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Gary Cooper (May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor of British heritage, whose career spanned from the 1920s up until the year of his death. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited for the many Westerns he made.

During his career, Cooper received five Oscar nominations for Best Actor, winning twice. He also received an Honorary Award from the Academy in 1961.

Childhood

Cooper was born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Montana, but as a child lived in Dunstable, England, with his mother Alice, and elder brother Arthur Le Roy (1895 - 19??). The two boys attended Dunstable School between 1910 and 1913.

When he was thirteen years old he was injured in an automobile accident, and had to move to his father's cattle ranch in Montana to recuperate, which is where he gained his riding skills. During this time he became friendly with 10 year old Myrna Loy, who lived near him.

Hollywood

In 1924 Cooper moved to Los Angeles with the intention of becoming an artist for advertisements, but was not very successful. After three months he became an extra in the motion picture industry. A year later he had a chance at a real part in a two reeler with actress Eileen Sedgewick as his leading lady. After the release of this short film he was called to Paramount Studios and offered a long-term contract, which he accepted. He changed his name to Gary in 1925, following the advice of his agent, who felt it evoked the "rough, tough" nature of Gary, Indiana.

"Coop", as he was called by his peers, went on to appear in over 100 films. In 1941, He won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as the title character in Sergeant York. In 1952, Cooper won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon, considered his finest role.

Social life

After high-profile love affairs with actresses Clara Bow, Lupe Vélez, and the American-born socialite-spy Countess Carlo Dentice di Frasso (née Dorothy Caldwell Taylor, formerly wife of British aviator Claude Grahame-White), Cooper finally got married. He married Veronica Balfe, a New York Roman Catholic socialite who worked briefly as an actress under the name of "Sandra Shaw". They had one child, Maria (also known as Maria Cooper Janis), and eventually his wife persuaded Cooper to become a Roman Catholic in 1958. Before his conversion and after he was married, Cooper did have affairs with several famous co-stars, including Grace Kelly and Patricia Neal. He pressured Neal to have an abortion in 1950, since fathering a child out of wedlock could have destroyed his career. Cooper's daughter, Maria, famously spat at Neal when she was a little girl, but many years later Patricia Neal and Maria Cooper reconciled and are now friends. Neal later became a pro-life activist. Cecil Beaton also claimed to have had an affair with Cooper.

Death and legacy

In 1961, Cooper died of lung cancer six days after his 60th birthday, and he was interred in the Sacred Heart Cemetery, Southampton, New York. He had undergone surgery for prostate cancer and intestinal cancer in the previous year, but as there were no means of monitoring the progress of cancer in those days it spread first to his lungs and then, most painfully, to his bones. Cooper was too ill to attend the Academy Awards ceremony in April 1961, so his close friend James Stewart accepted the honorary Oscar on his behalf. Stewart's emotional speech hinted that something was seriously wrong, and so on the next day newspapers all over the world ran the headline, "Gary Cooper has cancer". One month later, the revered star was dead.

For his contribution to the film industry, Gary Cooper has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd. In 1966, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His name has also been immortalized in Irving Berlin's song "Puttin' on the Ritz" with the line, "Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper, (super duper)".

Further reading

'Dunstable in Detail' (1986) by Nigel Benson.

Filmography

External links

1901 births | 1961 deaths | American silent film actors | American film actors | Western movie actors | Best Actor Oscar | Best Actor Academy Award nominees | Cancer deaths | Roman Catholic converts | Deaths by lung cancer | English American actors | Entertainers who died in their 60s | Hollywood Walk of Fame | People from Montana | Roman Catholic entertainers | Academy Honorary Award recipients

Gary Cooper | Gary Cooper | Gary Cooper | Gary Cooper | گری کوپر | Gary Cooper | Gary Cooper | Gary Cooper | Gary Cooper | גרי קופר | Gary Cooper | ゲイリー・クーパー | Gary Cooper | Gary Cooper | Gary Cooper

 

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