Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961)
was an American film actor known for his natural, authentic, and
understated acting style and screen performances. His career spanned
thirty-six years, from 1925 to 1961, and included leading roles in
eighty-four feature films. He was a major movie star from the end of
the silent film era through to the end of the golden age of Classical
Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to both men and women,
and his range of performances included roles in most major movie
genres. Cooper's 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, Cooper became a movie star in 1929 with his
first sound picture, The Virginian. In the early 1930s, he expanded
his heroic image to include more cautious characters in adventure
films and dramas such as A Farewell to Arms (1932) and The Lives of a
Bengal

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

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936),
Meet John Doe

Meet John Doe (1941), Sergeant
York (1941),
The Pride of the Yankees

The Pride of the Yankees (1942), and For Whom the Bell
Tolls (1943).
In the postwar years, he portrayed more mature characters at odds with
the world in films such as
The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead (1949) and High Noon
(1952). In his final films, Cooper played non-violent characters
searching for redemption in films such as Friendly Persuasion (1956)
and
Man of the West

Man of the West (1958).
In 1933, he married New York debutante Veronica Balfe; the couple had
one daughter. The marriage was interrupted by a three-year separation
that was precipitated by Cooper's love affair with Patricia Neal.
Cooper received the
Academy Award for Best Actor

Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in
Sergeant York and High Noon. He also received an Academy Honorary
Award for his career achievements in 1961. He was one of the top ten
film personalities for twenty-three consecutive years and was one of
the top money-making stars for eighteen years. The American Film
Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper eleventh on its list of the twenty five
greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Silent films, 1925–28
2.2 Hollywood stardom, 1929–35
2.3 American folk hero, 1936–43
2.3.1 From Mr. Deeds to The Real Glory
2.3.2 From The Westerner to For Whom the Bell Tolls
2.4 Mature roles, 1944–52
2.5 Later films, 1953–61
3 Personal life
3.1 Marriage and family
3.2 Romantic relationships
3.3 Friendships, interests, and character
3.4 Political views
3.5 Religion
4 Final year and death
5 Acting style and reputation
6 Career assessment and legacy
7 Awards and nominations
8 Filmography
9 Radio appearances
10 References
10.1 Notes
10.2 Citations
10.3 Bibliography
11 External links
Early life[edit]
Cooper dressed as a cowboy, 1903
Cooper was born on May 7, 1901, in
Helena, Montana

Helena, Montana to Alice (née
Brazier, 1873–1967) and Charles Henry Cooper (1865–1946).[1] His
father had emigrated from Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire[2] and was a
prominent lawyer, rancher, and (later) a Montana Supreme Court
justice.[3] His mother had emigrated from
Gillingham, Kent
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_639121.jpg/480px-Gillingham_High_Street_(2)_-_geograph.org.uk_-_639121.jpg)
Gillingham, Kent and married
Charles in Montana.[4] In 1906, Charles purchased the 600-acre
(240 ha) Seven-Bar-Nine[5][6] cattle ranch about fifty miles
(eighty kilometers) north of Helena near the town of Craig on the
Missouri River.[7] Frank and his older brother Arthur spent their
summers there and learned to ride horses, hunt, and fish.[8][9] Cooper
attended Central Grade School in Helena.[10]
Alice wanted her sons to have an English education, so in 1909 she
took them to England to enroll them in
Dunstable Grammar School

Dunstable Grammar School in
Bedfordshire. While there Cooper and his brother lived with their
father's cousins, William and Emily Barton, in their ancestral home in
Houghton Regis.[11][12] Cooper studied Latin, French, and English
history at Dunstable until 1912.[13] While he adapted to English
school discipline and learned the requisite social graces, he never
adjusted to the rigid class structure and formal Eton collars he was
required to wear.[14] Cooper was baptized into the Anglican Church on
December 3, 1911, at the Church of All Saints in Houghton
Regis.[15][16] Cooper's mother accompanied her sons back to the United
States in August 1912, and Cooper resumed his education at Johnson
Grammar School in Helena.[10]
When Cooper was fifteen his hip was injured in a car accident. On his
doctor's recommendation he returned to the Seven-Bar-Nine ranch to
recuperate by horseback riding.[17] The misguided therapy left him
with his characteristic stiff, off-balanced walk and slightly angled
riding style.[18] He left
Helena High School
_p517_HELENA,_THE_HIGH_SCHOOL.jpg/440px-US-MT(1891)_p517_HELENA,_THE_HIGH_SCHOOL.jpg)
Helena High School after two years in 1918
and returned to the family ranch to work full time as a cowboy.[18] In
1919, Charles arranged for Cooper to attend Gallatin County High
School in Bozeman, Montana,[19][20] where English teacher Ida Davis
encouraged him to focus on academics and participate in debating and
dramatics.[20][21] Cooper later called Davis "the woman partly
responsible for me giving up cowboy-ing and going to college."[21]
Cooper at
Grinnell College

