] Cooper later called his time with the troops the "greatest emotional experience" of his life.[206]
In 1944, Cooper appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's wartime adventure filmThe Story of Dr. Wassell withLaraine Day – his third movie with the director.[209] In the film, Cooper plays American doctor and missionaryCorydon M. Wassell, who leads a group of wounded sailors through the jungles of Java to safety.[210] Despite receiving poor reviews,Dr. Wassell was one of the top-grossing films of the year.[211] With his Goldwyn and Paramount contracts now concluded, Cooper decided to remain independent and formed his own production company, International Pictures, withLeo Spitz,William Goetz, andNunnally Johnson.[212] The fledgling studio's first offering was Sam Wood's romantic comedyCasanova Brown withTeresa Wright, about a man who learns his soon-to-be ex-wife is pregnant with his child, just as he is about to marry another woman.[213] The film received poor reviews,[214] with theNew York Daily News calling it "delightful nonsense",[215] and Bosley Crowther, inThe New York Times, criticizing Cooper's "somewhat obvious and ridiculous clowning".[216] The film was barely profitable.[217]
In 1945, Cooper starred in and producedStuart Heisler's Western comedyAlong Came Jones withLoretta Young for International.[218] In this lighthearted parody of his past heroic image,[219] Cooper plays comically inept cowboy Melody Jones, who is mistaken for a ruthless killer.[219] Audiences embraced Cooper's character, and the film was one of the top box-office pictures of the year – a testament to Cooper's still vital audience appeal.[220] It was also International's biggest financial success during its brief history before being sold off toUniversal Studios in 1946.[221]
Cooper's career during the postwar years drifted in new directions as American society was changing. While he still played conventional heroic roles, his films now relied less on his heroic screen persona and more on novel stories and exotic settings.[222] In November 1945, Cooper appeared in Sam Wood's 19th-century period dramaSaratoga Trunk with Ingrid Bergman, about a Texas cowboy and his relationship with a beautiful fortune hunter.[223] Filmed in early 1943, the movie's release was delayed for two years due to the increased demand for war movies.[224] Despite poor reviews,Saratoga Trunk did well at the box office[225] and became one of the top moneymakers of the year for Warner Bros.[226] Cooper's only film in 1946 wasFritz Lang's romantic thrillerCloak and Dagger, about a mild-mannered physics professor recruited by theOffice of Strategic Services during the last years of World War II to investigate the German atomic-bomb program.[227] Playing a part loosely based on physicistJ. Robert Oppenheimer, Cooper was uneasy with the role and unable to convey the "inner sense" of the character.[228] The film received poor reviews and was a box-office failure.[229] In 1947, Cooper appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's epic adventure filmUnconquered withPaulette Goddard, about a Virginia militiaman who defends settlers against an unscrupulous gun trader and hostile Indians on the Western frontier during the 18th century.[230] The film received mixed reviews, but even long-time DeMille criticJames Agee acknowledged the picture had "some authentic flavor of the period".[231] This last of four films made with DeMille was Cooper's most lucrative, earning the actor over $300,000 (equal to $4,224,590 today) in salary and percentage of profits.[232]Unconquered was his last unqualified box-office success for the next five years.[231]
In 1948, after makingLeo McCarey's romantic comedyGood Sam,[233] Cooper sold his company to Universal Studios and signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. that gave him script and director approval and a guaranteed $295,000 (equal to $3,860,741 today) per picture.[234] His first film under the new contract was King Vidor's dramaThe Fountainhead (1949) withPatricia Neal andRaymond Massey.[235] In the film, Cooper plays an idealistic and uncompromising architect who struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism in the face of societal pressures to conform to popular standards.[236] Based on thenovel byAyn Rand, who also wrote the screenplay, the film reflects her philosophy and attacks the concepts ofcollectivism while promoting the virtues ofindividualism.[237] For most critics, Cooper was hopelessly miscast in the role of Howard Roark.[238] In his review forThe New York Times,Bosley Crowther concluded he was "Mr. Deeds out of his element".[239] Cooper returned to his element inDelmer Daves' war dramaTask Force (1949), about a retiringrear admiral, who reminisces about his long career as anaval aviator and his role in the development of aircraft carriers.[240] Cooper's performance and the Technicolor newsreel footage supplied by the United States Navy made the film one of Cooper's most popular during this period.[241] In the next two years, Cooper made four poorly received films:Michael Curtiz' period dramaBright Leaf (1950), Stuart Heisler's Western melodramaDallas (1950), Henry Hathaway's wartime comedyYou're in the Navy Now (1951), andRaoul Walsh's Western action filmDistant Drums (1951).[242]
