In early 1925, Cooper began his film career in silent pictures such as "The Thundering Herd" and "Wild Horse Mesa" with Jack Holt, "Riders of the Purple Sage" and "The Lucky Horseshoe" with Tom Mix, and "The Trail Rider" with Buck Jones. He worked for several Poverty Row studios, but also the already emergent major studios, Famous Players-Lasky and Fox Film Corporation. While his skilled horsemanship led to steady work in Westerns, Cooper found the stunt workwhich sometimes injured horses and riders"tough and cruel". 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.
Silent films, 1925–28
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper | Silent films, 1925–28
The Thundering Herd, Wild Horse Mesa, The Johnstown Flood "The Thundering Herd" and "Wild Horse Mesa". "The Winning of Barbara Worth", "Children of Divorce", "Wings" to name a few The Thundering Herd, Wild Horse Mesa and Riders of the Purple Sage
is gary cooper an actor?
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Yes
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from which origin?
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Helena, Montana, United States
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what is his style like?
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Natural, authentic, and understated acting style
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with whom he was in relation?
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Veronica Balfe
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did he marry her?
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Yes
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in which films were he involved during the span 1925 to 28?
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During their two years together, Cooper also had brief affairs with Marlene Dietrich while filming "Morocco" in 1930 and with Carole Lombard while making "I Take This Woman" in 1931. During his year abroad in 1931–32, Cooper had an affair with the married Countess Dorothy di Frasso, while staying at her Villa Madama near Rome. After he was married in December 1933, Cooper remained faithful to his wife until the summer of 1942, when he began an affair with Ingrid Bergman during the production of "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Their relationship lasted through the completion of filming "Saratoga Trunk" in June 1943.
Gary Cooper | Romantic relationships
As a featured player, he began to attract the attention of major film studios. On June 1, 1926, Cooper signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn Productions for fifty dollars a week. Cooper's first important film role was a supporting part in "The Winning of Barbara Worth" (1926) starring Ronald Colman and Vilma Bánky, 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. Cooper's experience living among the Montana cowboys gave his performance an "instinctive authenticity", according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers. The film was a major success.
Gary Cooper | Silent films, 1925–28
Critics singled out Cooper as a "dynamic new personality" and future star. Goldwyn rushed to offer Cooper a long-term contract, but he held out for a better deal—finally signing a five-year contract with Jesse L. Lasky at Paramount Pictures for $175 a week. In 1927, with help from Clara Bow, Cooper landed high-profile roles in "Children of Divorce" and "Wings" (both 1927), the latter being the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. That year, Cooper also appeared in his first starring roles in "Arizona Bound" and "Nevada"—both films directed by John Waters.
Gary Cooper | Silent films, 1925–28
Prior to his marriage, Cooper had a series of romantic relationships with leading actresses, beginning in 1927 with Clara Bow, who advanced his career by helping him get one of his first leading roles in "Children of Divorce". Bow was also responsible for getting Cooper a role in "Wings", which generated an enormous amount of fan mail for the young actor. In 1928, he had a relationship with another experienced actress, Evelyn Brent, whom he met while filming "Beau Sabreur". In 1929, while filming "The Wolf Song", Cooper began an intense affair with Lupe Vélez, which was the most important romance of his early life.
Gary Cooper | Romantic relationships
Knowing that other actors were using the name "Frank Cooper", Collins suggested he change his first name to "Gary" after her hometown of Gary, Indiana. Cooper immediately liked the name. Cooper also found work in a variety of non-Western films, appearing, for example, as a masked Cossack in "The Eagle" (1925), as a Roman guard in "Ben-Hur" (1925), and as a flood survivor in "The Johnstown Flood" (1926). Gradually, he began to land credited roles that offered him more screen time, in films such as "Tricks" (1925), in which he played the film's antagonist, and the short film "Lightnin' Wins" (1926).
Gary Cooper | Silent films, 1925–28
In early 1925, Cooper began his film career in silent pictures such as "The Thundering Herd" and "Wild Horse Mesa" with Jack Holt, "Riders of the Purple Sage" and "The Lucky Horseshoe" with Tom Mix, and "The Trail Rider" with Buck Jones. He worked for several Poverty Row studios, but also the already emergent major studios, Famous Players-Lasky and Fox Film Corporation. While his skilled horsemanship led to steady work in Westerns, Cooper found the stunt workwhich sometimes injured horses and riders"tough and cruel". 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.
Gary Cooper | Silent films, 1925–28
In 1948, after finishing work on "The Fountainhead", Cooper began an affair with actress Patricia Neal, his co-star. 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. Cooper and his wife were legally separated in May 1951, but he did not seek a divorce. Neal later claimed that Cooper hit her after she went on a date with Kirk Douglas, and that he arranged for her to have an abortion when she became pregnant with Cooper's child.
Gary Cooper | Romantic relationships
Cooper became a major movie star in 1929 with the release of his first talking picture, "The Virginian" (1929), which was directed by Victor Fleming and co-starred Mary Brian and Walter Huston. Based on the popular novel by Owen 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. According to biographer Jeffrey 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.
Gary Cooper | Hollywood stardom, 1929–35
Cooper's career spanned thirty-six years, from 1925 to 1961. During that time, he appeared in eighty-four feature films in a leading role. He was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era to the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. His natural and authentic acting style appealed powerfully to both men and women, 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 the "Motion Picture Herald" exhibitor's poll of top ten film personalities for twenty-three consecutive years, from 1936 to 1958.
