Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent type of screen persona and understated acting style. The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper at number11 on its list of the 50 greatest screen legends. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952) and an Academy Honorary Award in 1961.
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 almost 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, Ball of Fire (both 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). 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 life
Frank James Cooper was born on May 7, 1901, in Helena, Montana, the younger of two sons of English immigrants, Alice (née Brazier) and Charles Henry Cooper.Meyers 1998, pp. 1, 4–5, 198, 259. His brother, Arthur, was six years his senior. Cooper's father came from Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire,Meyers 1998, p. 1. and was a prominent lawyer, rancher, and Montana Supreme Court justice.Arce 1979, pp. 17–18. His mother hailed from Gillingham in Kent, and married Charles in Montana.Meyers 1998, pp. 4–5. In 1906, Charles purchased the Seven-Bar-Nine cattle ranch,Arce 1979, p. 18.Swindell 1980, p. 10. about north of Helena, near Craig.Meyers 1998, pp. 7–8. Cooper and Arthur spent their summers at the ranch and learned to ride horses, hunt and fish.Meyers 1998, p. 8.Swindell 1980, p. 25. Cooper attended Central Grade School in Helena.Meyers 1998, p. 6.
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.Meyers 1998, pp. 10–12.Benson 1986, pp. 191–95. Cooper studied Latin, French and English history at Dunstable until 1912.Swindell 1980, p. 19. 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.Swindell 1980, p. 21. He received his confirmation in the Church of England at the Church of All Saints in Houghton Regis on December 3, 1911.Meyers 1998, p. 13. 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.
At age 15, 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.Swindell 1980, p. 29. The misguided therapy left Cooper with his characteristic stiff, off-balanced walk and slightly angled horse-riding style.Meyers 1998, p. 17. He left Helena High School after two years in 1918 and returned to the family ranch to work full-time as a cowboy. In 1919, his father arranged for his son to attend Gallatin County High School in Bozeman,Swindell 1980, p. 33.Meyers 1998, p. 21. where English teacher Ida Davis encouraged him to focus on academics and participate in debating and dramatics.Arce 1979, p. 21. Cooper later called Davis "the woman partly responsible for [his] giving up cowboy-ing and going to college".
While in high school in 1920, Cooper took three art courses at Montana Agricultural College (now Montana State University) in Bozeman. His interest in art was inspired years earlier by the Western paintings of Charles Marion Russell and Frederic Remington.Meyers 1998, pp. 15–16. 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.
In 1922, to continue his art education, Cooper enrolled in Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. He did well academically in most of his coursesSwindell 1980, p. 41. but was not accepted into the school's drama club. His drawings and watercolor paintings were exhibited throughout the dormitory and he was named art editor for the college yearbook.Swindell 1980, p. 46. During the summers of 1922 and 1923, Cooper worked at Yellowstone National Park as a tour guide driving the yellow open-top buses.Meyers 1998, p. 24.Swindell 1980, p. 43. 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,Swindell 1980, pp. 47–48. where he sold editorial cartoons to the local Independent newspaper.Swindell 1980, p. 49.
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,Meyers 1998, p. 26.Dickens 1970, p. 3. and Cooper joined his parents there in November at his father's request. After briefly working a series of unpromising jobs, he met two friends from Montana,Arce 1979, p. 23.Swindell 1980, p. 52. who were working as film extras and stunt riders in low-budget Western films for the small movie studios on Poverty Row.Meyers 1998, p. 27. They introduced him to another Montana cowboy, rodeo champion Jay "Slim" Talbot, who took him to see a casting director. Wanting money for a professional art course, 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.
Career Silent films, 1925–1928
In early 1925, Cooper began his film career in silent pictures such as The Thundering Herd and Wild Horse Mesa with Jack Holt,Swindell 1980, p. 62. Riders of the Purple Sage and The Lucky Horseshoe with Tom Mix,Swindell 1980, p. 63.Swindell 1980, p. 61. and The Trail Rider with Buck Jones. He worked for several Poverty Row studios, but also the already emergent major studios, Famous Players–Lasky and Fox Film Corporation.Dickens 1970, pp. 23–24. While his skilled horsemanship led to steady work in Westerns, Cooper found the stunt work, which sometimes injured horses and riders, "tough and cruel". Hoping to move beyond the risky stunt work and obtain acting roles, Cooper paid for a screen test and hired casting director Nan Collins to work as his agent.Meyers 1998, p. 28. 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.Meyers 1998, p. 29.Swindell 1980, p. 66.Arce 1979, p. 25. Cooper immediately liked the name.Swindell 1980, p. 67.
Cooper also found work in a variety of non-Western films, appearing, for example, as a masked Cossack in The Eagle (1925), as a Roman guard in Ben-Hur (1925), and as a flood survivor in The Johnstown Flood (1926). Gradually, he began to land credited roles that offered him more screen time, in films such as Tricks (1925), in which he played the film's antagonist, and the short film Lightnin' Wins (1926).Rainey 1990, p. 66. As a featured player, he began to attract the attention of major film studios.Swindell 1980, p. 69. On June 1, 1926, Cooper signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn Productions for $50 a week.Meyers 1998, p. 30.
Cooper's first important film role was a supporting part in The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) starring Ronald Colman and Vilma Bánky, in which he plays a young engineer who helps a rival suitor save the woman he loves and her town from an impending dam disaster.Dickens 1970, p. 29. Cooper's experience living among the Montana cowboys gave his performance an "instinctive authenticity", according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers.Meyers 1998, p. 31. The film was a major success.Swindell 1980, pp. 73–74. Critics singled out Cooper as a "dynamic new personality" and future star.Meyers 1998, p. 32.Swindell 1980, p. 74. 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. In 1927, with help from Clara Bow, Cooper landed high-profile roles in Children of Divorce and Wings (both 1927), the latter being the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. That year, Cooper also appeared in his first starring roles in Arizona Bound and Nevada, both films directed by John Waters.Dickens 1970, pp. 35, 39.
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".Arce 1979, p. 51. Their on-screen chemistry failed to generate much excitement with audiences.Meyers 1998, p. 44.Dickens 1970, p. 7. With each new film, Cooper's acting skills improved and his popularity continued to grow, especially among female movie-goers. During this time, he was earning as much as $2,750 per filmMeyers 1998, p. 47. and receiving 1,000 fan letters a week.Swindell 1980, p. 93. 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).Swindell 1980, pp. 98–99. 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.
Hollywood stardom, 1929–1935
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.Meyers 1998, pp. 51–52. 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.Meyers 1998, pp. 52–53. 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.Meyers 1998, p. 49. 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).Dickens 1970, pp. 70–84. Norman Rockwell depicted Cooper in his role as The Texan for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post on May 24, 1930.