Cooper's most important film during the postwar years wasFred Zinnemann's Western dramaHigh Noon (1952) withGrace Kelly andKaty Jurado forUnited Artists.[243] In the film, Cooper plays retiring sheriffWill Kane, who is preparing to leave town on hishoneymoon when he learns that an outlaw he helped put away and his three henchmen are returning to seek their revenge. Unable to gain the support of the frightened townspeople, and abandoned by his young bride, Kane nevertheless stays to face the outlaws alone.[244] During the filming, Cooper was in poor health and in considerable pain from stomach ulcers.[245] His ravaged face and discomfort in some scenes "photographed as self-doubt", according to biographer Hector Arce,[246] and contributed to the effectiveness of his performance.[245] Considered one of the first "adult" Westerns for its theme of moral courage,[247]High Noon received enthusiastic reviews for its artistry, withTime placing it in the ranks ofStagecoach andThe Gunfighter.[248] Bosley Crowther, inThe New York Times, wrote that Cooper was "at the top of his form",[249] and John McCarten, inThe New Yorker, wrote that Cooper was never more effective.[250] The film earned $3.75million in the United States[248] and $18million worldwide.[251] Following the example of his friend James Stewart,[252] Cooper accepted a lower salary in exchange for a percentage of the profits, and ended up making $600,000.[251] Cooper's understated performance was widely praised,[246][250] and earned him his second Academy Award for Best Actor.[253][Note 5]
After appearing inAndre de Toth's Civil War dramaSpringfield Rifle (1952)[255] – a standard Warner Bros. film that was overshadowed by the success of its predecessor[256] – Cooper made four films outside the United States.[257] InMark Robson's dramaReturn to Paradise (1953), Cooper plays an American wanderer who liberates the inhabitants of aPolynesian island from the puritanical rule of a misguided pastor.[258] Cooper endured spartan living conditions, long hours, and ill health during the three-month location shoot on the island ofUpolu inWestern Samoa.[259] Despite its beautiful cinematography, the film received poor reviews.[260] Cooper's next three films were shot in Mexico.[257] InHugo Fregonese's action adventure filmBlowing Wild (1953) with Barbara Stanwyck, he plays awildcatter in Mexico, who gets involved with an oil-company executive and his unscrupulous wife with whom he once had an affair.[261]
In 1954, Cooper appeared in Henry Hathaway's Western dramaGarden of Evil, withSusan Hayward, about three soldiers of fortune in Mexico hired to rescue a woman's husband.[262] That same year, he appeared inRobert Aldrich's Western adventureVera Cruz withBurt Lancaster. In the film, Cooper plays an American adventurer hired by EmperorMaximilianI to escort a countess toVera Cruz during theMexican Rebellion of 1866.[263] All these films received poor reviews, but did well at the box office.[264] For his work inVera Cruz, Cooper earned $1.4million in salary and a percentage of the gross.[265]
During this period, Cooper struggled with health problems. He suffered a severe shoulder injury during the filming ofBlowing Wild when he was hit by metal fragments from a dynamited oil well, as well as his ongoing treatment for ulcers.[265] During the filming ofVera Cruz, he reinjured his hip by falling from a horse, and was burned when Lancaster fired his rifle too close and the wadding from the blank shell pierced his clothing.[265]
Cooper appeared inOtto Preminger's 1955 biographical war dramaThe Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, about theWorld WarI general who tried to convince government officials of the importance of air power, and was court-martialed after blaming the War Department for a series of air disasters.[266] Some critics felt Cooper was miscast,[267] and that his dull, tight-lipped performance did not reflect Mitchell's dynamic and caustic personality.[268] In 1956, Cooper was more effective playing a gentle IndianaQuaker inWilliam Wyler's Civil War dramaFriendly Persuasion withDorothy McGuire.[269] LikeSergeant York andHigh Noon, the film addresses the conflict between religious pacifism and civic duty.[270] For his performance, Cooper received his second Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor.[271] The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, was awarded thePalme d'Or at the1957 Cannes Film Festival, and went on to earn $8million worldwide.[270][272]