Gary Cooper | Career assessment and legacy
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 the silent film era through to the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to both men and women, and his range of performances 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 film extra and stunt rider, but soon landed acting roles.
Gary Cooper | Introduction
Cooper was formally introduced to his future wife, 20-year-old New York debutante Veronica Balfe, on Easter Sunday 1933 at a party given by her uncle, art director Cedric Gibbons. Called "Rocky" by her family and friends, she grew up on Park Avenue and attended finishing schools. Her stepfather was Wall Street tycoon Paul Shields. Cooper and Rocky were quietly married at her parents' Park Avenue residence on December 15, 1933. According to his friends, the marriage had a positive impact on Cooper, who turned away from past indiscretions and took control of his life. Athletic and a lover of the outdoors, Rocky shared many of Cooper's interests, including riding, skiing, and skeet-shooting.
Gary Cooper | Marriage and family
Cooper concluded the year with appearances in two unsuccessful films: "I Take This Woman" (also 1931) with Carole Lombard, and "His Woman" with Claudette Colbert. The demands and pressures of making ten films in two years left Cooper exhausted and in poor health, suffering from anemia and jaundice. He had lost during that period, and felt lonely, isolated, and depressed by his sudden fame and wealth. In May 1931, Cooper left Hollywood and sailed to Algiers and then Italy, where he lived for the next year. During his time abroad, Cooper stayed with the Countess Dorothy di Frasso at the Villa 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.
Gary Cooper | Hollywood stardom, 1929–35
The filmography of Gary Cooper chronicles the film appearances of American actor Gary Cooper. After starting his career in 1925 as a film extra and stuntman, Cooper made his official cinematic debut in 1926 in the Samuel Goldwyn production "The Winning of Barbara Worth". He went on to become a contract player with Paramount Pictures where he established himself as a popular leading man prior to the end of the silent film era. Cooper's future in the sound era was assured with the release of "The Virginian" (1929), his first all-talkie film. For the next 32 years, he would be one of cinema's top money-making stars.
Gary Cooper filmography | Introduction
In 1930, Gibbons married actress Dolores del Río and co-designed their house with Douglas Honnold in Santa Monica, an intricate Art Deco residence influenced by Rudolf Schindler. They divorced in 1941. In October 1944, he married actress Hazel Brooks, with whom he remained until his death. Gibbons niece Veronica "Rocky" Balfe was Gary Cooper's wife and briefly an actress known as Sandra Shaw. Gibbons' second cousin Frederick "Royal" Gibbons—a musician, orchestra conductor, and entertainer who worked with him at MGM—was the father of Billy Gibbons of the rock band ZZ Top.
Cedric Gibbons | Personal life and death
After establishing himself as a Western hero in his early silent films, he appeared as the Virginian and became a movie star in 1929 with his first sound picture, "The Virginian". In the early 1930s, he expanded his heroic image to include more cautious characters in adventure films and dramas such as "A Farewell to Arms" (1932) and "The 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 as "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936), "Meet John Doe" (1941), "Sergeant York" (1941), "The Pride of the Yankees" (1942), and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943).
Gary Cooper | Introduction
In later life, he became involved in a relationship with the costume designer, Irene, and was, according to Irene, "the only man she ever loved". A year after his death in 1961, Irene committed suicide by jumping from the 11th floor of the Knickerbocker Hotel, after telling Doris Day of her grief over Cooper's death.
Gary Cooper | Romantic relationships
Balfe married actor Gary Cooper on December 15, 1933, at her mother's home at 778 Park Avenue, New York; the wedding had been planned for the Waldorf Astoria hotel, but the location was probably changed to avoid public attention. In 1937, Balfe gave birth to their daughter, Maria Veronica Cooper. Following Cooper's death, Balfe married John Converse in 1964. She was an enthusiastic sportswoman and was the female California skeet champion in the 1930s. She also enjoyed golf, swimming, tennis, and scuba-diving. She and her daughter were both devout Catholics.
Veronica Cooper | Personal life
Gary Cooper (1901–1961) was an American film actor. Gary Cooper may also refer to:
Gary Cooper (disambiguation) | Introduction
Despite their disparate personalities, Lombard married Powell on June 6, 1931, at her Beverly Hills home. Talking to the media, she argued for the benefits of "love between two people who are diametrically different", claiming that their relationship allowed for a "perfect see-saw love". The marriage to Powell increased Lombard's fame, while she continued to please critics with her work in "Up Pops the Devil" and "I Take this Woman" (both 1931). In reviews for the latter film, which co-starred Gary Cooper, several critics predicted that Lombard was set to become a major star. She went on to appear in five films throughout 1932.
Carole Lombard | Paramount contract and first marriage (1930–33)
She organized their social life, and her wealth and social connections provided Cooper access to New York high society. Cooper and his wife owned homes in the Los Angeles area in Encino (1933–36), Brentwood (1936–53), and Holmby Hills (1954–61), and owned a vacation home in Aspen, Colorado (1949–53). Gary and Veronica Cooper's daughter, Maria Veronica Cooper, was born on September 15, 1937. By all accounts, he was a patient and affectionate father, teaching Maria to ride a bicycle, play tennis, ski, and ride horses. Sharing many of her parents' interests, she accompanied them on their travels and was often photographed with them.
