Gary Cooper
Template:Short description Template:Hatnote group Template:Featured article Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901Template:SndMay 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, as well as an Academy 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. The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper at numberTemplate:Spaces11 on its list of the 50 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 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 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. After establishing himself as a Western hero in his early silent films, he became a movie star with his first sound picture, playing the title role in 1929's 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). 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 nonviolent characters searching for redemption in films such as Friendly Persuasion (1956) and Man of the West (1958).
Early lifeEdit
Frank James Cooper was born in Helena, Montana, on May 7, 1901, the younger of two sons of English immigrant parents Alice (née Brazier; 1873–1967) and Charles Henry Cooper (1865–1946).<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 1, 4–5, 198, 259.</ref> His brother, Arthur, was six years his senior. Cooper's father came from Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, England<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 1.</ref> and became a prominent lawyer, rancher, and Montana Supreme Court justice.<ref>Arce 1979, pp. 17–18.</ref> His mother hailed from Gillingham, Kent, England, and married Charles in Montana.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 4–5.</ref> In 1906, Charles purchased the Template:Convert Seven-Bar-Nine cattle ranch,<ref>Arce 1979, p. 18.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 10.</ref> about Template:Convert north of Helena, near Craig.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 7–8.</ref> Cooper and Arthur spent their summers at the ranch and learned to ride horses, hunt and fish.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 8.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 25.</ref> Cooper attended Central Grade School in Helena.<ref name="meyers-6">Meyers 1998, p. 6.</ref>
Alice wanted their sons to have a British education, so she took them back to the United Kingdom in 1909 to enroll them in Dunstable Grammar School in Dunstable, England. While there, Cooper and his brother lived with their father's cousins, William and Emily Barton, at their home in Houghton Regis.<ref name="meyers-10-12">Meyers 1998, pp. 10–12.</ref><ref>Benson 1986, pp. 191–95.</ref> Cooper studied Latin, French and English history at Dunstable until 1912.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 19.</ref> While he adapted to English school discipline and learned the requisite social graces, he never adjusted to the formal Eton collars he was required to wear.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 21.</ref> He received his confirmation in the Church of England at the Church of All Saints in Houghton Regis on December 3, 1911.<ref name="meyers-13">Meyers 1998, p. 13.</ref><ref name="dunstable" /> 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.<ref name="meyers-6" />
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.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 29.</ref> The misguided therapy left Cooper with his characteristic stiff, off-balanced walk and slightly angled horse-riding style.<ref name="meyers-17">Meyers 1998, p. 17.</ref> He left Helena High School after two years in 1918 and returned to the family ranch to work full-time as a cowboy.<ref name="meyers-17" /> In 1919, his father arranged for his son to attend Gallatin County High School in Bozeman,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 33.</ref><ref name="meyers-21">Meyers 1998, p. 21.</ref> where English teacher Ida Davis encouraged him to focus on academics and participate in debating and dramatics.<ref name="meyers-21" /><ref name="arce-21">Arce 1979, p. 21.</ref> Cooper later called Davis "the woman partly responsible for [his] giving up cowboy-ing and going to college".<ref name="arce-21" />
While in high school in 1920, Cooper took three art courses at Montana Agricultural College (now Montana State University) in Bozeman.<ref name="meyers-21" /> His interest in art was inspired years earlier by the Western paintings of Charles Marion Russell and Frederic Remington.<ref name="meyers-15-16">Meyers 1998, pp. 15–16.</ref> Cooper especially admired and studied Russell's Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross' Hole (1910), which still hangs in the state capitol building in Helena.<ref name="meyers-15-16" />
In 1922, to continue his art education, Cooper enrolled in Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. He did well academically in most of his courses,<ref name="swindell-41">Swindell 1980, p. 41.</ref> but was not accepted into the school's drama club.<ref name="swindell-41" /> His drawings and watercolor paintings were exhibited throughout the dormitory and he was named art editor for the college yearbook.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 46.</ref> During the summers of 1922 and 1923, Cooper worked at Yellowstone National Park as a tour guide driving the yellow open-top buses.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 24.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 43.</ref> Despite a promising first 18 months at Grinnell, he left college suddenly in February 1924, spent a month in Chicago looking for work as an artist and then returned to Helena,<ref>Swindell 1980, pp. 47–48.</ref> where he sold editorial cartoons to the local Independent newspaper.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 49.</ref>
In autumn 1924, Cooper's father left the state supreme court bench and moved with his wife to Los Angeles to administer the estates of two relatives,<ref name="meyers-26">Meyers 1998, p. 26.</ref><ref>Dickens 1970, p. 3.</ref> and Cooper joined his parents there in November at his father's request.<ref name="meyers-26" /> After briefly working a series of unpromising jobs, he met two friends from Montana,<ref name="arce-23">Arce 1979, p. 23.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 52.</ref> who were working as film extras and stunt riders in low-budget Western films for the small movie studios on Poverty Row.<ref name="meyers-27">Meyers 1998, p. 27.</ref> They introduced him to another Montana cowboy, rodeo champion Jay "Slim" Talbot, who took him to see a casting director.<ref name="arce-23" /> Wanting money for a professional art course,<ref name="meyers-26" /> 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.<ref name="meyers-27" />
CareerEdit
Silent films, 1925–1928Edit
In early 1925, Cooper began his film career in silent pictures such as The Thundering Herd and Wild Horse Mesa with Jack Holt,<ref name="swindell-62">Swindell 1980, p. 62.</ref> Riders of the Purple Sage and The Lucky Horseshoe with Tom Mix,<ref name="swindell-63">Swindell 1980, p. 63.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 61.</ref> and The Trail Rider with Buck Jones.<ref name="swindell-63" /> He worked for several Poverty Row studios, but also the already emergent major studios, Famous Players–Lasky and Fox Film Corporation.<ref name="dickens-23-24">Dickens 1970, pp. 23–24.</ref> While his skilled horsemanship led to steady work in Westerns, Cooper found the stunt work, which sometimes injured horses and riders, "tough and cruel".<ref name="swindell-62" /> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 28.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 29.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 66.</ref><ref>Arce 1979, p. 25.</ref> Cooper immediately liked the name.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 67.</ref>Template:Refn
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).<ref name="swindell-63" /> 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).<ref>Rainey 1990, p. 66.</ref> As a featured player, he began to attract the attention of major film studios.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 69.</ref> On June 1, 1926, Cooper signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn Productions for $50 a week.<ref name="meyers-30">Meyers 1998, p. 30.</ref>
Cooper's first important film role was a supporting part in The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) starring Ronald Colman and Vilma Bánky,<ref name="meyers-30" /> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 29.</ref> Cooper's experience living among the Montana cowboys gave his performance an "instinctive authenticity", according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers.<ref name="meyers-31">Meyers 1998, p. 31.</ref> The film was a major success.<ref>Swindell 1980, pp. 73–74.</ref> Critics singled out Cooper as a "dynamic new personality" and future star.<ref name="meyers-32">Meyers 1998, p. 32.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 74.</ref> Goldwyn rushed to offer Cooper a long-term contract, but he held out for a better deal – a five-year contract with Jesse L. Lasky at Paramount Pictures for $175 a week.<ref name="meyers-32" /> 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.<ref name="oscars-1929" /> That year, Cooper also appeared in his first starring roles in Arizona Bound and Nevada, both films directed by John Waters.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 35, 39.</ref>
Paramount paired Cooper with Fay Wray in The Legion of the Condemned and The First Kiss (both 1928), advertising them as the studio's "glorious young lovers".<ref name="arce-51">Arce 1979, p. 51.</ref> Their on-screen chemistry failed to generate much excitement with audiences.<ref name="arce-51" /><ref>Meyers 1998, p. 44.</ref><ref name="dickens-7">Dickens 1970, p. 7.</ref> With each new film, Cooper's acting skills improved and his popularity continued to grow, especially among female movie-goers.<ref name="dickens-7" /> During this time, he was earning as much as $2,750 per film<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 47.</ref> and receiving 1,000 fan letters a week.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 93.</ref> Looking to exploit Cooper's growing audience appeal, the studio placed him opposite popular leading ladies such as Evelyn Brent in Beau Sabreur, Florence Vidor in Doomsday, and Esther Ralston in Half a Bride (all 1928).<ref name="swindell-98-99">Swindell 1980, pp. 98–99.</ref> Around the same time, Cooper made Lilac Time (1928) with Colleen Moore for First National Pictures, his first movie with synchronized music and sound effects. It became one of the most commercially successful films of 1928.<ref name="swindell-98-99" />