Cooper traveled to France in 1956 to make Billy Wilder's romantic comedyLove in the Afternoon withAudrey Hepburn andMaurice Chevalier.[273] In the film, Cooper plays a middle-aged American playboy in Paris who is pursued by—and eventually falls in love with—a much younger woman.[274] Despite receiving some positive reviews, including from Bosley Crowther, who praised the film's "charming performances",[275] most reviewers concluded that Cooper was simply too old for the part.[276] While audiences may not have welcomed seeing Cooper's heroic screen image tarnished by his playing an agingroué having an affair with a young girl, the film was still a box-office success.[276] The following year, Cooper appeared inPhilip Dunne's romantic dramaTen North Frederick.[277] In the film, which was based on thenovel byJohn O'Hara,[278] Cooper plays an attorney whose life is ruined by a double-crossing politician and his own secret affair with his daughter's young roommate.[277] While Cooper brought "conviction and controlled anguish" to his performance, according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers,[278] it was not enough to save what Bosley Crowther called a "hapless film".[279]
Despite his ongoing health problems and several operations for ulcers andhernias, Cooper continued to work in action films.[280] In 1958, he appeared inAnthony Mann's Western dramaMan of the West (1958) withJulie London andLee J. Cobb, about a reformed outlaw and killer who is forced to confront his violent past when the train in which he is riding is held up by his former gang members.[281] The film has been called Cooper's "most pathological Western", with its themes of impotent rage, sexual humiliation, and sadism.[278] According to biographer Jeffrey Meyers, Cooper, who struggled with moral conflicts in his personal life, "understood the anguish of a character striving to retain his integrity... [and] brought authentic feeling to the role of a tempted and tormented, yet essentially decent man".[282] Mostly ignored by critics at the time, the film is now well-regarded by film scholars[283] and is considered Cooper's last great film.[279]
After his Warner Bros. contract ended, Cooper formed his own production company, Baroda Productions, and made three unusual films in 1959 about redemption.[284] In Delmer Daves' Western dramaThe Hanging Tree, Cooper plays a frontier doctor who saves a criminal from a lynch mob, and later tries to exploit his sordid past.[285] Cooper delivered a "powerful and persuasive" performance of an emotionally scarred man whose need to dominate others is transformed by the love and sacrifice of a woman.[286] InRobert Rossen's historical adventureThey Came to Cordura withRita Hayworth, he plays an army officer who is found guilty of cowardice and assigned the degrading task of recommending soldiers for the Medal of Honor during thePancho Villa Expedition of 1916.[287] While Cooper received positive reviews,Variety andFilms in Review felt he was too old for the part.[288]
InMichael Anderson's action dramaThe Wreck of the Mary Deare withCharlton Heston, Cooper plays a disgraced merchant-marine officer who decides to stay aboard his sinking cargo ship to prove the vessel was deliberately scuttled and to redeem his good name.[289] Like its two predecessors, the film was physically demanding.[290] Cooper, who was a trained scuba diver, did most of his own underwater scenes.[290] Biographer Jeffrey Meyers observed that in all three roles Cooper effectively conveyed the sense of lost honor and desire for redemption[291] – whatJoseph Conrad inLord Jim called the "struggles of an individual trying to save from the fire his idea of what his moral identity should be".[291][292]
Cooper was formally introduced to his future wife, 20-year-old New YorkdebutanteVeronica Balfe,[Note 6] on Easter Sunday 1933 at a party given by her uncle, art directorCedric Gibbons.[294][295][296] Called "Rocky" by her family and friends, she grew up onPark Avenue and attendedfinishing schools.[297] Her stepfather was Wall Street tycoonPaul Shields.[297] Cooper and Rocky were quietly married at her parents' Park Avenue residence on December 15, 1933.[298] According to his friends, the marriage had a positive impact on Cooper, who turned away from past indiscretions and took control of his life.[299] Athletic and a lover of the outdoors, Rocky shared many of Cooper's interests, including riding, skiing, and skeet-shooting.[300] While she organized their social life, her wealth and social connections provided Cooper access to New York high society.[301] Cooper and his wife owned homes in the Los Angeles area inEncino (1933–36),[299]Brentwood (1936–53),[299] andHolmby Hills (1954–61),[302] and owned a vacation home inAspen, Colorado (1949–53).[303][Note 7]