Gary Cooper | Marriage and family
Like her father, she developed a love for art and drawing. As a family they vacationed together in Sun Valley, Idaho, spent time at Rocky's parents' country house in Southampton, New York, and took frequent trips to Europe. Cooper and Rocky were legally separated on May 16, 1951, when Cooper moved out of their home. For over two years, they maintained a fragile and uneasy family life with their daughter. Cooper moved back into their home in November 1953, and their formal reconciliation occurred in February 1954.
Gary Cooper | Marriage and family
During the filming of "The Fountainhead" (1949), Neal began an affair with her married co-star Gary Cooper, whom she had met in 1947 when she was 21 and he was 46. At one point in their relationship, Cooper hit her in the face after he caught Kirk Douglas trying to seduce her. Cooper persuaded her to have an abortion when she became pregnant with his child. Neal met British writer Roald Dahl at a dinner party hosted by Lillian Hellman in 1951 while she was in London to film "The Hasty Heart" starring Ronald Reagan. They married on July 2, 1953 at Trinity Church in New York.
Patricia Neal | Personal life
It was also International's biggest financial success during its brief history before being sold off to Universal Studios in 1946. Cooper's career during the post-war 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. In November 1945, Cooper appeared in Sam Wood's nineteenth-century period drama "Saratoga Trunk" with Ingrid Bergman, about a Texas cowboy and his relationship with a beautiful fortune-hunter. Filmed in early 1943, the movie's release was delayed for two years due to the increased demand for war movies.
Gary Cooper | Mature roles, 1944–52
Vélez was involved in several highly publicized and often stormy relationships. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she was linked to actors Tom Mix, Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable. Her first long-term, high-profile relationship was with Gary Cooper. Vélez and Cooper met while filming 1929s "Wolf Song" and began a two-year relationship that was passionate and often stormy. When angered, Vélez was reported to have physically assaulted Cooper. Cooper eventually ended the relationship in mid-1931, at the behest of his mother Alice who after meeting her, strongly disapproved of Vélez. With plans to marry him gone, she spoke to the press in 1931: "I turned Cooper down because his parents didn't want me to marry him and because the studio thought it would injure his career.
Lupe Vélez | Relationships and marriage
After guiding him through the great art museums and galleries of Italy, she accompanied him on a ten-week big-game hunting safari on the slopes of Mount Kenya in East Africa, where he was credited with over sixty kills, including two lions, a rhinoceros, and various antelopes. His safari experience in Africa had a profound influence on Cooper and intensified his love of the wilderness. After returning to Europe, he and the countess set off on a Mediterranean cruise of the Italian and French Rivieras. Rested and rejuvenated by his year-long exile, a healthy Cooper returned to Hollywood in April 1932 and negotiated a new contract with Paramount for two films per year, a salary of $4,000 a week, and director and script approval.
Gary Cooper | Hollywood stardom, 1929–35
From 1936 to 1957, Cooper ranked 18 times among the top ten box office attractions—a record when he died in 1961, and later surpassed only by John Wayne, who ranked among the top ten 25 times, Clint Eastwood (21 times) and Tom Cruise (20 times). Cooper was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award five times and won twice, for "Sergeant York" (1942) and "High Noon" (1952). The latter film boosted his popularity, resulting in him being the number one box office attraction in 1953. Cooper received a third Academy Award—an honorary one—just prior to his death. His final film, "The Naked Edge", was released posthumously.
Gary Cooper filmography | Introduction
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, as well as receiving an Academy Honorary Award for his career achievements in 1961. He was one of the top 10 film personalities for 23 consecutive years, and one of the top money-making stars for 18 years. The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper at No. 11 on its list of the 25 greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.
Gary Cooper | Introduction
In April 1930, Gable's divorce became final, and a few days later he married Texas socialite Maria Franklin Prentiss Lucas Langham, nicknamed "Ria". After moving to California, they were married again in 1931, possibly due to differences in state legal requirements.
Clark Gable | 1924–1930: Stage and silent films
Neal ended their relationship in late December 1951. During his three-year separation from his wife, Cooper was rumored to have had affairs with Grace Kelly, Lorraine Chanel, and Gisèle Pascal. Cooper biographers have explored his friendship in the late twenties with the actor Anderson 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. Lupe Vélez once told Hedda Hopper of Velez' affair with Cooper, whenever he would come home after seeing Lawler, she would sniff for Lawler's cologne. Velez' biographer Michelle Vogel has reported that Velez consented to Cooper's sexual behavior with Lawler, but only as long as she, too, could participate.
Gary Cooper | Romantic relationships
While filming "The Average Woman" in 1924 rumors began to spread that Garon had become engaged to Gene Sarazen, the professional golfer. In March 1924 she issued a complete denial of the rumors. Garon married three times. She wed Lowell Sherman in February 1926. Sherman's influence led Garon to refuse a long-term contract with Paramount. In February 1928 Garon became a citizen of the United States. She separated from Sherman in August 1927. In February 1940 she eloped with radio star and actor, Clyde Harland Alban, to Yuma, Arizona. Garon and Alban divorced in 1942. She married Ross Forrester, widower of actress Marion Aye, in May 1953 and remained with him until he died.