Hollywood stardom, 1929–1935Edit
Cooper became a major movie star in 1929 playing the lead role in 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 51–52.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 52–53.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 49.</ref> 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).<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 70–84.</ref> Norman Rockwell depicted Cooper in his role as The Texan for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post on May 24, 1930.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
One of the most important performances in Cooper's early career was his portrayal of a sullen legionnaire in Josef von Sternberg's film Morocco (also 1930)<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 61.</ref> with Marlene Dietrich in her introduction to American audiences.<ref name="dickens-9">Dickens 1970, p. 9.</ref> During production, von Sternberg focused his energies on Dietrich and treated Cooper dismissively.<ref name="dickens-9" /> Tensions came to a head after von Sternberg yelled directions at Cooper in German. The Template:Convert actor approached the Template:Convert 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."<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 63–64.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 122.</ref> Despite the tensions on the set, Cooper produced "one of his best performances", according to Thornton Delehanty of the New York Evening Post.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 87.</ref>
After returning to the Western genre in Zane Grey's Fighting Caravans (1931) with French actress Lili Damita,<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 89–91.</ref> 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 to save the woman he loves.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 92–93.</ref> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 95–98.</ref> The demands and pressures of making 10 films in two years left Cooper exhausted and in poor health, suffering from anemia and jaundice.<ref name="dickens-9" /><ref name="meyers-73">Meyers 1998, p. 73.</ref> He had lost Template:Convert,<ref name="meyers-73" /><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 129.</ref> and felt lonely, isolated, and depressed by his sudden fame and wealth.<ref name="meyers-75">Meyers 1998, p. 75.</ref><ref>Arce 1979, p. 71.</ref> In May 1931, Cooper left Hollywood and sailed to Algiers and then Italy, where he lived for the next year.<ref name="meyers-75" />
During his time abroad, Cooper stayed with the Countess Dorothy di Frasso, the former Dorothy Cadwell Taylor, 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.<ref name="meyers-77">Meyers 1998, p. 77.</ref> After guiding him through the great art museums and galleries of Italy,<ref name="meyers-77" /> she accompanied him on a 10-week big-game hunting safari on the slopes of Mount Kenya in East Africa,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 137.</ref> where he was credited with more than 60 kills, including two lions, a rhinoceros, and various antelopes.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 138.</ref><ref name="meyers-79">Meyers 1998, p. 79.</ref> His safari experience in Africa had a profound influence on Cooper and intensified his love of the wilderness.<ref name="meyers-79" /> After returning to Europe, the countess and he set off on a Mediterranean cruise of the Italian and French Rivieras.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 139.</ref> Rested and rejuvenated by his year-long exile, a healthy Cooper returned to Hollywood in April 1932<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 82.</ref> and negotiated a new contract with Paramount for two films per year, a salary of $4,000 a week, and director and script approval.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 142.</ref>
In 1932, after completing Devil and the Deep with Tallulah Bankhead to fulfill his old contract,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 143</ref> Cooper appeared in A Farewell to Arms,<ref name="dickens-106-108">Dickens 1970, pp. 106–108.</ref> the first film adaptation of an Ernest Hemingway novel.<ref>Baker 1969, p. 235</ref> Co-starring Helen Hayes, a leading New York theatre star and Academy Award winner,<ref name="meyers-89">Meyers 1998, p. 89.</ref> and Adolphe Menjou, the film presented Cooper with one of his most ambitious and challenging dramatic roles,<ref name="meyers-89" /> playing an American ambulance driver wounded in Italy, who falls in love with an English nurse during World War I.<ref name="dickens-106-108" /> Critics praised his highly intense and emotional performance,<ref>Arce 1979, p. 95.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 152.</ref> and the film became one of the year's most commercially successful pictures.<ref name="meyers-89" /> In 1933, after making Today We Live with Joan Crawford and One Sunday Afternoon with Fay Wray, Cooper appeared in the Ernst Lubitsch comedy film Design for Living, based on the successful Noël Coward play.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 95.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 163.</ref> Co-starring Miriam Hopkins and Fredric March, the film was a box-office success,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> ranking as one of the top-10 highest-grossing films of 1933. All three of the lead actorsTemplate:SndMarch, Cooper, and HopkinsTemplate:Sndreceived 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<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 96.</ref> and revealed his genuine ability to do light comedy.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 165.</ref> Cooper changed his name legally to "Gary Cooper" in August 1933.<ref>Arce 1979, p. 126.</ref>
In 1934, Cooper was lent out to MGM for the Civil War drama film Operator 13 with Marion Davies, about a beautiful Union spy who falls in love with a Confederate soldier.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 119–22.</ref> Despite Richard Boleslawski's imaginative direction and George J. Folsey's lavish cinematography, the film did poorly at the box office.<ref name="swindell-171">Swindell 1980, p. 171.</ref>
Back at Paramount, Cooper appeared in his first of seven films by director Henry Hathaway,<ref name="meyers-107">Meyers 1998, p. 107.</ref> Now and Forever, with Carole Lombard and Shirley Temple.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 123–25.</ref> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 125.</ref> Impressed by Temple's intelligence and charm, Cooper developed a close rapport with her, both on and off screen.<ref name="meyers-107" />Template:Refn The film was a box-office success.<ref name="swindell-171" />
In 1935, Cooper was lent to Samuel Goldwyn Productions to appear in King Vidor's romance film The Wedding Night with Anna Sten,<ref name="dickens-126-128">Dickens 1970, pp. 126–28.</ref> who was being groomed as "another Garbo".<ref>Arce 1979, p. 138.</ref><ref>Meyers 1998, p. 112.</ref> 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.<ref name="dickens-126-128" /> Cooper delivered a performance of surprising range and depth, according to biographer Larry Swindell.<ref name="swindell-179">Swindell 1980, p. 179.</ref> Despite receiving generally favorable reviews,<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 127.</ref> 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.<ref name="swindell-179" />
Also in 1935, Cooper appeared in two Henry Hathaway films: the melodrama Peter Ibbetson with Ann Harding, about a man caught up in a dream world created by his love for a childhood sweetheart,<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 132–35.</ref> and the adventure film The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, about a daring British officer and his men who defend their stronghold at Bengal against rebellious local tribes.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 129–31.</ref> While the former, championed by the surrealists<ref>Johnson, G. Allen. A young Gary Cooper, the French Surrealists and the ethereal world of Peter Ibbetson available on Blu-Ray. August 10, 2021, Updated: August 25, 2021, 4:28 pm.</ref> became more successful in Europe than in the United States, the latter was nominated for seven Academy Awards<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 131.</ref> and became one of Cooper's most popular and successful adventure films.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 130.</ref><ref>Meyers 1998, p. 113.</ref> Hathaway had the highest respect for Cooper's acting ability, calling him "the best actor of all of them".<ref name="meyers-107" />
American folk hero, 1936–1943Edit
From Mr. Deeds to The Real Glory, 1936–1939Edit
Cooper's career took an important turn in 1936.<ref name="meyers-116">Meyers 1998, p. 116.</ref> After making Frank Borzage's romantic comedy film Desire with Marlene Dietrich at Paramount, in which he delivered a performance considered by some contemporary critics as one of his finest,<ref name="meyers-116" /> Cooper returned to Poverty Row for the first time since his early silent-film days to make Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town with Jean Arthur for Columbia Pictures.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 188.</ref> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 140.</ref> Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin were able to use Cooper's well-established screen persona as the "quintessential American hero"<ref name="meyers-116" />Template:Snda symbol of honesty, courage, and goodness<ref name="meyers-119">Meyers 1998, p. 119.</ref><ref name="swindell-192">Swindell 1980, p. 192.</ref><ref>Kaminsky 1979, p. 78.</ref>Template:Sndto create a new type of "folk hero" for the common man.<ref name="meyers-116" /><ref>Arce 1979, p. 144.</ref> Commenting on Cooper's impact on the character and the film, Capra observed:<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 190.</ref>
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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.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
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Both Desire and Mr. Deeds opened in April 1936 to critical praise and were major box-office successes.<ref name="meyers-121">Meyers 1998, p. 121.</ref> In his review in The New York Times, Frank Nugent wrote that Cooper was "proving himself one of the best light comedians in Hollywood".<ref name="nytimes-deeds" /> For his performance in Mr. Deeds, Cooper received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.<ref name="oscars-1937" />