Gary and Veronica Cooper's daughter, Maria Veronica Cooper, was born on September 15, 1937.[304] By all accounts, he was a patient and affectionate father, teaching Maria to ride a bicycle, play tennis, ski, and ride horses.[304] Sharing many of her parents' interests, she accompanied them on their travels and was often photographed with them.[304] Like her father, she developed a love for art and drawing.[305][Note 8] As a family, they vacationed together inSun Valley, Idaho, spent time at Rocky's parents' country house inSouthampton, New York, and took frequent trips to Europe.[301] Cooper and Rocky were legally separated on May 16, 1951, when Cooper moved out of their home.[306] For over two years, they maintained a fragile and uneasy family life with their daughter.[307] Cooper moved back into their home in November 1953,[308][309] and their formal reconciliation occurred in February 1954.[265]
Prior to his marriage, Cooper had a series of romantic relationships with leading actresses, beginning in 1927 withClara Bow, who advanced his career by helping him get one of his first leading roles inChildren of Divorce.[310][Note 9] Bow was also responsible for getting Cooper a role inWings, which generated an enormous amount of fan mail for the young actor.[314] In 1928, he had a relationship with another experienced actress,Evelyn Brent, whom he met while filmingBeau Sabreur.[315] In 1929, while filmingThe Wolf Song, Cooper began an intense affair withLupe Vélez, which was the most important romance of his early life.[316] During their two years together, Cooper also had brief affairs withMarlene Dietrich while filmingMorocco in 1930[317] and withCarole Lombard while makingI Take This Woman in 1931.[318] During his year abroad in 1931–32, Cooper had an affair with the married Countess Dorothy di Frasso, the former Dorothy Cadwell Taylor, while staying at herVilla Madama near Rome.[78]
After he was married in December 1933, Cooper remained faithful to his wife until the summer of 1942, when he began an affair withIngrid Bergman during the production ofFor Whom the Bell Tolls.[319] Their relationship lasted through the completion of filmingSaratoga Trunk in June 1943.[320] In 1948, after finishing work onThe Fountainhead, Cooper began an affair withPatricia Neal, his co-star.[321] At first, they kept their affair discreet, but eventually it became an open secret in Hollywood, and Cooper's wife confronted him with the rumors, which he admitted were true. He also confessed that he was in love with Neal, and continued to see her.[322][323] Cooper and his wife were legally separated in May 1951,[306] but he did not seek a divorce.[324] Neal later claimed that Cooper hit her after she went on a date withKirk Douglas, and that he arranged for her to have an abortion when she became pregnant with Cooper's child.[325] Neal ended their relationship in late December 1951.[326] During his three-year separation from his wife, Cooper was rumored to have had affairs withGrace Kelly,[327] Lorraine Chanel,[328] andGisèle Pascal.[329]
Cooper biographers have explored his relationship in the late '20s with the actorAnderson Lawler, with whom Cooper shared a house on and off for a year, while at the same time seeing Clara Bow, Evelyn Brent, and Lupe Vélez.[330][331][332][333] Vélez once toldHedda Hopper of Lawler's alleged affair with Cooper; whenever he would come home after seeing Lawler, she would sniff for Lawler's cologne.[334] Vélez's biographerMichelle Vogel wrote that Vélez consented to Cooper's alleged sexual behavior with Lawler, but only as long as she, too, could participate.[335]
In later life, Cooper became involved with costume designerIrene, and was, according to her, "the only man she ever loved". A year after his death in 1961, Irene committed suicide by jumping from the 11th floor of theKnickerbocker Hotel, after tellingDoris Day of her grief over Cooper's death.[336][page needed]
... the really satisfying things I do are offered me, free, for nothing. Ever go out in the fall and do a little hunting? See the frost on the grass and the leaves turning? Spend a day in the hills alone, or with good companions? Watch a sunset and a moonrise? Notice a bird in the wind? A stream in the woods, a storm at sea, cross the country by train, and catch a glimpse of something beautiful in the desert, or the farmlands? Free to everybody...