Pauline Garon | Marriages
In 1944, Cooper appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's wartime adventure film "The Story of Dr. Wassell" with Laraine Day — his third movie with the director. In the film, Cooper plays American doctor and missionary Corydon M. Wassell, who leads a group of wounded sailors through the jungles of Java to safety. Despite receiving poor reviews, "Dr. Wassell" was one of the top-grossing films of the year. With his Goldwyn and Paramount contracts now concluded, Cooper decided to remain independent and formed his own production company, International Pictures, with Leo Spitz, William Goetz, and Nunnally Johnson. The fledgling studio's first offering was Sam Wood's romantic comedy "Casanova Brown" with Teresa 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.
Gary Cooper | Mature roles, 1944–52
In 1928 he married the actress Gladys Cooper, but divorced her in 1936.
Neville Pearson | Introduction
The characters played by Valli and O'Brien anticipate those found in later films by Hawks: a sexually aggressive showgirl, who is an early prototype of the "Hawksian woman", and a shy man disinterested in sex, found in later roles played by Cary Grant and Gary Cooper. "Paid to Love" was completed by September 1926, but remained unreleased until July 1927. It was financially unsuccessful. "Cradle Snatchers" was based on a 1925 hit stage play by Russell G. Medcraft and Norma Mitchell. The film was shot in early 1927. The film was released in May 1927 and was a minor hit.
Howard Hawks | Silent films (1925–1929)
Three Pals is a 1926 American silent romance film directed by Wilbur McGaugh and Bruce Mitchell and starring Marilyn Mills, Josef Swickard and William H. Turner. Future star Gary Cooper made one of his earliest screen appearances as an extra.
Three Pals | Introduction
Married ? is a 1926 silent film comedy directed by George Terwilliger and starring Owen Moore and Constance Bennett. It was distributed by small silent studio Renown Pictures. Prints are held at the Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Film and Television Archive and George Eastman House.
Married ? | Introduction
He poured a great deal of time and money into her first American film, "Nana" (1934), a somewhat homogenized version of Émile Zola's scandalous nineteenth century novel. However, the film was not successful at the box office, nor was her subsequent Goldwyn film, "We Live Again" (1934). Goldwyn decided to pair her with Gary Cooper for her third American film. "The Wedding Night" was filmed at Samuel Goldwyn Studios in West Hollywood, California from early November to early December 1934. The film was originally titled "Broken Soil". When director King Vidor began filming scenes with Cooper, he was initially disappointed and the actor's apparent "mumbling and stumbling" style.
The Wedding Night | Production
George Cooper Healey (December 12, 1892 – December 9, 1943) was an American actor of the silent film era. Cooper appeared on stage first, then in 210 films between 1911 and 1940. His son George Cooper Jr. (1920–2015) was also an actor who appeared in films from 1947 until 1954.
George Cooper (actor) | Introduction
With the advent of talking pictures in 1929, Moore took a hiatus from acting. After divorcing McCormick in 1930, Moore married prominent New York-based stockbroker Albert Parker Scott in 1932. The couple lived at that time in a lavish home in Bel Air, where they hosted parties for and were supporters of the U.S. Olympic team, especially the yachting team, during the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. In 1934, Moore, by then divorced from Albert Parker Scott, returned to work in Hollywood. She appeared in three films, none of which was successful, and Moore retired. Her last film was a version of "The Scarlet Letter" in 1934.
Colleen Moore | Sound films
B. R. Cooper died in 1897, she married James Joseph Hughes of San Francisco in about 1918.
John B. R. Cooper | Final years
After causing yet another scandal, Kay Dowling (Carole Lombard), the spoiled daughter of wealthy New Yorkers, is given a stark choice by her fed-up father (Charles Trowbridge): go to his ranch in Ursula, Wyoming, (to avoid being named a co-respondent in a divorce case) or be disinherited. Kay's fiance, Herbert Forrest (Lester Vail), proposes getting married immediately, but she chooses the ranch. Later, while spending her days on the ranch with her good-humored aunt Bessie, Kay falls reluctantly in love with one of her father's cowhands, Tom McNair (Gary Cooper), and impulsively marries him. When her father learns of the union, he disowns her.
I Take This Woman (1931 film) | Plot
She decided she liked this spelling and it became her permanent screen name. Lombard appeared in five films released during 1931, beginning with the Frank Tuttle comedy "It Pays to Advertise". Her next two films, "Man of the World" and "Ladies Man", both featured William Powell, Paramount's top male star. Lombard had been a fan of the actor before they met, attracted to his good looks and debonair screen persona, and they were soon in a relationship. The differences between the pair have been noted by biographers: she was 22, carefree, and famously foul-mouthed, while he was 38, intellectual, and sophisticated.
Carole Lombard | Paramount contract and first marriage (1930–33)
He was married to silent film star Viola Dana from 1930 to 1945.
Jimmy Thomson (golfer) | Introduction
Gary's first wife was the British writer, journalist, and "Vogue" editor Lesley Blanch, author of "The Wilder Shores of Love". They married in 1944 and divorced in 1961. From 1962 to 1970, Gary was married to American actress Jean Seberg, with whom he had a son, Alexandre Diego Gary. According to Diego Gary, he was a distant presence as a father: "Even when he was around, my father wasn't there. Obsessed with his work, he used to greet me, but he was elsewhere." After learning that Jean Seberg had an affair with Clint Eastwood, Gary challenged him to a duel, but Eastwood declined.