Cooper appeared in two other Paramount films in 1936. In Lewis Milestone's adventure film The General Died at Dawn with Madeleine Carroll, he plays an American soldier of fortune in China who helps the peasants defend themselves against the oppression of a cruel warlord.<ref name="dickens-144-146">Dickens 1970, pp. 144–46.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 203.</ref> Written by playwright Clifford Odets, the film was a critical and commercial success.<ref name="dickens-144-146" /><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 202.</ref>
In Cecil B. DeMille's sprawling frontier epic The Plainsman, his first of four films with the director, Cooper portrays Wild Bill Hickok in a highly fictionalized version of the opening of the American western frontier.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 147–49.</ref> The film was an even greater box-office hit than its predecessor,<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 124.</ref> due in large part to Jean Arthur's definitive depiction of Calamity Jane and Cooper's inspired portrayal of Hickok as an enigmatic figure of "deepening mythic substance".<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 204.</ref> That year, Cooper appeared for the first time on the Motion Picture Herald exhibitor's poll of top-10 film personalities, where he remained for the next 23 years.<ref name="arce-147" />
In late 1936, Paramount was preparing a new contract for Cooper that would raise his salary to $8,000 a week,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 200.</ref> when Cooper signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn for six films over six years with a minimum guarantee of $150,000 per picture.<ref name="meyers-126">Meyers 1998, p. 126.</ref> 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.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 201.</ref> Cooper continued to make films with both studios, and by 1939, the United States Treasury reported that Cooper was the country's highest wage earner, at $482,819 (equivalent to $Template:InflationTemplate:Spacesmillion in Template:Inflation-year).<ref name="meyers-126" /><ref>Dickens 1970, p. 13.</ref><ref>Arce 1979, p. 161.</ref>
In contrast to his output the previous year, Cooper appeared in only one picture in 1937, Henry Hathaway's adventure film Souls at Sea.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 150–52.</ref> A critical and box-office failure,<ref name="swindell-205">Swindell 1980, p. 205.</ref> Cooper referred to it as his "almost picture", saying, "It was almost exciting, and almost interesting. And I was almost good."<ref name="swindell-205" /> In 1938, he appeared in Archie Mayo's biographical film The Adventures of Marco Polo.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 153–55.</ref> Plagued by production problems and a weak screenplay,<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 131.</ref> the film became Goldwyn's biggest failure to date, losing $700,000.<ref name="meyers-132">Meyers 1998, p. 132.</ref> During this period, Cooper turned down several important roles,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 208.</ref> including the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind.<ref name="selznick-172-173">Selznick 2000, pp. 172–73.</ref> Cooper was producer David O. Selznick's first choice for the part.<ref name="selznick-172-173" /> He made several overtures to the actor,<ref name="swindell-209-210">Swindell 1980, pp. 209–10.</ref> but Cooper had doubts about the project,<ref name="swindell-209-210" /> and did not feel suited to the role.<ref name="arce-147">Arce 1979, p. 147.</ref> Cooper later admitted, "It was one of the best roles ever offered in HollywoodTemplate:Spaces... 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."<ref name="arce-147" />Template:Refn
Back at Paramount, Cooper returned to a more comfortable genre in Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) with Claudette Colbert.<ref name="meyers-132" /><ref name="dickens-156-158">Dickens 1970, pp. 156–58.</ref> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 157.</ref> Despite the clever screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder,<ref name="arce-154">Arce 1979, p. 154.</ref> and solid performances by Cooper and Colbert,<ref name="dickens-156-158" /> American audiences had trouble accepting Cooper in the role of a shallow philanderer. It succeeded only at the European box-office market.<ref name="arce-154" />
In the fall of 1938, Cooper appeared in H. C. Potter's romantic comedy The Cowboy and the Lady with Merle 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 159–61.</ref> The efforts of three directors and several eminent screenwriters could not salvage what could have been a fine vehicle for Cooper.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 134.</ref> While more successful than its predecessor, the film was Cooper's fourth consecutive box-office failure in the American market.<ref name="meyers-135">Meyers 1998, p. 135.</ref>
In the next two years, Cooper was more discerning about the roles he accepted and made four successful large-scale adventure and cowboy films.<ref name="meyers-135" /> In William A. Wellman's adventure film Beau Geste (1939), he plays one of three daring English brothers who join the French Foreign Legion in the Sahara to fight local tribes.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 162–165.</ref> Filmed in the same Mojave Desert locations as the original 1926 version with Ronald Colman,<ref name="meyers-135" /><ref name="swindell-220">Swindell 1980, p. 220.</ref> Beau Geste provided Cooper with magnificent sets, exotic settings, high-spirited action, and a role tailored to his personality and screen persona.<ref name="dickens-164">Dickens 1970, p. 164.</ref> This was the last film in Cooper's contract with Paramount.<ref name="dickens-164" />
In Henry Hathaway's The 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 166–68.</ref> Many film critics praised Cooper's performance, including author and film critic Graham Greene, who recognized that he "never acted better".<ref name="meyers-138">Meyers 1998, p. 138.</ref>
From The Westerner to For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940–1943Edit
Cooper returned to the Western genre in William Wyler's The Westerner (1940) with Walter Brennan and Doris Davenport, about a drifting cowboy who defends homesteaders against Roy Bean, a corrupt judge known as the "law west of the Pecos".<ref name="meyers-138" /><ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 169–73.</ref> Screenwriter Niven Busch relied on Cooper's extensive knowledge of Western history while working on the script.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 139.</ref> The film received positive reviews and did well at the box office,<ref name="swindell-226">Swindell 1980, p. 226.</ref> with reviewers praising the performances of the two lead actors.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 172–73.</ref> That same year, Cooper appeared in his first all-Technicolor feature,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 227.</ref> Cecil B. DeMille's adventure film North West Mounted Police (1940).<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 174–77.</ref>Template:Refn In the film, Cooper plays a Texas Ranger who pursues an outlaw into western Canada, where he joins forces with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who are after the same man, a leader of the North-West Rebellion.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 141–42.</ref> While not as popular with critics as its predecessor,<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 140.</ref> the film was another box-office success, the sixth-highest grossing film of 1940.<ref name="swindell-226" /><ref>Arce 1979, p. 163.</ref>
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The early 1940s were Cooper's prime years as an actor.<ref name="dickens-14">Dickens 1970, p. 14.</ref> In a relatively short period, he appeared in five critically successful and popular films that produced some of his finest performances.<ref name="dickens-14" /> When Frank Capra offered him the lead role in Meet John Doe before Robert Riskin even developed the script, Cooper accepted his friend's offer, saying, "It's okay, Frank, I don't need a script."<ref name="meyers-144">Meyers 1998, p. 144.</ref> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 178–180.</ref> Considered by some critics to be Capra's best film at the time,<ref name="swindell-230">Swindell 1980, p. 230.</ref> Meet John Doe was received as a "national event"<ref name="swindell-230" /> with Cooper appearing on the front cover of Time on March 3, 1941.<ref name="meyers-146-147">Meyers 1998, pp. 146–147.</ref> In his review in the New York Herald Tribune, Howard Barnes called Cooper's performance a "splendid and utterly persuasive portrayal"<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 180.</ref> and praised his "utterly realistic acting which comes through with such authority".<ref name="meyers-146-147" /> Bosley Crowther, in The New York Times, wrote, "Gary Cooper, of course, is 'John Doe' to the life and in the wholeTemplate:Sndshy, bewildered, nonaggressive, but a veritable tiger when aroused."<ref name="nytimes-meet" />
That same year, Cooper made two films with director and good friend Howard Hawks.<ref name="meyers-153">Meyers 1998, p. 153.</ref> In the biographical film Sergeant York, Cooper portrays war hero Alvin C. York,<ref name="swindell-231">Swindell 1980, p. 231.</ref> one of the most decorated American soldiers in World WarTemplate:SpacesI.<ref>Owens 2004, pp. 97–98.</ref> The film chronicles York's early backwoods days in Tennessee, his religious conversion and subsequent piety, his stand as a conscientious objector, and finally his heroic actions at the Battle of the Argonne Forest, which earned him the Medal of Honor.<ref name="swindell-231" /><ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 181–83.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 152.</ref> Inspired by York's encouragement, Cooper delivered a performance that Howard Barnes of the New York Herald Tribune called "one of extraordinary conviction and versatility", and that Archer Winston of the New York Post called "one of his best".<ref name="dickens-182">Dickens 1970, p. 183.</ref> After the film's release, Cooper was awarded the Distinguished Citizenship Medal by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for his "powerful contribution to the promotion of patriotism and loyalty".<ref name="arce-177">Arce 1979, p. 177.</ref> York admired Cooper's performance and helped promote the film for Warner Bros.<ref name="meyers-156" /> Sergeant York became the top-grossing film of the year and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards.<ref name="arce-177" /><ref name="meyers-157">Meyers 1998, p. 157.</ref> Accepting his first Academy Award for Best Actor from his friend James 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 sayTemplate:Spaces... Funny when I was dreaming I always made a better speech."<ref name="meyers-157" />