Cooper's 20-year friendship withErnest Hemingway began atSun Valley in October 1940.[338] The previous year, Hemingway drew upon Cooper's image when he created the character of Robert Jordan for the novelFor Whom the Bell Tolls.[339] The two shared a passion for the outdoors,[338] and for years they hunted duck and pheasant, and skied together in Sun Valley. Both men admired the work ofRudyard Kipling--Cooper kept a copy of the poem "If—" in his dressing room--and retained as adults Kipling's sense of boyish adventure.[340]
As well as admiring Cooper's hunting skills and knowledge of the outdoors, Hemingway believed his character matched his screen persona,[338] once telling a friend, "If you made up a character like Coop, nobody would believe it. He's just too good to be true."[340] They saw each other often, and their friendship remained strong through the years.[341][Note 10]
Cooper's social life generally centered on sports, outdoor activities, and dinner parties with his family and friends from the film industry, including directors Henry Hathaway, Howard Hawks, William Wellman, and Fred Zinnemann, and actors Joel McCrea, James Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck, and Robert Taylor.[343][344][345] Cooper, in addition to hunting, enjoyed riding, fishing, skiing, and later in life, scuba diving.[346][347] He never abandoned his early love for art and drawing, and over the years, he and his wife acquired a private collection of modern paintings, including works byPierre-Auguste Renoir,Paul Gauguin, andGeorgia O'Keeffe.[348] Cooper owned several works byPablo Picasso, whom he met in 1956.[348] Cooper also had a lifelong passion for automobiles, with a collection that included a 1930Duesenberg.[349][350]
Cooper was naturally reserved and introspective, and loved the solitude of outdoor activities.[351] Not unlike his screen persona, his communication style frequently consisted of long silences[351] with an occasional "yup" and "shucks".[352][353] He once said, "If others have more interesting things to say than I have, I keep quiet."[354] According to his friends, Cooper could also be an articulate, well-informed conversationalist on topics ranging from horses, guns, and Western history to film production, sports cars, and modern art.[354] He was modest and unpretentious,[351] frequently downplaying his acting abilities and career accomplishments.[355] His friends and colleagues described him as charming, well-mannered, and thoughtful, with a lively, boyish sense of humor.[354] Cooper maintained a sense of propriety throughout his career and never misused his movie-star status; he never sought special treatment or refused to work with a director or leading lady.[356] His close friend Joel McCrea recalled, "Coop never fought, he never got mad, he never told anybody off that I know of; everybody [who] worked with him liked him."[356]
Like his father, Cooper was aconservativeRepublican; he voted forCalvin Coolidge in 1924 andHerbert Hoover in 1928 and 1932, and campaigned forWendell Willkie in 1940.[234] WhenFranklin D. Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented fourth presidential term in 1944, Cooper campaigned forThomas E. Dewey and criticized Roosevelt for being dishonest and adopting "foreign" ideas.[357] In a radio address he had paid for himself just before the election,[357] Cooper said, "I disagree with theNew Deal belief that the America all of us love is old and worn-out and finished – and has to borrow foreign notions that don't even seem to work any too well where they come from... Our country is a young country that just has to make up its mind to be itself again."[357][358] He also attended a Republican rally at theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum that drew 93,000 Dewey supporters.[359] In 1952, Cooper, along withJohn Wayne,Adolphe Menjou andGlenn Ford, supportedRobert A. Taft overDwight D. Eisenhower in the Republican primaries.[360][361]
Cooper recounted statements he had heard suggesting the Constitution was out of date and that Congress was an unnecessary institution, comments which Cooper said he found to be "very un-American", and testified that he had rejected several scripts because he thought they were "tinged with communist ideas".[365] Unlike some other witnesses, Cooper did not name any individuals or scripts.[365][366]
In 1951, while makingHigh Noon, Cooper befriended the film's screenwriter,Carl Foreman, who had been a member of the Communist Party. When Foreman was subpoenaed by the HUAC, Cooper put his career on the line to defend Foreman. When John Wayne and others threatened Cooper with blacklisting himself and the loss of his passport if he did not walk off the film, Cooper gave a statement to the press in support of Foreman, calling him "the finest kind of American". When producerStanley Kramer removed Foreman's name as screenwriter, Cooper and director Fred Zinnemann threatened to walk off the film if Foreman's name were not restored. Foreman later said that of all his friends and allies and colleagues in Hollywood, "Cooper was the only big one who tried to help. The only one."[367] Cooper even offered to testify on Foreman's behalf before the committee, but character witnesses were not allowed. Foreman always sent future scripts to Cooper for first refusal, includingThe Bridge on the River Kwai,The Key, andThe Guns of Navarone. Cooper had to turn them down because of his age.[368]