Romain Gary | Personal life and final years
In Hugo Fregonese's action adventure film "Blowing Wild" (1953) with Barbara Stanwyck, he plays a wildcatter in Mexico who gets involved with an oil company executive and his unscrupulous wife with whom he once had an affair. In 1954, Cooper appeared in Henry Hathaway's Western drama "Garden of Evil", with Susan Hayward, about three soldiers of fortune in Mexico hired to rescue a woman's husband. That same year, he appeared in Robert Aldrich's Western adventure "Vera Cruz" with Burt Lancaster. In the film, Cooper plays an American adventurer hired by Emperor Maximilian I to escort a countess to Vera Cruz during the Mexican Rebellion of 1866.
Gary Cooper | Later films, 1953–61
All of these films received poor reviews but did well at the box-office. For his work in "Vera Cruz", Cooper earned $1.4 million in salary and percent of the gross. During this period, Cooper struggled with health problems. As well as his ongoing treatment for ulcers, he suffered a severe shoulder injury during the filming of "Blowing Wild" when he was hit by metal fragments from a dynamited oil well. During the filming of "Vera Cruz", he reinjured his hip falling from a horse, and was burned when Lancaster fired his rifle too close and the wadding from the blank shell pierced his clothing.
Gary Cooper | Later films, 1953–61
He's just too good to be true." They saw each other often, and their friendship remained strong through the years. 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. As well as hunting, Cooper enjoyed riding, fishing, skiing, and later in life, scuba diving. 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 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Gary Cooper | Friendships, interests, and character
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 was perfectly suited for the characters he portrayed on screen, also according to Meyers. Looking to capitalize on Cooper's growing popularity, Paramount cast him in several Westerns and wartime dramas, including "Only the Brave", "The Texan", "Seven Days' Leave", "A Man from Wyoming", and "The Spoilers" (all released in 1930). Norman Rockwell depicted Cooper in his role as "The Texan" for the cover of "The Saturday Evening Post" on May 24, 1930. One of the more important performances in Cooper's early career was his portrayal of a sullen legionnaire in Josef von Sternberg's film "Morocco" (also 1930) with Marlene Dietrich in her introduction to American audiences.
Gary Cooper | Hollywood stardom, 1929–35
that gave him script and director approval and a guaranteed $295,000 (equal to $ today) per picture. His first film under the new contract was King Vidor's drama "The Fountainhead" (1949) with Patricia Neal and Raymond Massey. 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. Based on the novel by Ayn Rand who also wrote the screenplay, the film reflects her philosophy and attacks the concepts of collectivism while promoting the virtues of individualism. For most critics, Cooper was hopelessly miscast in the role of Howard Roark.
Gary Cooper | Mature roles, 1944–52
The following is a list of feature films in which Cooper appeared in a leading role.
Gary Cooper | Filmography
On October 26, 1936, in Las Vegas, Post married the British actress Lillian Kemble-Cooper. This union lasted for over thirty years and only ended with his death in Los Angeles at the age of 92.
Guy Bates Post | Personal life
This lavish Western film was remade in 1944 as a B movie version titled "Nevada" starring Robert Mitchum—the only time Cooper and Mitchum played the same role; the remake was so early in Mitchum's career that he was billed with "Introducing Bob Mitchum as Jim Lacy." "Nevada" still survives in a complete copy, but the film's appearance is not the best, due probably to poor preservation. It is possible to make out scenes, but not as well as other highly restored silent films. This was a very early Western role for Gary Cooper, but his fame in Westerns would be more noticeable in talking pictures.
Nevada (1927 film) | Introduction
In 1959, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. The tag line for the film was "Every Inch a Man - Bought Body and Soul by His Wife". This film marked the debut in sound films of Clara Kimball Young, who had been a major star during the silent film era. She came back after a six-year hiatus from making films.
Kept Husbands | Notes
Gul Hamid Khan was married to Patience Cooper (later Sabra Begum) from 1930–1936, one of the first early silent movie actors.
Gul Hamid | Personal life
She later married the widower Homer Hargrave and raised his children (she never had children of her own) from a previous marriage, with whom she maintained a lifelong close relationship. Throughout her life she also maintained close friendships with other colleagues from the silent film era, such as King Vidor and Mary Pickford.
Colleen Moore | Sound films
Brooks subsequently married Dr. Rex Ross (1908-1999), a surgeon and founder of the Non-invasive Vascular Clinic at Hollywood Hospital. According to long-time friend Maria Cooper Janis, Gary Cooper's daughter, Ross in the years after her retirement from films became a skilled still photographer. She also worked actively for a number of children's charities.
Hazel Brooks | Career
Veronica Cooper (née Balfe; May 27, 1913 – February 16, 2000) was an American actress who appeared in "The Gay Nighties" under the name Sandra Shaw. She was the wife of the actor Gary Cooper and mother of painter Maria Cooper Janis.
Veronica Cooper | Introduction
Also in 1996, he married actress Tiani Warden, who was in three movies with Gary – "The Chain", "The Rage", and "Plato's Run". They divorced in 2001.
Gary Busey | Personal life
He recalled that they stayed at the Saint Anthony Hotel for nine months and by the time they left the elevator girls were all pregnant. He stated that Clara Bow openly flirted with the male cast members and several of the pilots which was reciprocated, despite having become engaged to Victor Fleming the day after arriving in San Antonio on September 16, 1926. Gary Cooper, appearing in a role which helped launch his career in Hollywood, began a tumultuous affair during the production with Bow. Cooper reportedly showed Howard Hughes the script to the film and he was not impressed, considering the drama in it to be "sudsy", although he informed Cooper that he looked forward to seeing how Wellman would accomplish the technical aerial sequences.