Cooper concluded the year back at Goldwyn with Howard Hawks to make the romantic comedy Ball of Fire with Barbara Stanwyck.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 184–86.</ref> 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.<ref name="meyers-161">Meyers 1998, p. 161.</ref> The screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder provided Cooper the opportunity to exercise the full range of his light comedy skills.<ref name="meyers-161" /> 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".<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 185–86.</ref> Though small in scale, Ball of Fire was one of the top-grossing films of the year<ref name="arce-179">Arce 1979, p. 179.</ref> and Cooper's fourth consecutive picture to make the top 20.<ref name="arce-179" />
Cooper's only film appearance in 1942 was also his last under his Goldwyn contract.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 237.</ref> In Sam Wood's biographical film The Pride of the Yankees,<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 187–189.</ref> Cooper portrays baseball star Lou Gehrig, who established a record with the New York Yankees for playing in 2,130 consecutive games.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 162.</ref> Cooper was reluctant to play the seven-time All-Star, who had died only the previous year from ALS (now commonly called "Lou Gehrig's disease").<ref name="meyers-163">Meyers 1998, p. 163.</ref> Beyond the challenges of effectively portraying such a popular and nationally recognized figure, Cooper knew very little about baseball<ref name="swindell-238">Swindell 1980, p. 238.</ref> and was not left-handed like Gehrig.<ref name="meyers-163" />
After Gehrig's widow visited the actor and expressed her desire that he portray her husband,<ref name="meyers-163" /> 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 at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, before 62,000 fans.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 188–89.</ref> Cooper quickly learned the physical movements of a baseball player and developed a fluid, believable swing.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 164.</ref> The handedness issue was solved by reversing the print for certain batting scenes.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 239.</ref> The film was one of the year's top-10 pictures<ref name="meyers-167" /> and received 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Cooper's third).<ref name="oscars-1943" />
Soon after the publication of Ernest Hemingway's novel For 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,<ref name="arce-183">Arce 1979, p. 183.</ref> an American explosives expert who fights alongside the Republican loyalists during the Spanish Civil War.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 180.</ref> The original director, Cecil B. DeMille, was replaced by Sam Wood, who brought in Dudley Nichols for the screenplay.<ref name="arce-183" /> After the start of principal photography in the Sierra Nevada in late 1942, Ingrid Bergman was brought in to replace ballerina Vera Zorina as the female lead, a change supported by Cooper and Hemingway.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 178–179.</ref> The love scenes between Bergman and Cooper were "rapturous" and passionate.<ref name="meyers-179">Meyers 1998, p. 179.</ref><ref name="swindell-247">Swindell 1980, p. 247.</ref> Howard Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune wrote that both actors performed with "the true stature and authority of stars".<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 193.</ref> While the film distorted the novel's original political themes and meaning,<ref>Arce 1979, p. 184.</ref><ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 181–182.</ref> 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).<ref name="swindell-247" />
Edit
Due to his age and health, Cooper did not serve in the military during World War II,<ref name="dickens-14" /> but like many of his colleagues, he got involved in the war effort by entertaining the troops.<ref name="meyers-167">Meyers 1998, p. 167.</ref> In June 1943, he visited military hospitals in San Diego,<ref name="meyers-167" /> and often appeared at the Hollywood Canteen serving food to the Servicemen.<ref name="arce-189">Arce 1979, p. 189.</ref> In late 1943, Cooper undertook a Template:Convert tour of the South West Pacific with actresses Una Merkel and Phyllis Brooks and accordionist Andy Arcari.<ref name="meyers-167" /><ref name="arce-189" /><ref name="swindell-250">Swindell 1980, p. 250.</ref>
Traveling on a B-24A Liberator bomber,<ref name="meyers-167" /> the group toured the Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Queensland, BrisbaneTemplate:Sndwhere General Douglas MacArthur told Cooper he was watching Sergeant York in a Manila theater when Japanese bombs began falling<ref name="meyers-167" />Template:SndNew Guinea, Jayapura then throughout the Solomon Islands.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 167–68.</ref>
The group often shared the same sparse living conditions and K-rations as the troops.<ref name="meyers-169">Meyers 1998, p. 169.</ref> Cooper met with the servicemen and women, visited military hospitals, introduced his attractive colleagues and participated in occasional skits.<ref name="meyers-169" /> The shows concluded with Cooper's moving recitation of Lou Gehrig's farewell speech.<ref name="meyers-169" /> When he returned to the United States, he visited military hospitals throughout the country.<ref name="meyers-169" /> Cooper later called his time with the troops the "greatest emotional experience" of his life.<ref name="swindell-250" />
Mature roles, 1944–1952Edit
In 1944, Cooper appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's wartime adventure film The Story of Dr. Wassell with Laraine DayTemplate:Sndhis third movie with the director.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 194–196.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 189–190.</ref> Despite receiving poor reviews, Dr. Wassell was one of the top-grossing films of the year.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 251.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 191.</ref> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 197–98.</ref> The film received poor reviews,<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 192.</ref> with the New York Daily News calling it "delightful nonsense",<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 198.</ref> and Bosley Crowther, in The New York Times, criticizing Cooper's "somewhat obvious and ridiculous clowning".<ref name="nytimes-casanova" /> The film was barely profitable.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 253.</ref>
In 1945, Cooper starred in and produced Stuart Heisler's Western comedy Along Came Jones with Loretta Young for International.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 199–200.</ref> In this lighthearted parody of his past heroic image,<ref name="meyers-194">Meyers 1998, p. 194.</ref> Cooper plays comically inept cowboy Melody Jones, who is mistaken for a ruthless killer.<ref name="meyers-194" /> Audiences embraced Cooper's character, and the film was one of the top box-office pictures of the yearTemplate:Snda testament to Cooper's still vital audience appeal.<ref>Arce 1979, p. 212.</ref> It was also International's biggest financial success during its brief history before being sold off to Universal Studios in 1946.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 255.</ref>
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.<ref>Schickel 1985, pp. 24–26.</ref> In November 1945, Cooper appeared in Sam Wood's 19th-century period drama Saratoga Trunk with Ingrid Bergman, about a Texas cowboy and his relationship with a beautiful fortune hunter.<ref name="dickens-201-203">Dickens 1970, pp. 201–03.</ref> Filmed in early 1943, the movie's release was delayed for two years due to the increased demand for war movies.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 183.</ref> Despite poor reviews, Saratoga Trunk did well at the box office<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 258.</ref> and became one of the top moneymakers of the year for Warner Bros.<ref>Arce 1979, p. 188.</ref> Cooper's only film in 1946 was Fritz Lang's romantic thriller Cloak and Dagger, about a mild-mannered physics professor recruited by the Office of Strategic Services during the last years of World War II to investigate the German atomic-bomb program.<ref name="dickens-204-205">Dickens 1970, pp. 204–205.</ref> Playing a part loosely based on physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, Cooper was uneasy with the role and unable to convey the "inner sense" of the character.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 195–97.</ref> The film received poor reviews and was a box-office failure.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 260.</ref> In 1947, Cooper appeared in Cecil B. 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 18th century.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 206–08.</ref> The film received mixed reviews, but even long-time DeMille critic James Agee acknowledged the picture had "some authentic flavor of the period".<ref name="arce-220">Arce 1979, p. 220.</ref> This last of four films made with DeMille was Cooper's most lucrative, earning the actor over $300,000 (equal to $Template:Inflation today) in salary and percentage of profits.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 199.</ref> Unconquered was his last unqualified box-office success for the next five years.<ref name="arce-220" />
In 1948, after making Leo McCarey's romantic comedy Good Sam,<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 211–13.</ref> 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 $Template:Inflation today) per picture.<ref name="meyers-202" /> His first film under the new contract was King Vidor's drama The Fountainhead (1949) with Patricia Neal and Raymond Massey.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 214–217.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 215.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 215, 219.</ref> For most critics, Cooper was hopelessly miscast in the role of Howard Roark.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 216–17.</ref> In his review for The New York Times, Bosley Crowther concluded he was "Mr. Deeds out of his element".<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 220.</ref> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 220–22.</ref> 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.<ref>Arce 1979, p. 227.</ref> 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).<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 223–34.</ref>