Cooper was baptized in theChurch of All Saints, Houghton Regis, in Bedfordshire, England, in December 1911,[16] and was raised in theEpiscopal Church in the United States.[369] While he was not an observant Christian for most of his adult life, many of his friends believed he had a deeply spiritual side.[370]
On June 26, 1953, Cooper accompanied his wife and daughter, who were devoutCatholics, to Rome, where they had an audience withPope Pius XII.[371][372] Cooper and his wife were still separated at the time, but the papal visit marked the beginning of their gradual reconciliation.[373] In the following years, Cooper contemplated his mortality and his personal behavior, and started discussingCatholicism with his family.[370][371][374] He began attending church with them regularly, and met with their parish priest, who offered Cooper spiritual guidance.[370][374] After several months of study, Cooper was baptized as a Catholic on April 9, 1959, before a small group of family and friends at theChurch of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.[369][374]
Cooper's grave in Sacred Hearts Cemetery in Southampton, New York
Cooper was diagnosed withprostate cancer in 1960. On April 14, 1960, Cooper underwent surgery atMassachusetts General Hospital in Boston as the cancermetastasized to his colon.[375] He fell ill again on May 13 and underwent further surgery at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles in early June to remove a malignant tumor from his large intestine.[375] After recuperating over the summer, Cooper took his family on vacation to the south of France[376] before traveling to the UK in the fall to star inThe Naked Edge.[375] In December 1960, he worked on the NBC television documentaryThe Real West,[377] which was part of the company'sProject 20 series.[378][Note 11]
On December 27, his wife learned from their family doctor that Cooper's cancer hadmetastasized to his lungs and bones and was inoperable.[380] His family decided not to tell him immediately.[381]
On January 9, 1961, Cooper attended a dinner given in his honor and hosted byFrank Sinatra andDean Martin at theFriars Club.[377] The dinner was attended by many of his industry friends[382] and concluded with a brief speech by Cooper, who said, "The only achievement I'm proud of is the friends I've made in this community."[383]
In mid-January, Cooper took his family to Sun Valley for their last vacation together.[381] Cooper andErnest Hemingway hiked through the snow together for the last time.[384] On February 27, after returning to Los Angeles, Cooper learned that he was dying.[385] He later told his family, "We'll pray for a miracle; but if not, and that's God's will, that's all right, too."[386] On April 17, Cooper watched the Academy Awards ceremony on television and saw his good friendJames Stewart, who had presented Cooper with his first Oscar years earlier, accept on Cooper's behalf an honorary award for lifetime achievement – his third Oscar.[387] Holding back tears, Stewart said, "Coop, I'll get this to you right away. And Coop, I want you to know this, that with this goes all the warm friendship and the affection and the admiration and the deep, the deep respect of all of us. We're very, very proud of you, Coop. All of us are tremendously proud."[387][Note 12] The following day, newspapers around the world announced that Cooper was dying.[341] In the coming days, he received numerous messages of appreciation and encouragement, including telegrams fromPope John XXIII[389] and QueenElizabeth II,[352][389] and a telephone call from PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.[352][389]
In his last public statement on May 4, 1961, Cooper said, "I know that what is happening is God's will. I am not afraid of the future."[390] He received thelast rites on Friday, May 12, and died quietly the next day.[391]
Naturalness is hard [for me] to talk about, but I guess it boils down to this: you find out what people expect of your type of character and then you give them what they want. That way, an actor never seems unnatural or affected, no matter what role he plays.[397]
Cooper's acting style consisted of three essential characteristics - his ability to project elements of his own personality onto the characters he portrayed, to appear natural and authentic in his roles, and to underplay and deliver restrained performances calibrated for the camera and the screen. Acting teacherLee Strasberg once observed: "The simplest examples ofStanislavsky's ideas are actors such as Gary Cooper, John Wayne, andSpencer Tracy. They try not to act, but to be themselves, to respond or react. They refuse to say or do anything they feel not to be consonant with their own characters."[181] Film directorFrançois Truffaut ranked Cooper among "the greatest actors" because of his ability to deliver great performances "without direction".[181] This ability to project elements of his own personality onto his characters produced a continuity across his performances to the extent that critics and audiences were convinced he was simply "playing himself".[398]