Wings (1927 film) | Cast exploits
It was then he quit films and moved to Van Nuys. The couple married on 15 June 1921. Benson died in childbirth 9 August 1923, as did the couple's daughter. Unable to cope with the loss of his wife and daughter, Dane rushed into a marriage with telephone operator supervisor Emma Awilda Peabody Sawyer, seven years his senior. The couple married on 8 March 1924, and separated on 30 September 1924. In June 1928, Dane reportedly fell in love with a Russian dancer, Thais Valdemar. The couple began dating and eventually claimed to be married though they indeed never were (many sources incorrectly state that she was his legal wife).
Karl Dane | Marriages and relationships
Cooper's heroic screen image changed with each period of his career. 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"). 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"). During the height of his career, from 1936–43, he played a new type of hero—a champion of the common man willing to sacrifice himself for others ("Mr. Deeds", "Meet John Doe", and "For Whom the Bell Tolls"). In the post-war 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" and "High Noon").
Gary Cooper | Career assessment and legacy
His Buddy's Wife is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Tom Terriss and starring Glenn Hunter, Edna Murphy and Gordon Begg.
His Buddy's Wife | Introduction
Alice Mann's film career apparently ended in 1925 and, like many early cinema actresses, she vanished into history. Only seven of her credited thirty films are known to survive. In 1921, she married Sidney G. Ash.
Alice Mann | Biography
His Wife's Husband is a 1922 British silent crime film directed by George A. Cooper and starring Madge Stuart, Olaf Hytten, and M.A. Wetherell.
His Wife's Husband | Introduction
Jacqueline Gadsden (August 3, 1900 – August 10, 1986) was an American film actress during the silent era. A native of Southern California, she was born in Lompoc to Gerald F. and Jessie H. (Salter) Gadsden and is probably best known to modern audiences as the wealthy, haughty other woman in the 1927 Clara Bow vehicle "It". She married William Harry Dale (1900–1975) about 1924. In a number of films she was billed as Jacqueline Gadsdon and made two films under the name Jane Daly in 1929, her final year in film. She died in the San Diego County city of San Marcos a week after her 86th birthday.
Jacqueline Gadsden | Introduction
Double Harness (1933) is an American pre-Code film starring Ann Harding and William Powell. It was based on the play of the same name by Edward Poor Montgomery. A young woman maneuvers a lazy playboy into marrying her. This was one of several films, all produced by Merian C. Cooper at RKO, that were out of distribution for more than 50 years as a result of a legal settlement that gave Cooper complete ownership of the films. Turner Classic Movies eventually acquired the rights to the films.
Double Harness | Introduction
Denis O’Brien comments that even in 1939 "the "Weekly" still was dredging the Howarth saga" in its report on her latest film "Mystery of the White Room" (1939). "I didn't get a penny", she declared in 1945, "though I could have demanded $120,000 as my share of George's community property. But I was too proud then to accept money from a man who didn't want me. I'd not be so proud now." In January 1946, she was again in newspapers, cited in divorce proceedings by the wife of Hollywood scriptwriter William A. Pierce. Both denied any impropriety, but within a year of his divorce, they married.
Constance Worth | Personal life
Let's Get Married is a 1926 American silent comedy film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Gregory La Cava and stars Richard Dix and Lois Wilson. The film is based on an 1897 play "The Man from Mexico" by Henry A. Du Souchet performed by William Collier, Sr.. This film is a remake of a 1914 film, "The Man from Mexico" starring John Barrymore which is now considered a lost film. The 1926 silent is preserved at the Library of Congress.
Let's Get Married (1926 film) | Introduction
Gary Fred Merrill (August 2, 1915 – March 5, 1990) was an American film and television actor whose credits included more than 50 feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances. Merrill starred in "All About Eve" and married his co-star Bette Davis.
Gary Merrill | Introduction
Films in bold still exist 1912: 1913:
Miriam Cooper | Partial filmography
Kelly was married to actor Edmond O'Brien briefly from 1941–1942, and then to Fred Jackman, Jr., son of silent Hollywood cameraman and director Fred Jackman, from 1946 to 1950. She was married to theater director Warren Caro from 1955 to 1968. She and Caro had a daughter, Kelly Caro, in 1957.
Nancy Kelly | Marriages
Gary married entertainment industry executive Sidney Sheinberg on August 19, 1956 at the age of 19, with whom she has two sons named Jonathan J. and William David. She retired from acting after her appearance in the film "1941" (1979), only returning to reprise the role of Ellen Brody in "" (1987). Her sons, Bill Sheinberg and Jonathan Sheinberg, are both film producers.
Lorraine Gary | Personal life
Marry Me is a 1925 American comedy silent film directed by James Cruze and written by Anne Caldwell, Anthony Coldeway and Walter Woods. The film stars Florence Vidor, Edward Everett Horton, John Roche, Helen Jerome Eddy, Fanny Midgley and Ed Brady. The film was released on June 29, 1925, by Paramount Pictures.