Cooper's most important film during the postwar years was Fred Zinnemann's Western drama High Noon (1952) with Grace Kelly and Katy Jurado for United Artists.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 235–37.</ref> In the film, Cooper plays retiring sheriff Will Kane, who is preparing to leave town on his honeymoon 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 236.</ref> During the filming, Cooper was in poor health and in considerable pain from stomach ulcers.<ref name="swindell-293">Swindell 1980, p. 293.</ref> His ravaged face and discomfort in some scenes "photographed as self-doubt", according to biographer Hector Arce,<ref name="arce-242">Arce 1979, p. 242.</ref> and contributed to the effectiveness of his performance.<ref name="swindell-293" /> Considered one of the first "adult" Westerns for its theme of moral courage,<ref>Arce 1979, p. 238.</ref> High Noon received enthusiastic reviews for its artistry, with Time placing it in the ranks of Stagecoach and The Gunfighter.<ref name="meyers-249">Meyers 1998, p. 249.</ref> Bosley Crowther, in The New York Times, wrote that Cooper was "at the top of his form",<ref name="nytimes-high" /> and John McCarten, in The New Yorker, wrote that Cooper was never more effective.<ref name="dickens-237">Dickens 1970, p. 237.</ref> The film earned $3.75Template:Spacesmillion in the United States<ref name="meyers-249" /> and $18Template:Spacesmillion worldwide.<ref name="meyers-250">Meyers 1998, p. 250.</ref> Following the example of his friend James Stewart,<ref>Arce 1979, pp. 238–39.</ref> Cooper accepted a lower salary in exchange for a percentage of the profits, and ended up making $600,000.<ref name="meyers-250" /> Cooper's understated performance was widely praised,<ref name="arce-242" /><ref name="dickens-237" /> and earned him his second Academy Award for Best Actor.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 294.</ref>Template:Refn
Later films, 1953–1959Edit
After appearing in Andre de Toth's Civil War drama Springfield Rifle (1952)<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 238–240.</ref>Template:Snda standard Warner Bros. film that was overshadowed by the success of its predecessor<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 240.</ref>Template:SndCooper made four films outside the United States.<ref name="meyers-253">Meyers 1998, p. 253.</ref> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 241–242.</ref> Cooper endured spartan living conditions, long hours, and ill health during the three-month location shoot on the island of Upolu in Western Samoa.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 254, 256.</ref> Despite its beautiful cinematography, the film received poor reviews.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 242.</ref> Cooper's next three films were shot in Mexico.<ref name="meyers-253" /> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 243–244.</ref>
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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 245–247.</ref> 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 of Mexico|MaximilianTemplate:SpacesI]] to escort a countess to Vera Cruz during the Mexican Rebellion of 1866.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 248–51.</ref> All these films received poor reviews, but did well at the box office.<ref>Arce 1979, p. 255.</ref> For his work in Vera Cruz, Cooper earned $1.4Template:Spacesmillion in salary and a percentage of the gross.<ref name="meyers-269">Meyers 1998, p. 269.</ref>
During this period, Cooper struggled with health problems. He suffered a severe shoulder injury during the filming of Blowing Wild when he was hit by metal fragments from a dynamited oil well, as well as his ongoing treatment for ulcers.<ref name="meyers-269" /> During the filming of Vera 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.<ref name="meyers-269" />
Cooper appeared in Otto Preminger's 1955 biographical war drama The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, about the [[Billy Mitchell|World WarTemplate:SpacesI 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 252–54.</ref> Some critics felt Cooper was miscast,<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 253.</ref> and that his dull, tight-lipped performance did not reflect Mitchell's dynamic and caustic personality.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 275–76.</ref> In 1956, Cooper was more effective playing a gentle Indiana Quaker in William Wyler's Civil War drama Friendly Persuasion with Dorothy McGuire.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 255–58.</ref> Like Sergeant York and High Noon, the film addresses the conflict between religious pacifism and civic duty.<ref name="meyers-281">Meyers 1998, p. 281.</ref> For his performance, Cooper received his second Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor.<ref name="nyt" /> The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, was awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, and went on to earn $8Template:Spacesmillion worldwide.<ref name="meyers-281" /><ref>Arce 1979, p. 256.</ref>
Cooper traveled to France in 1956 to make Billy Wilder's romantic comedy Love in the Afternoon with Audrey Hepburn and Maurice Chevalier.<ref name="meyers-317">Meyers 1998, p. 317.</ref> 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 259–261.</ref> Despite receiving some positive reviews, including from Bosley Crowther, who praised the film's "charming performances",<ref name="dickens-261">Dickens 1970, p. 261.</ref> most reviewers concluded that Cooper was simply too old for the part.<ref name="arce-260">Arce 1979, p. 260.</ref> While audiences may not have welcomed seeing Cooper's heroic screen image tarnished by his playing an aging roué having an affair with a young girl, the film was still a box-office success.<ref name="arce-260" /> The following year, Cooper appeared in Philip Dunne's romantic drama Ten North Frederick.<ref name="dickens-262-264">Dickens 1970, pp. 262–64.</ref> In the film, which was based on the novel by John O'Hara,<ref name="meyers-289">Meyers 1998, p. 289.</ref> Cooper plays an attorney whose life is ruined by a double-crossing politician and his own secret affair with his daughter's young roommate.<ref name="dickens-262-264" /> While Cooper brought "conviction and controlled anguish" to his performance, according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers,<ref name="meyers-289" /> it was not enough to save what Bosley Crowther called a "hapless film".<ref name="arce-264">Arce 1979, p. 264.</ref>
Despite his ongoing health problems and several operations for ulcers and hernias, Cooper continued to work in action films.<ref name="meyers-291">Meyers 1998, p. 291.</ref> In 1958, he appeared in Anthony Mann's Western drama Man of the West (1958) with Julie London and Lee 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 265–266.</ref> The film has been called Cooper's "most pathological Western", with its themes of impotent rage, sexual humiliation, and sadism.<ref name="meyers-289" /> 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 integrityTemplate:Spaces... [and] brought authentic feeling to the role of a tempted and tormented, yet essentially decent man".<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 290.</ref> Mostly ignored by critics at the time, the film is now well-regarded by film scholars<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 297.</ref> and is considered Cooper's last great film.<ref name="arce-264" />
After his Warner Bros. contract ended, Cooper formed his own production company, Baroda Productions, and made three unusual films in 1959 about redemption.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 291, 301.</ref> In Delmer Daves' Western drama The Hanging Tree, Cooper plays a frontier doctor who saves a criminal from a lynch mob, and later tries to exploit his sordid past.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 267–68.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 296–97.</ref> In Robert Rossen's historical adventure They Came to Cordura with Rita 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 the Pancho Villa Expedition of 1916.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 271–73.</ref> While Cooper received positive reviews, Variety and Films in Review felt he was too old for the part.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 272.</ref>
In Michael Anderson's action drama The Wreck of the Mary Deare with Charlton 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.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 274–75.</ref> Like its two predecessors, the film was physically demanding.<ref name="meyers-299">Meyers 1998, p. 299.</ref> Cooper, who was a trained scuba diver, did most of his own underwater scenes.<ref name="meyers-299" /> Biographer Jeffrey Meyers observed that in all three roles Cooper effectively conveyed the sense of lost honor and desire for redemption<ref name="meyers-301">Meyers 1998, p. 301.</ref>Template:Sndwhat Joseph Conrad in Lord Jim called the "struggles of an individual trying to save from the fire his idea of what his moral identity should be".<ref name="meyers-301" /><ref>Conrad 1992, p. 81.</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Marriage and familyEdit
Cooper was formally introduced to his future wife, 20-year-old New York debutante Veronica Balfe,Template:Refn on Easter Sunday 1933 at a party given by her uncle, art director Cedric Gibbons.<ref>Janis 1999, p. 22.</ref><ref>Meyers 1998, p. 98.</ref><ref>Arce 1979, p. 121.</ref> Called "Rocky" by her family and friends, she grew up on Park Avenue and attended finishing schools.<ref name="meyers-99">Meyers 1998, p. 99.</ref> Her stepfather was Wall Street tycoon Paul Shields.<ref name="meyers-99" /> Cooper and Rocky were quietly married at her parents' Park Avenue residence on December 15, 1933.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 102.</ref> According to his friends, the marriage had a positive impact on Cooper, who turned away from past indiscretions and took control of his life.<ref name="meyers-103" /> Athletic and a lover of the outdoors, Rocky shared many of Cooper's interests, including riding, skiing, and skeet-shooting.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 104.</ref> While she organized their social life, her wealth and social connections provided Cooper access to New York high society.<ref name="meyers-106">Meyers 1998, p. 106.</ref> Cooper and his wife owned homes in the Los Angeles area in Encino (1933–36),<ref name="meyers-103">Meyers 1998, p. 103.</ref> Brentwood (1936–53),<ref name="meyers-103" /> and Holmby Hills (1954–61),<ref name="meyers-271">Meyers 1998, p. 271.</ref> and owned a vacation home in Aspen, Colorado (1949–53).<ref name="meyers-214-215">Meyers 1998, pp. 214–15.</ref>Template:Refn