Cooper's ability to project his personality onto his characters played an important part in his appearing natural and authentic on screen. ActorJohn Barrymore said of Cooper, "This fellow is the world's greatest actor. He does without effort what the rest of us spend our lives trying to learn – namely, to be natural."[88]Charles Laughton, who played opposite Cooper inDevil and the Deep agreed, "In truth, that boy hasn't the least idea how well he acts... He gets at it from the inside, from his own clear way of looking at life."[88] William Wyler, who directed Cooper in two films, called him a "superb actor, a master of movie acting".[399]
In his review of Cooper's performance inThe Real Glory,Graham Greene wrote, "Sometimes his lean photogenic face seems to leave everything to the lens, but there is no question here of his not acting. Watch him inoculate the girl against cholera – the casual jab of the needle, and the dressing slapped on while he talks, as though a thousand arms had taught him where to stab and he doesn't have to think anymore."[88]
Cooper's style of underplaying before the camera surprised many of his directors and fellow actors. Even in his earliest feature films, he recognized the camera's ability to pick up slight gestures and facial movements.[400] Commenting on Cooper's performance inSergeant York, director Howard Hawks observed, "He worked very hard and yet he didn't seem to be working. He was a strange actor because you'd look at him during a scene and you'd think... this isn't going to be any good. But when you saw therushes in the projection room the next day you could read in his face all the things he'd been thinking."[174] Sam Wood, who directed Cooper in four films, had similar observations about Cooper's performance inPride of the Yankees, noting, "What I thought was underplaying turned out to be just the right approach. On the screen he's perfect, yet on the set you'd swear it's the worst job of acting in the history of motion pictures."[401]
Fellow actors admired his abilities as an actor. Commenting on her two films playing opposite Cooper, actress Ingrid Bergman concluded, "The personality of this man was so enormous, so overpowering – and that expression in his eyes and his face, it was so delicate and so underplayed. You just didn't notice it until you saw it on the screen. I thought he was marvelous; the most underplaying and the most natural actor I ever worked with."[200]
Tom Hanks declared, "In only one scene in the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, we see the future of screen acting in the form of Gary Cooper. He is quiet and natural, somehow different from the other cast members. He does something mysterious with his eyes and shoulders that is much more like 'being' than 'acting'."[402]
Daniel Day-Lewis said, "I don't particularly like westerns as a genre, but I do love certain westerns.High Noon means a lot to me – I love the purity and the honesty, I love Gary Cooper in that film, the idea of the last man standing."[403]
Chris Pratt stated, "I started watching Westerns when I was shooting in London about four or five years ago. I really fell in love with Gary Cooper, and his stuff. That sucked me into the Westerns. Before, I never got engrossed in the story. I'd just dip in, and there were guys on horses in black and white.High Noon's later Gary Cooper, I liked that. But I likedThe Westerner. That's my favorite one. I have that poster hung up in my house because I really like that one."[404]
ToAl Pacino, "Gary Cooper was a phenomenon – his ability to take some thing and elevate it, give it such dignity. One of the great presences."[405]
Mylène Demongeot first met Gary Cooper at the opening of the firstescalator to be installed in a cinema, at theRex Theatre inParis, on June 7, 1957. She declared in a 2015 filmed interview: "Gary Cooper... il est sublime ! Aaahhh(Mylène pushing a cry of love not to say ecstasy) il est sublime... Ah ! Ah ! Ah ! Là je dois dire que ça fait partie des stars, y'a Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, John Wayne, ces grands Américains que j'ai rencontrés comme ça, c'est vraiment des mecs incroyables. Y'en a plus des comme ça ! Euh non. (Gary Cooper was sublime, there I have to say, now he, was part of the stars, Gary Cooper,Cary Grant, John Wayne, those greatAmericans who I've met really were unbelievable guys, there aren't any like them anymore)."[406]
Cooper's career spanned thirty-six years, from 1925 to 1961.[407] During that time he appeared in eighty-four feature films in a leading role.[408] He was a major movie star from the end of thesilent film era to the end of the golden age ofClassical Hollywood. His natural and authentic acting style appealed powerfully to both men and women,[409] and his range of performances included roles in most major movie genres, including Westerns, war films, adventure films, drama films, crime films, romance films, comedy films, and romantic comedy films. He appeared on theMotion Picture Herald exhibitor's poll of top ten film personalities for twenty-three consecutive years, from 1936 to 1958.[130] According to Quigley's annual poll, Cooper was one of the top money-making stars for eighteen years, appearing in the top ten in 1936–37, 1941–49, and 1951–57.[410] He topped the list in 1953.[410] In Quigley's list of all-time money-making stars, Cooper is listed fourth, after John Wayne,Clint Eastwood, andTom Cruise.[410] At the time of his death, it was estimated that his films grossed well over $200million[407] (equivalent to $2.1billion in 2024).