Marry Me (1925 film) | Introduction
Although touted as a classic screen pairing, "Today We Live" was the only time Joan Crawford and Gary Cooper performed together. MGM marketed the film as a romance with the trailer focusing on the two stars, gushing on screen with the taglines, "The fiery head-strong personality of exquisite Joan Crawford" and "The calm strength, the eager romantic nature of handsome Gary Cooper." Once Crawford was signed, an effort to go for a similar star name led to Cooper coming on board, on loan from Paramount two weeks after the projected date of principal photography, although some sources indicate that Cooper, Robert Young and Franchot Tone were Hawk's first choices.
Today We Live | Production
Gary Cooper appeared as an American Legionnaire in Herbert Brenon's 1926 Beau Geste, in minutes 8-12. He was an uncredited extra and does not appear in his list of movies as an extra on Wikipedia, but there is consensus that many of his are missing from that time, generally with roles of minutes if not seconds. Two years later he appeared as the main actor in the role of commander Henri de Beaujolais in the sequel Beau Sabreur (of the film, lost, only one trailer remains), and finally, he already had a leading role in the mythical version of Beau Geste from 1939.
Beau Geste (1926 film) | Cast
Among her movies is "Blazing Love" (1916), "Wildness of Youth" (1922), "The Vital Question" (1916), "Sister Against Sister" (1917), "The Red Kimona" (1925), "Wizard of Oz" (1925), and "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925). In 1916 Pearson and her husband, movie actor Sheldon Lewis, severed their ties with the Virginia Pearson Producing Company. The couple affiliated themselves with the Independent Productions Company, capitalized at $1,000,000. In 1924 the couple were forced to declare bankruptcy. In 1928, Pearson was legally divorced from Lewis. At the time, it was considered bad box office for screen actresses to be married. However the two remained constant companions., and resided for many years at the old Hollywood Hotel.
Virginia Pearson | Career
Carefree, irresponsible Jerry Day (Gary Cooper) and his second wife, Toni (Carole Lombard), are running up a bill at a Shanghai hotel that Jerry has no means to pay. Jerry hatches a scheme to swindle other guests to get money to pay his hotel bill and the two escape to the next leg of their foreign vacation. Desperate for more cash, Jerry is willing to sell the custody rights of his 5-year-old daughter Penelope, nicknamed Penny (Shirley Temple), whom he has never met, to his former brother-in-law. Toni is shocked and goes by herself to Paris, while Cooper meets his daughter and is captivated by her, deciding to retain custody after all.
Now and Forever (1934 film) | Plot summary
On January 8, 1906, Lockwood married Alma Jones. The couple had a son, Harold Lockwood, Jr. (born 1908), who later appeared in silent and sound films. Among his earliest credits is the 1928 World War I film "Lilac Time", starring Colleen Moore and Gary Cooper.
Harold Lockwood | Personal life
Companionate Marriage was a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Betty Bronson, and released by First National Pictures. The film is now considered lost. The film was a collaboration between the company of Asher Small Rogers and Sam Sax. It was banned by the New York State Censor.
Companionate Marriage | Introduction
In his review for the "New York Herald Tribune", Howard Barnes wrote that Cooper handled the role with "great skill and comic emphasis" and that his performance was "utterly delightful". Though small in scale, "Ball of Fire" was one of the top-grossing films of the year—Cooper's fourth consecutive picture to make the top twenty.
Gary Cooper | From "The Westerner" to "For Whom the Bell Tolls", 1940–1943
Following Stewart's divorce from Cameron in 1928, Stewart married George Peabody Converse the following year. Like many of her silent film contemporaries, Stewart found the transition to sound film extremely difficult. After making just one musical short in 1932, "The Hollywood Handicap", Stewart retired from the screen.
Anita Stewart | Marriage to Converse
The two married in 1923.
Lydia Gibson | Early years
During production, von Sternberg focused his energies on Dietrich and treated Cooper dismissively. Tensions came to a head after von Sternberg yelled directions at Cooper in German. The actor approached the 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." Despite the tensions on the set, Cooper produced "one of his best performances", according to Thornton Delehanty of the "New York Evening Post". After returning to the Western genre in Zane Grey's "Fighting Caravans" (1931) with French actress Lili Damita, Cooper appeared in the Dashiell Hammett crime film "City Streets" (also 1931), co-starring Sylvia Sidney and Paul Lukas, playing a westerner who gets involved with big-city gangsters in order to save the woman he loves.
Gary Cooper | Hollywood stardom, 1929–35
He later portrayed more mature characters at odds with the world in films such as "The Fountainhead" (1949) and "High Noon" (1952). In his final films, he played non-violent characters searching for redemption in films such as "Friendly Persuasion" (1956) and "Man of the West" (1958).
Gary Cooper | Introduction
This proved to be his longest marriage, ending on August 14, 1962. Grant married Dyan Cannon on July 22, 1965, at Howard Hughes' Desert Inn in Las Vegas, and their daughter Jennifer was born on February 26, 1966, his only child; he frequently called her his "best production". He said of fatherhood: My life changed the day Jennifer was born. I've come to think that the reason we're put on this earth is to procreate. To leave something behind. Not films, because you know that I don't think my films will last very long once I'm gone. But another human being.
Cary Grant | Relationships
Mulligan married four times. He was first married to Patricia Jones from 1955 to 1960, with whom he had a son, James. That was followed by marriages to Joan Hackett from January 3, 1966, to June 1973 and Lenore Stevens from 1978 to 1990. His last marriage was to adult film actress Rachel Ryan on April 27, 1992, which only lasted to early 1993.
Richard Mulligan | Marriages
She played the wife of Gary Cooper in the war story "Task Force".
