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Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was a two-time
Academy Award-winning American film actor of English heritage. His career spanned
from the 1920s until the year of his death, and saw him make one hundred films. He
was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic,
individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which
was particularly well suited for the many Westerns he made.
Cooper received five Oscar nominations for Best Actor, winning twice. He also
received an Honorary Award from the Academy in 1961. In 1999, the American Film
Institute named Cooper among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at No.
11.
 Childhood
Cooper was born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Montana, but as a child lived in
Dunstable, England, with his mother Alice, and elder brother Arthur Le Roy (1895 -
1982). The two boys attended Dunstable School, a Public School (this term is used
in England for a prestigious, and usually old, private school) between 1910 and
1913.
When he was thirteen years old he was injured in an automobile accident, and had to
move to his father's cattle ranch in Montana to recuperate, which is where he
gained his riding skills. During this time he became friendly with 10-year-old
Myrna Loy, who lived nearby. He attended Grinnell College and graduated in the
class of 1926.
Hollywood
In 1923 Cooper moved to San Andreas with the intention of becoming an artist for
advertisements, but was not very successful. After three months he became an extra
in the motion picture industry. A year later he had a chance at a real part in a
two-reeler with actress Eileen Sedgewick as his leading lady. After the release of
this short film he was called to Paramount Studios and offered a long-term
contract, which he accepted. He changed his name to Gary in 1925, following the
advice of his agent, who felt it evoked the "rough, tough" nature of Gary,
Indiana.
"Coop", as he was called by his peers, went on to appear in over 100 films. He
became a major star with his first sound picture, The Virginian, in 1929. In the
1939 film Gone with the Wind for the role of Rhett Butler, he was producer David O.
Selznick's first choice. When Cooper turned down the role, he was passionately
against it. He is quoted saying, "Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest
flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling flat on his
nose, not me". Alfred Hitchcock wanted him to star in Foreign Correspondent (1940)
and Saboteur (1942). Cooper later admitted he had made a "mistake" in turning down
the director, and for the former film Hitchcock cast look-alike Joel McCrea
instead.
In 1941, He won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as the title
character in Sergeant York. Alvin York, the soldier Cooper portrayed in Sergeant
York, refused to authorize a movie be made about his life unless Gary Cooper was
the actor who would portray him.
In 1952, Cooper won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as
Marshal Will Kane in High Noon, considered his finest role. He wasn't present to
receive his Academy Award in February 1953. He asked John Wayne to accept it on his
behalf.
Social
life
In October 1947, Cooper testified before the House Committee on Un-American
Activities, otherwise known as HUAC. Even though he did not name names, he was
considered a friendly witness. Although Cooper was politically conservative, his
vague, evasive statements have raised questions about his agreement with the
proceedings. His most famous film, High Noon, was intended as a statement against
the blacklist.
After high-profile love affairs with actresses Clara Bow, Lupe Vélez, and the
American-born socialite-spy Countess Carlo Dentice di Frasso (née Dorothy Caldwell
Taylor, formerly wife of British pioneer aviator Claude Grahame-White), Cooper
finally married. He wed Veronica Balfe, a New York Roman Catholic socialite who
worked briefly as an actress under the name of Sandra Shaw. They had one child,
Maria -- now known as Maria Cooper Janis, married to classical pianist Byron Janis
-- and eventually his wife persuaded Cooper to become a Roman Catholic in 1958.
After he was married and prior to his conversion, Cooper had affairs with several
famous co-stars, including Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, and Patricia Neal. He
pressured Neal to have an abortion in 1950, since fathering a child out of wedlock
could have destroyed his career. Cooper's daughter Maria famously spat at Neal when
she was a little girl, but many years later the two reconciled and became friends.
British photographer and designer Cecil Beaton in his autobiography and diaries
also claimed to have had an affair with Cooper.
He was friends with Ernest Hemingway, and spent many vacations with the writer in
the winter wonderland of Sun Valley, Idaho.
Death and
legacy
In 1961, Cooper died of prostate cancer six days after his 60th birthday, and was
interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Years later, his body
was moved to Sacred Heart Cemetery, Southampton, New York. He had undergone surgery
for prostate cancer which had spread to his colon in the previous year, but as
there were no means of monitoring the progress of cancer in those days it then
spread to his lungs and then, most painfully, to his bones. Cooper was too ill to
attend the Academy Awards ceremony in April 1961, so his close friend James Stewart
accepted the honorary Oscar on his behalf. Stewart's emotional speech hinted that
something was seriously wrong, and the next day newspapers all over the world ran
the headline, "Gary Cooper has cancer". One month later Cooper was dead.
For his contribution to the film industry, Gary Cooper has a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd. In 1966, he was inducted into the Western
Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His name has also been immortalized in Irving Berlin's
song "Puttin' on the Ritz" with the line, "Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper,
(super duper)" .
Charlton Heston often cited Cooper as a childhood role model, and later got to work
with him on The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959). Heston praised Cooper for doing his
own stunts despite his age and poor health. He has been briefly mentioned a few
times on the HBO drama, The Sopranos, when the main character, Tony Soprano,
remarks that he admired Gary Cooper for being the strong, silent type.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Gary
Cooper - Manifesting Generator - Biography