In more than half his feature films, Cooper portrayed Westerners, soldiers, pilots, sailors, and explorers, all men of action.[398] In the rest, he played a wide range of characters, included doctors, professors, artists, architects, clerks, and baseball players.[398] Cooper's heroic screen image changed with each period of his career.[411] In his early films, he played the young naive hero sure of his moral position and trusting in the triumph of simple virtues (The Virginian).[411] After becoming a major star, his Western screen persona was replaced by a more cautious hero in adventure films and dramas (A Farewell to Arms).[411] During the height of his career, from 1936 to 1943, he played a new type of hero: a champion of the common man willing to sacrifice himself for others (Mr. Deeds,Meet John Doe, andFor Whom the Bell Tolls).[411]
In the postwar years, Cooper attempted broader variations on his screen image, which now reflected a hero increasingly at odds with the world, who must face adversity alone (The Fountainhead andHigh Noon).[412] In his final films, Cooper's hero rejects the violence of the past, and seeks to reclaim lost honor and find redemption (Friendly Persuasion andMan of the West).[413] The screen persona he developed and sustained throughout his career represented the ideal American hero – a tall, handsome, and sincere man of steadfast integrity[414] who emphasized action over intellect, and combined the heroic qualities of the romantic lover, the adventurer, and the common man.[415]
On February 6, 1960, Cooper was awarded a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to the film industry.[416] He was also awarded a star on the sidewalk outside the Ellen Theater in Bozeman, Montana.[417]
On May 6, 1961, Cooper was awarded the FrenchOrder of Arts and Letters in recognition of his significant contribution to the arts.[377] On July 30, 1961, he was posthumously awarded theDavid di Donatello Special Award in Italy for his career achievements.[418]
More than half a century after his death, Cooper's enduring legacy, according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers, is his image of the ideal American hero preserved in his film performances.[424]Charlton Heston once observed, "He projected the kind of man Americans would like to be, probably more than any actor that's ever lived."[425]
In the 1930s hit song "Puttin' On the Ritz", Cooper is referenced in the line "dress up like a million-dollar trooper/Tryin' hard to look like Gary Cooper, Super duper!" More than two decades after Cooper's death, a new version of the song was released in 1983 byTaco; the original lyrics were kept, including the references to Cooper.
Gary Cooper is referenced several times in the critically acclaimed television seriesThe Sopranos, with protagonistTony Soprano asking, "Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type..." whilst complaining about his problems to his therapistDr. Melfi.[426]
^Cooper's popularity is largely responsible for that of the given nameGary from the 1930s to the present day.[44]
^Cooper bought the child actress toys and taught her how to draw using colored pencils during setups. He found it mildly irritating to be corrected by the five-year-old, who knew everyone's lines.[99]
^John Wayne accepted the Oscar for Cooper, who was out of the country at the time, saying, "Coop and I have been friends, hunting and fishing, for more years than I like to remember. He's one of the nicest fellows I know. I don't know anybody any nicer."[254]
^After their wedding, Cooper and his wife lived on a 10-acre (4.0 ha) ranch at 4723 White Oak Avenue in Encino, from 1933 to 1936.[299] In 1936, they built a large white Bermuda-Georgian house at 11940 Chaparal in Brentwood, where they lived from 1936 to 1953.[299]In 1948, they purchased 15 acres (6.1 ha) of land in Aspen, Colorado, and built a four-bedroom house, where they vacationed from 1949 to 1953.[303] In July 1953, they began building a lavish, 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) mansion on 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) of land at 200 North Baroda Drive in Holmby Hills, a modernistic four-bedroom house with an open floor plan, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a sculpted garden.[302] They lived there from September 1954 until his death.[302]
^Maria attended theChouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles for four years and became an artist, with exhibitions in Los Angeles and New York.[305]
^Cooper and Bow began their affair during the production of one of her most popular films,It (1927), for which she had the studio film an extra scene that included Cooper.[311]During the "It girl" publicity campaign,[312] columnists started referring to Cooper as the "It boy".[313]
^In March 1961, Cooper traveled to New York to record the off-camera narration for the documentary – his last work as an actor.[379]
^The award dedication read, "To Gary Cooper for his many memorable screen performances and the international recognition he, as an individual, has gained for the motion picture industry."[388]
^Hemingway was too ill to attend the funeral.[393] He took his own life on July 2, 1961, less than two months after Cooper died.[393]
^"The 1st Academy Awards, 1929". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. October 8, 2014.Archived from the original on January 27, 2015. RetrievedJanuary 5, 2015.
^Johnson, G. Allen. A young Gary Cooper, the French Surrealists and the ethereal world ofPeter Ibbetson available on Blu-Ray. August 10, 2021, Updated: August 25, 2021, 4:28 pm.
^Nugent, Frank S. (April 17, 1936)."Mr. Deeds Goes to Town".The New York Times.Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. RetrievedDecember 18, 2014.
^ab"The 9th Academy Awards, 1937".Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. RetrievedJanuary 5, 2015.
^Crowther, Bosley (September 15, 1944)."'Casanova Brown' ..."The New York Times.Archived from the original on January 18, 2015. RetrievedJanuary 18, 2015.
^"The 16th Academy Awards, 1944". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. October 5, 2014.Archived from the original on May 2, 2015. RetrievedJanuary 5, 2015.
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