Jane Wyatt | Stage and film
This film was nearing completion when "The Jazz Singer" (1927) was released. Dialogue was written for Gary Cooper and Nancy Carroll to compete with "talking pictures". The last scene was a wedding and the only lines of dialogue spoken in the film are Cooper's "I do" and Carroll's "I do". In addition, Carroll is also heard singing the theme song.
The Shopworn Angel (1928 film) | Sound
DeMille's epic adventure film "Unconquered" with Paulette Goddard, about a Virginia militiaman who defends settlers against an unscrupulous gun trader and hostile Indians on the Western frontier during the eighteenth century. The film received mixed reviews, but even long-time DeMille critic James Agee acknowledged the picture had "some authentic flavor of the period". This last of four films made with DeMille was Cooper's most lucrative, earning the actor over $300,000 (equal to $ today) in salary and percentage of profits. "Unconquered" would be his last unqualified box-office success for the next five years. In 1948, after making Leo McCarey's romantic comedy "Good Sam", Cooper sold his company to Universal Studios and signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros.
Gary Cooper | Mature roles, 1944–52
Durning married silent film actress Shirley Mason on June 19, 1917. They stayed married for six years until his premature death on August 29, 1923.
Bernard Durning | Marriage
Gable and Dillon traveled to Hollywood in 1924. Dillon became his manager and also his wife; she was 17 years his senior. He changed his stage name from W. C. Gable to Clark Gable and appeared as an extra in such silent films as Erich von Stroheim's "The Merry Widow" (1925), "The Plastic Age" (1925) starring Clara Bow, and "Forbidden Paradise" (1924) starring Pola Negri. He appeared in a series of two-reel comedies called "The Pacemakers" and in Fox's "The Johnstown Flood" (1926). He also appeared as a bit player in a series of shorts. However, he was not offered any major film roles, so he returned to the stage in "What Price Glory?" (1925).
Clark Gable | 1924–1930: Stage and silent films
In 1946 aged 23 he married the 35 year-old film actress Dorothy 'Chili' Boucher at Kensington in London. They separated a few months later and the marriage was finally dissolved in 1955. In 1957 he married Sheila J. Greene at Marylebone Register Office.
Peter De Greef | Introduction
Shucks, I've been in the business sixteen 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." Cooper concluded the year back at Goldwyn with Howard Hawks to make the romantic comedy "Ball of Fire" with Barbara Stanwyck. 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. The screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder provided Cooper the opportunity to exercise the full range of his light comedy skills.
Gary Cooper | From "The Westerner" to "For Whom the Bell Tolls", 1940–1943
The Silent Partner is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Marshall Neilan from a screen story by Edmund Goulding and starred Blanche Sweet, who in a few years would marry Marshall Neilan. The film was remade in 1923, and also released by Paramount Pictures.
The Silent Partner (1917 film) | Introduction
Frank Nugent, critic for "The New York Times", felt that, "Although it's not a bad comedy by our current depressed standards", Gary Cooper was badly miscast as a much-married millionaire. "Variety" wrote that "It's a light and sometimes bright entertainment, but gets a bit tiresome, despite its comparatively moderate running time. [...] The Brackett-Wilder scripting is ofttimes bright but illogical and fragile."
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife | Reception
Brady was married to actor James Crane from 1919 to 1922, when they divorced. They co-starred in three silent films together: "His Bridal Night" (1919), "Sinners" (1920) and "A Dark Lantern" (1920). The couple had one child, Donald. Brady died from cancer on October 28, 1939, five days before her 47th birthday.
Alice Brady | Personal life and death
In his review for "The New York Times", Bosley Crowther concluded he was "Mr. Deeds out of his element". Cooper returned to his element in Delmer Daves' war drama "Task Force" (1949), about a retiring rear admiral who reminisces about his long career as a naval aviator and his role in the development of aircraft carriers. 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. In the next two years, Cooper made four poorly received films: Michael Curtiz' period drama "Bright Leaf" (1950), Stuart Heisler's Western melodrama "Dallas" (1950), Henry Hathaway's wartime comedy "You're in the Navy Now" (1951), and Raoul Walsh's Western action film "Distant Drums" (1951).
Gary Cooper | Mature roles, 1944–52
In 1852 he married Susannah Towers (d.1887). His second wife, Mabel, died in 1931.
Charles Alfred Cooper | Family
After appearing in André de Toth's Civil War drama "Springfield Rifle" (1952)—a standard Warner Bros. film that was overshadowed by the success of its predecessor—Cooper made four films outside the United States. In Mark Robson's drama "Return to Paradise" (1953), Cooper plays an American wanderer who liberates the inhabitants of a Polynesian island from the puritanical rule of a misguided pastor. Cooper endured spartan living conditions, long hours, and ill health during the three-month location shoot on the island of Upolu in Western Samoa. Despite its beautiful cinematography, the film received poor reviews. Cooper's next three films were shot in Mexico.
Gary Cooper | Later films, 1953–61
Whose Wife? is a lost 1917 silent film drama directed by Rollin S. Sturgeon and starring Gail Kane. It was produced by the American Film Company and distributed by Mutual Film.
Whose Wife? | Introduction
In 1927 he married scriptwriter Natalie Webb (1899–1979) in Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. She wrote an account in 1934 of the production of Barkas' film "Palaver".
Geoffrey Barkas | Film