Gary and Veronica Cooper's daughter, Maria Veronica Cooper, was born on September 15, 1937.<ref name="meyers-128">Meyers 1998, p. 128.</ref> By all accounts, he was a patient and affectionate father, teaching Maria to ride a bicycle, play tennis, ski, and ride horses.<ref name="meyers-128" /> Sharing many of her parents' interests, she accompanied them on their travels and was often photographed with them.<ref name="meyers-128" /> Like her father, she developed a love for art and drawing.<ref name="meyers-270">Meyers 1998, p. 270.</ref>Template:Refn 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.<ref name="meyers-106" /> Cooper and Rocky were legally separated on May 16, 1951, when Cooper moved out of their home.<ref name="meyers-229" /> For over two years, they maintained a fragile and uneasy family life with their daughter.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 264–266.</ref> Cooper moved back into their home in November 1953,<ref>Carpozi 1970, p. 197.</ref><ref>Arce 1979, p. 253.</ref> and their formal reconciliation occurred in February 1954.<ref name="meyers-269" />
Romantic relationshipsEdit
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.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 36, 40.</ref>Template:Refn Bow was also responsible for getting Cooper a role in Wings, which generated an enormous amount of fan mail for the young actor.<ref>Kaminsky 1979, p. 34.</ref> In 1928, he had a relationship with another experienced actress, Evelyn Brent, whom he met while filming Beau Sabreur.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 43.</ref> 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.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 45.</ref> During their two years together, Cooper also had brief affairs with Marlene Dietrich while filming Morocco in 1930<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 62.</ref> and with Carole Lombard while making I Take This Woman in 1931.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 68.</ref> 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 her Villa Madama near Rome.<ref name="meyers-77" />
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.<ref>Wayne 1988, p. 100.</ref> Their relationship lasted through the completion of filming Saratoga Trunk in June 1943.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 179, 183.</ref> In 1948, after finishing work on The Fountainhead, Cooper began an affair with Patricia Neal, his co-star.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 225.</ref> 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.<ref name="shearer-124">Shearer 2006, p. 124.</ref><ref>Meyers 1998, p. 226.</ref> Cooper and his wife were legally separated in May 1951,<ref name="meyers-229">Meyers 1998, p. 229.</ref> but he did not seek a divorce.<ref>Shearer 2006, pp. 114–22.</ref> 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.<ref name="Nealpeople" /> Neal ended their relationship in late December 1951.<ref name="shearer-126-127">Shearer 2006, pp. 126–27.</ref> During his three-year separation from his wife, Cooper was rumored to have had affairs with Grace Kelly,<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 231.</ref> Lorraine Chanel,<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 259–63.</ref> and Gisèle Pascal.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 263–64.</ref>
Cooper biographers have explored his relationship in the late '20s 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Vélez once told Hedda Hopper of Lawler's alleged affair with Cooper; whenever he would come home after seeing Lawler, she would sniff for Lawler's cologne.<ref name="fleming">Template:Cite book</ref> Vélez's biographer Michelle Vogel wrote that Vélez consented to Cooper's alleged sexual behavior with Lawler, but only as long as she, too, could participate.<ref name="michelle vogel">Template:Cite book</ref>
In later life, Cooper became involved with costume designer Irene, 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 the Knickerbocker Hotel, after telling Doris Day of her grief over Cooper's death.<ref>Hotchner, A. E. Doris Day: Her Own Story</ref>Template:Page needed
Friendships, interests, and characterEdit
According to Cooper<ref>Janis 1999, p. 42.</ref>
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... 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 everybodyTemplate:Spaces...{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Cooper's 20-year friendship with Ernest Hemingway began at Sun Valley in October 1940.<ref name="meyers-173">Meyers 1998, p. 173.</ref> The previous year, Hemingway drew upon Cooper's image when he created the character of Robert Jordan for the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls.<ref name="meyers-176">Meyers 1998, p. 176.</ref> The two shared a passion for the outdoors,<ref name="meyers-173" /> and for years they hunted duck and pheasant, and skied together in Sun Valley. Both men admired the work of Rudyard Kipling; Cooper kept a copy of the poem "If—" in his dressing room, and retained as adults Kipling's sense of boyish adventure.<ref name="meyers-175">Meyers 1998, p. 175.</ref>
As well as admiring Cooper's hunting skills and knowledge of the outdoors, Hemingway believed his character matched his screen persona,<ref name="meyers-173" /> once telling a friend, "If you made up a character like Coop, nobody would believe it. He's just too good to be true."<ref name="meyers-175" /> They saw each other often, and their friendship remained strong through the years.<ref name="meyers-315">Meyers 1998, p. 315.</ref>Template:Refn
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.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 104–05, 153, 313.</ref><ref>Janis 1999, p. 98.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, pp. 300–01.</ref> Cooper, in addition to hunting, enjoyed riding, fishing, skiing, and later in life, scuba diving.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 59, 299.</ref><ref>Janis 1999, p. 124.</ref> 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.<ref name="meyers-285-286">Meyers 1998, pp. 285–286.</ref> Cooper owned several works by Pablo Picasso, whom he met in 1956.<ref name="meyers-285-286" /> Cooper also had a lifelong passion for automobiles, with a collection that included a 1930 Duesenberg.<ref name="meyers-59">Meyers 1998, p. 59.</ref><ref>Janis 1999, p. 121.</ref>
Cooper was naturally reserved and introspective, and loved the solitude of outdoor activities.<ref name="meyers-53">Meyers 1998, p. 53.</ref> Not unlike his screen persona, his communication style frequently consisted of long silences<ref name="meyers-53" /> with an occasional "yup" and "shucks".<ref name="swindell-303" /><ref>Janis 1999, p. 6.</ref> He once said, "If others have more interesting things to say than I have, I keep quiet."<ref name="meyers-54">Meyers 1998, p. 54.</ref> 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.<ref name="meyers-54" /> He was modest and unpretentious,<ref name="meyers-53" /> frequently downplaying his acting abilities and career accomplishments.<ref>Kaminsky 1979, p. 217.</ref> His friends and colleagues described him as charming, well-mannered, and thoughtful, with a lively, boyish sense of humor.<ref name="meyers-54" /> 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.<ref name="meyers-55">Meyers 1998, p. 55.</ref> 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."<ref name="meyers-55" />
Political viewsEdit
Like his father, Cooper was a conservative Republican; he voted for Calvin Coolidge in 1924 and Herbert Hoover in 1928 and 1932, and campaigned for Wendell Willkie in 1940.<ref name="meyers-202">Meyers 1998, p. 202.</ref> When Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented fourth presidential term in 1944, Cooper campaigned for Thomas E. Dewey and criticized Roosevelt for being dishonest and adopting "foreign" ideas.<ref name="meyers-206">Meyers 1998, p. 206.</ref> In a radio address he had paid for himself just before the election,<ref name="meyers-206"/> Cooper said, "I disagree with the New Deal belief that the America all of us love is old and worn-out and finishedTemplate:Sndand has to borrow foreign notions that don't even seem to work any too well where they come fromTemplate:Spaces... Our country is a young country that just has to make up its mind to be itself again."<ref name="meyers-206"/><ref>Carpozi 1970, p. 168.</ref> He also attended a Republican rally at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that drew 93,000 Dewey supporters.<ref>Jordan 2011, pp. 231–32.</ref> In 1952, Cooper, along with John Wayne, Adolphe Menjou and Glenn Ford, supported Robert A. Taft over Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Republican primaries.<ref>Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism; Alfred S. Regnery, 2008</ref><ref>Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft; James T. Patterson, 1972</ref>
Cooper was one of the founding members of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 256.</ref> a conservative organization dedicated, according to its statement of principles, to preserving the "American way of life" and opposing communism and fascism.<ref name="alliance"/> The organization (members included Walter Brennan, Laraine Day, Walt Disney, Clark Gable, Hedda Hopper, Ronald Reagan, Barbara Stanwyck, and John Wayne) advised the United States Congress to investigate communist influence in the motion-picture industry.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 207.</ref> On October 23, 1947, Cooper was subpoenaed to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and was asked if he had observed any "communistic influence" in Hollywood.<ref name="virginia"/>
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".<ref name="virginia"/> Unlike some other witnesses, Cooper did not name any individuals or scripts.<ref name="virginia"/><ref>Meyers 1998, p. 210.</ref>
