Merian C. Cooper

Merian Caldwell Cooper (October 24, 1893, Jacksonville, Florida, USA — April 21, 1973, San Diego, California, USA, died of cancer) was an American aviator, adventurer, director, screenwriter and producer. His most famous film work was the 1933 movie King Kong. He was married to Dorothy Jordan. Father of Polish translator and writer Maciej Słomczyński.

Early life

Born to John C. Cooper and the former Mary Coldwell. Merian Caldwell Cooper entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1915 but left in his senior year. In 1916 he joined the Georgia National Guard to help chase Pancho Villa in Mexico.

World War I

Cooper was a bomber pilot during World War I. He was shot down and captured by Germans, serving out the remainder of the war in a POW camp.

Polish Independence

From late 1919 until the 1921 Treaty of Riga he was a member of a volunteer American flight squadron, the Kosciuszko Squadron, which supported the Polish Army in the Polish-Soviet War. On July 26, 1920, his plane was shot down, and he spent nearly 9 months in a Soviet prisoner of war camp. He escaped just before the war was over and made it to Latvia. For valor he was decorated by Polish commander-in-chief Józef Piłsudski with the highest Polish military decoration, the Virtuti Militari.

World War II

Though old enough to be free of service in World War II, he enlisted anyway, as a colonel in the US Army Air Force in Asia / China, serving as chief of staff for General Claire Chennault of the Flying Tigers.

Leading many missions and carefully planning them to minimize loss of life, he was known for his hard work and relentless planning. At the end of the war, he was promoted to Brigadier General.

Film Career

Cooper led movie production for RKO Pictures before and after WWII.

Cooper started his film career with documentaries, which combined real footage with staged sequences. In Chang (1927), he used this technique to create a memorable finale featuring an elephant stampede.

Throughout his career, Cooper was a proponent of technical innovation. The film King Kong, which he co-wrote, co-directed and appeared in, was a breakthrough in this regard. Additionally, Cooper helped pave the way for such ground-breaking technologies as Technicolor and wide screen Cinerama.

Cooper was a good friend and frequent collaborator with noted Western director John Ford. In 1947, they formed Argosy Productions and produced such notable films as Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, and The Searchers. He was nominated for an Oscar for producing The Quiet Man in 1952, but lost to Cecil B. DeMille for The Greatest Show on Earth, he did however receive an Honorary Oscar that same year.

Cooper has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (his name is misspelled "Meriam C. Cooper").

Pioneer in Aviation

He was a member of the board of TWA for decades and a pioneer founder in using airplanes.

See above his service in air corp in WWI and WWII.

Trivia

In the 1933 version of King Kong, Cooper and co-director Ernest B. Schoedsack appear at the end piloting the plane that finally finishes off Kong. Cooper reportedly said, "We should kill the sonofabitch ourselves".
In the 2005 remake of King Kong, upon learning that Fay Wray is not available because she's making a film for RKO, Carl Denham (Jack Black) mutters under his breath: "Cooper!"
Cooper claimed that he got the idea for King Kong after he had a dream that a giant gorilla was terrorizing New York City. When he woke up, he recorded the idea and used it for the film.

References

Janusz Cisek: "Kosciuszko, We Are Here!", McFarland Publishing
"I am King Kong!", TCM Documentary

External links

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