In 1951, while making High 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 producer Stanley 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."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Cooper even offered to testify in Foreman's behalf before the committee, but character witnesses were not allowed. Foreman always sent future scripts to Cooper for first refusal, including The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Key, and The Guns of Navarone. Cooper had to turn them down because of his age.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
ReligionEdit
Cooper was baptized in the Church of All Saints, Houghton Regis, in Bedfordshire, England, in December 1911,<ref name="meyers-13" /> and was raised in the Episcopal Church in the United States.<ref name="carpozi-205">Carpozi 1970, p. 205.</ref> While he was not an observant Christian for most of his adult life, many of his friends believed he had a deeply spiritual side.<ref name="meyers-293">Meyers 1998, p. 293.</ref>
On June 26, 1953, Cooper accompanied his wife and daughter, who were devout Catholics, to Rome, where they had an audience with Pope Pius XII.<ref name="carpozi-207">Carpozi 1970, p. 207.</ref><ref name="meyers-266">Meyers 1998, p. 266.</ref> Cooper and his wife were still separated at the time, but the papal visit marked the beginning of their gradual reconciliation.<ref>Carpozi 1970, p. 208.</ref> In the following years, Cooper contemplated his mortality and his personal behavior, and started discussing Catholicism with his family.<ref name="meyers-293" /><ref name="carpozi-207" /><ref name="forbes" /> He began attending church with them regularly, and met with their parish priest, who offered Cooper spiritual guidance.<ref name="meyers-293" /><ref name="forbes" /> After several months of study, Cooper was baptized as a Catholic on April 9, 1959, before a small group of family and friends at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.<ref name="carpozi-205" /><ref name="forbes" />
Final years and deathEdit
Cooper was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1960. On April 14, 1960, Cooper underwent surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston as the cancer metastasized to his colon.<ref name="meyers-304">Meyers 1998, p. 304.</ref> 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.<ref name="meyers-304" /> After recuperating over the summer, Cooper took his family on vacation to the south of France<ref>Janis 1999, p. 163.</ref> before traveling to the UK in the fall to star in The Naked Edge.<ref name="meyers-304" /> In December 1960, he worked on the NBC television documentary The Real West,<ref name="meyers-308">Meyers 1998, p. 308.</ref> which was part of the company's Project 20 series.<ref name="arce-276">Arce 1979, p. 276.</ref>Template:Refn
On December 27, his wife learned from their family doctor that Cooper's cancer had metastasized to his lungs and bones and was inoperable.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 308, 312.</ref> His family decided not to tell him immediately.<ref name="janis-164">Janis 1999, p. 164.</ref>
On January 9, 1961, Cooper attended a dinner given in his honor and hosted by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin at the Friars Club.<ref name="meyers-308" /> The dinner was attended by many of his industry friends<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 308–309.</ref> 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."<ref>Swindell 1980, pp. 302–03.</ref>
In mid-January, Cooper took his family to Sun Valley for their last vacation together.<ref name="janis-164" /> Cooper and Ernest Hemingway hiked through the snow together for the last time.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 319.</ref> On February 27, after returning to Los Angeles, Cooper learned that he was dying.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 313.</ref> 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."<ref>Janis 1999, p. 165.</ref> On April 17, Cooper watched the Academy Awards ceremony on television and saw his good friend James Stewart, who had presented Cooper with his first Oscar years earlier, accept on Cooper's behalf an honorary award for lifetime achievementTemplate:Sndhis third Oscar.<ref name="meyers-314">Meyers 1998, p. 314.</ref> 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."<ref name="meyers-314" />Template:Refn The following day, newspapers around the world announced that Cooper was dying.<ref name="meyers-315" /> In the coming days, he received numerous messages of appreciation and encouragement, including telegrams from Pope John XXIII<ref name="arce-278">Arce 1979, p. 278.</ref> and Queen Elizabeth II,<ref name="swindell-303">Swindell 1980, p. 303.</ref><ref name="arce-278" /> and a telephone call from President John F. Kennedy.<ref name="swindell-303" /><ref name="arce-278" />
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."<ref name="tuscaloosa-battling" /> He received the last rites on Friday, May 12, and died quietly the next day.<ref name="meyers-320">Meyers 1998, p. 320.</ref>
A requiem was held on May 18 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, attended by many of Cooper's friends, including James Stewart, Jack Benny, Henry Hathaway, Joel McCrea, Audrey Hepburn, Jack L. Warner, John Ford, John Wayne, Edward G. Robinson, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Fred Astaire, Randolph Scott, Walter Pidgeon, Bob Hope, and Marlene Dietrich.<ref name="meyers-320-321">Meyers 1998, pp. 320–321.</ref>Template:Refn Cooper was buried in the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 304.</ref> In May 1974, after his family relocated to New York, Cooper's remains were exhumed and reburied in Sacred Hearts Cemetery in Southampton.<ref name="meyers-322">Meyers 1998, p. 322.</ref><ref>Janis 1999, p. 167.</ref> His grave is marked next to a three-ton boulder from a Montauk quarry.<ref name="meyers-322" />
Acting style and reputationEdit
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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.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 120.</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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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 teacher Lee Strasberg once observed: "The simplest examples of Stanislavsky's ideas are actors such as Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Spencer 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."<ref name="meyers-156">Meyers 1998, p. 156.</ref> Film director François Truffaut ranked Cooper among "the greatest actors" because of his ability to deliver great performances "without direction".<ref name="meyers-156" /> 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".<ref name="kaminsky-2" />
Cooper's ability to project his personality onto his characters played an important part in his appearing natural and authentic on screen. Actor John 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 learnTemplate:Sndnamely, to be natural."<ref name="meyers-89" /> Charles Laughton, who played opposite Cooper in Devil and the Deep agreed, "In truth, that boy hasn't the least idea how well he actsTemplate:Spaces... He gets at it from the inside, from his own clear way of looking at life."<ref name="meyers-89" /> William Wyler, who directed Cooper in two films, called him a "superb actor, a master of movie acting".<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 18–19.</ref>
In his review of Cooper's performance in The 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 choleraTemplate:Sndthe 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."<ref name="meyers-89" />
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.<ref>Kaminsky 1979, pp. 2–3.</ref> Commenting on Cooper's performance in Sergeant 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 thinkTemplate:Spaces... this isn't going to be any good. But when you saw the rushes in the projection room the next day you could read in his face all the things he'd been thinking."<ref name="meyers-153" /> Sam Wood, who directed Cooper in four films, had similar observations about Cooper's performance in Pride 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."<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 165.</ref>
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 overpoweringTemplate:Sndand 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."<ref name="meyers-179" />
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'."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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 meTemplate:SndI love the purity and the honesty, I love Gary Cooper in that film, the idea of the last man standing."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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 in horses in black and white. High Noon's later Gary Cooper, I liked that. But I liked The Westerner. That's my favorite one. I have that poster hung up in my house because I really like that one."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
To Al Pacino, "Gary Cooper was a phenomenonTemplate:Sndhis ability to take some thing and elevate it, give it such dignity. One of the great presences."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Mylène Demongeot first met Gary Cooper at the opening of the first escalator to be installed in a cinema, at the Rex Theatre in Paris, on June 7, 1957. She declared in a 2015 filmed interview: "Gary CooperTemplate:Spaces... il est sublime ! Aaahhh (Mylène pushing a cry of love not to say ecstasy) il est sublimeTemplate:Spaces... 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 great Americans who I've met really were unbelievable guys, there aren't any like them anymore)."<ref name=":0">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
Career assessment and legacyEdit
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Cooper's career spanned thirty-six years, from 1925 to 1961.<ref name="dickens-2">Dickens 1970, p. 2.</ref> During that time he appeared in eighty-four feature films in a leading role.<ref>Kaminsky 1979, p. 1.</ref> 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,<ref>Meyers 1998, p. xi.</ref> 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.<ref name="arce-147" /> 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.<ref name="quigley" /> He topped the list in 1953.<ref name="quigley" /> In Quigley's list of all-time money-making stars, Cooper is listed fourth, after John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Tom Cruise.<ref name="quigley" /> At the time of his death, it was estimated that his films grossed well over $200Template:Spacesmillion<ref name="dickens-2" /> (equivalent to $Template:InflationTemplate:Spacesbillion in Template:Inflation-year).
In more than half his feature films, Cooper portrayed Westerners, soldiers, pilots, sailors, and explorers, all men of action.<ref name="kaminsky-2">Kaminsky 1979, p. 2.</ref> In the rest, he played a wide range of characters, included doctors, professors, artists, architects, clerks, and baseball players.<ref name="kaminsky-2" /> Cooper's heroic screen image changed with each period of his career.<ref name="kaminsky-219">Kaminsky 1979, p. 219.</ref> 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).<ref name="kaminsky-219" /> 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).<ref name="kaminsky-219" /> 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, and For Whom the Bell Tolls).<ref name="kaminsky-219" />
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 and High Noon).<ref>Kaminsky 1979, pp. 219–20.</ref> In his final films, Cooper's hero rejects the violence of the past, and seeks to reclaim lost honor and find redemption (Friendly Persuasion and Man of the West).<ref>Kaminsky 1979, pp. 220–21.</ref> The screen persona he developed and sustained throughout his career represented the ideal American heroTemplate:Snda tall, handsome, and sincere man of steadfast integrity<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 1.</ref> who emphasized action over intellect, and combined the heroic qualities of the romantic lover, the adventurer, and the common man.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 324.</ref>
On February 6, 1960, Cooper was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to the film industry.<ref name="walk-of-fame" /> He was also awarded a star on the sidewalk outside the Ellen Theater in Bozeman, Montana.<ref name="ricker" />
On May 6, 1961, Cooper was awarded the French Order of Arts and Letters in recognition of his significant contribution to the arts.<ref name="meyers-308" /> On July 30, 1961, he was posthumously awarded the David di Donatello Special Award in Italy for his career achievements.<ref name="david" />
In 1966, Cooper was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.<ref name="ncm" /> In 2015, he was inducted into the Utah Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper 11th on its list of the 25 male stars of classic Hollywood.<ref name="afi-stars" /> Three of his charactersTemplate:SndWill Kane, Lou Gehrig, and Sergeant YorkTemplate:Sndmade AFI's list of the 100 greatest heroes and villains, all of them as heroes.<ref name="afi-heroes" /> His Lou Gehrig line, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.", is ranked by AFI as the 38th greatest movie quote of all time.<ref name="afi-quotes" />
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.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 323–324.</ref> Charlton Heston once observed, "He projected the kind of man Americans would like to be, probably more than any actor that's ever lived."<ref>Kaminsky 1979, p. 206.</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
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 by Taco; the original lyrics were kept, including the references to Cooper.
Gary Cooper is referenced several times in the critically acclaimed television series The Sopranos, with protagonist Tony Soprano asking, "Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type..." whilst complaining about his problems to his therapist Dr. Melfi.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Patricia Neal named the Abbey of Regina Laudis' outdoor theater building The Gary-The Olivia in honor of Cooper and her daughter Olivia Dahl.<ref>Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B. & Richard DeNeut, The Ear of the Heart, An Actress' Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows, page 352, Ignatius Press, 2013</ref>
A San Antonio, Texas, subdivision has several streets named after Hollywood stars, including a Gary Cooper Drive.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Awards and nominationsEdit
| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result | Template:Tooltip |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Academy Award | Best Actor | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Template:Nom | <ref name="oscars-1937" /> |
| 1937 | New York Film Critics Circle Award | Best Actor | Template:Nom | <ref name="nytimes-deeds-awards" /> | |
| 1941 | Sergeant York | Template:Won | <ref name="nyt" /> | ||
| 1942 | Academy Award | Best Actor | Template:Won | <ref name="oscars-1942" /> | |
| 1943 | The Pride of the Yankees | Template:Nom | <ref name="oscars-1943" /> | ||
| 1944 | For Whom the Bell Tolls | Template:Nom | <ref name="oscars-1944" /> | ||
| 1945 | New York Film Critics Circle Award | Best Actor | Along Came Jones | Template:Nom | <ref name="nyt" /> |
| 1952 | Photoplay Award | Most Popular Male Star | High Noon | Template:Won | <ref name="nyt" /> |
| 1953 | Academy Award | Best Actor | Template:Won | <ref name="oscars-1953" /> | |
| 1953 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actor | Template:Won | <ref name="nyt" /> | |
| 1953 | New York Film Critics Circle Award | Best Actor | Template:Nom | <ref name="nyt" /> | |
| 1957 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actor | Friendly Persuasion | Template:Nom | <ref name="nyt" /> |
| 1957 | New York Film Critics Circle Award | Best Actor | Template:Nom | <ref name="nyt" /> | |
| 1959 | Laurel Award | Top Action Performance | The Hanging Tree | Template:Won | <ref name="hoffman-41">Hoffmann 2012, p. 41.</ref> |
| 1960 | They Came to Cordura | Template:Won | <ref name="hoffman-41" /> | ||
| 1961 | Academy Award | Academy Honorary Award | Template:Won | <ref name="oscars-1961" /> |
FilmographyEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}
The following is a list of feature films in which Cooper appeared in a leading role.<ref>Swindell 1980, pp. 308–328.</ref><ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 29–278.</ref>
- The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)
- Children of Divorce (1927)
- Arizona Bound (1927)
- Wings (1927)
- Nevada (1927)
- It (1927)
- The Last Outlaw (1927)
- Beau Sabreur (1928)
- The Legion of the Condemned (1928)
- Doomsday (1928)
- Half a Bride (1928)
- Lilac Time (1928)
- The First Kiss (1928)
- The Shopworn Angel (1928)
- Wolf Song (1929)
- Betrayal (1929)
- The Virginian (1929)
- Only the Brave (1930)
- The Texan (1930)
- Seven Days' Leave (1930)
- A Man from Wyoming (1930)
- The Spoilers (1930)
- Morocco (1930)
- Fighting Caravans (1931)
- City Streets (1931)
- I Take This Woman (1931)
- His Woman (1931)
- Devil and the Deep (1932)
- If I Had a Million (1932)
- A Farewell to Arms (1932)
- Today We Live (1933)
- One Sunday Afternoon (1933)
- Design for Living (1933)
- Alice in Wonderland (1933)
- Operator 13 (1934)
- Now and Forever (1934)
- The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
- The Wedding Night (1935)
- Peter Ibbetson (1935)
- Desire (1936)
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
- The General Died at Dawn (1936)
- The Plainsman (1936)
- Souls at Sea (1937)
- The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938)
- Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
- The Cowboy and the Lady (1938)
- Beau Geste (1939)
- The Real Glory (1939)
- The Westerner (1940)
- North West Mounted Police (1940)
- Meet John Doe (1941)
- Sergeant York (1941)
- Ball of Fire (1941)
- The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
- For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
- The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944)
- Casanova Brown (1944)
- Along Came Jones (1945)
- Saratoga Trunk (1945)
- Cloak and Dagger (1946)
- Unconquered (1947)
- Good Sam (1948)
- The Fountainhead (1949)
- Task Force (1949)
- Bright Leaf (1950)
- Dallas (1950)
- You're in the Navy Now (1951)
- It's a Big Country (1951)
- Distant Drums (1951)
- High Noon (1952)
- Springfield Rifle (1952)
- Return to Paradise (1953)
- Blowing Wild (1953)
- Garden of Evil (1954)
- Vera Cruz (1954)
- The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
- Friendly Persuasion (1956)
- Love in the Afternoon (1957)
- Ten North Frederick (1958)
- Man of the West (1958)
- The Hanging Tree (1959)
- They Came to Cordura (1959)
- The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
- The Naked Edge (1961)
Radio appearancesEdit
| Date | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| April 7, 1935 | Lux Radio Theatre | The Prince Chap |
| February 1, 1937 | Lux Radio Theatre | Mr. Deeds Goes To Town |
| May 2, 1938 | Lux Radio Theatre | The Prisoner Of Shark Island |
| September 23, 1940 | Lux Radio Theatre | The Westerner |
| September 28, 1941 | Screen Guild Theater | Meet John Doe |
| April 20, 1942 | Lux Radio Theatre | North West Mounted Police |
| October 4, 1943 | Lux Radio Theatre | The Pride Of The Yankees |
| October 23, 1944 | Lux Radio Theatre | The Story Of Dr. Wassell |
| December 11, 1944 | Lux Radio Theatre | Casanova Brown |
| February 12, 1945 | Lux Radio Theatre | For Whom The Bell Tolls |
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
BibliographyEdit
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- Le Bihan, Adrien (2021). Gary Cooper, le prince des acteurs. LettMotif. Template:ISBN.
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