Grinnell College (top row, second from the left), 1922
Cooper was still attending high school in 1920 when he took three art
courses at Montana Agricultural College in Bozeman.[20] His interest
in art was inspired years earlier by the Western paintings of Charles
Marion Russell and Frederic Remington.[22] 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.[22]
In 1922, Cooper enrolled in
Grinnell College

Grinnell College in
Iowa

Iowa to continue his
art education. Cooper did well academically in most of his
courses,[23] but was not accepted into the school's drama club.[23]
His drawings and watercolors were exhibited throughout the dormitory,
and he was named art editor for the college yearbook.[24] During the
summers of 1922 and 1923, Cooper worked at Yellowstone National Park
as a tour guide driving the yellow open-top buses.[25][26] Despite a
promising first eighteen 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,[27] where he sold editorial
cartoons to the Independent, a local newspaper.[28]
In the autumn of 1924, Cooper's father left the Montana Supreme Court
bench and moved with his wife to Los Angeles[29] to administer the
estates of two relatives,[30] and at his father's request Cooper
joined them there in late November.[29] After briefly working a series
of unpromising jobs, Cooper met two friends from Montana[31][32] who
were working as film extras and stunt riders in low-budget Western
films for the small movie studios on
Poverty Row on Gower Street.[33]
They introduced him to another Montana cowboy, rodeo champion Jay
"Slim" Talbot, who took him to see a casting director.[31] Wanting
money for a professional art course,[29] Cooper worked as a film extra
for five dollars a day, and as a stunt rider for twice that
amount.[33] (Cooper and Talbot became close friends and hunting
companions, and Talbot later worked as Cooper's stuntman and stand-in
for over thirty years.)[33]
Career[edit]
Silent films, 1925–28[edit]
Cooper in The Winning of Barbara Worth, 1926
In early 1925, Cooper began his film career in silent pictures such as
The Thundering Herd and Wild Horse Mesa with Jack Holt,[34] Riders of
the Purple Sage and
The Lucky Horseshoe

The Lucky Horseshoe with Tom Mix,[35][36] and The
Trail Rider with Buck Jones.[35] He worked for several Poverty Row
studios, including
Famous Players-Lasky

Famous Players-Lasky and
Fox Film

Fox Film Corporation.[37]
While his skilled horsemanship led to steady work in Westerns, Cooper
found the stunt work—which sometimes injured horses and
riders—"tough and cruel".[34] 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.[38] 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.[39][40][41] Cooper immediately liked the name.[42][Note
1]
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).[35] 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).[44] As a featured player, he began to attract the attention of
major film studios.[45] On June 1, 1926, Cooper signed a contract with
Samuel Goldwyn Productions

Samuel Goldwyn Productions for fifty dollars a week.[46]
Cooper's first important film role was in The Winning of Barbara Worth
(1926) with
Ronald Colman

Ronald Colman and Vilma Bánky,[46] 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.[47] Cooper's experience
living among the Montana cowboys gave his performance an "instinctive
authenticity", according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers.[48] The film
was a major success.[49] Critics singled out Cooper as a "dynamic new
personality" and future star.[50][51] Goldwyn rushed to offer Cooper a
long-term contract, but he held out for a better deal—finally
signing a five-year contract with
Jesse L. Lasky

Jesse L. Lasky at Paramount Pictures
for $175 a week.[50] In 1927, with help from Clara Bow, Cooper landed
high-profile roles in Children of Divorce and Wings, the latter being
the first film to win an
Academy Award

Academy Award for Best Picture.[52] That
year, Cooper also appeared in his first starring roles in Arizona
Bound and Nevada—both films directed by John Waters.[53]
In 1928, Paramount paired Cooper with a youthful
Fay Wray

Fay Wray in The
Legion of the Condemned and The First Kiss—advertising them as the
studio's "glorious young lovers".[54] Their on-screen chemistry failed
to generate much excitement with audiences.[54][55][56] With each new
film, Cooper's acting skills improved and his popularity continued to
grow, especially among female movie-goers.[56] During this time, he
was earning as much as $2,750 per film[57] and receiving a thousand
fan letters a week.[58] Looking to exploit Cooper's growing audience
appeal, the studio placed him opposite popular leading ladies such as
Evelyn Brent

Evelyn Brent in Beau Sabreur,
Florence Vidor

Florence Vidor in Doomsday, and Esther
Ralston in Half a Bride.[59] That year, Cooper also made Lilac Time
with
Colleen Moore

Colleen Moore for First National Pictures, his first movie with
synchronized music and sound effects.[59] It became one of the most
commercially successful films of 1928.[59]
Hollywood stardom, 1929–35[edit]
Cooper and
Mary Brian
.jpg/440px-Mary_Brian_a_color_(1931).jpg)
Mary Brian in The Virginian, 1929
Cooper became a major movie star in 1929 with the release of his first
sound picture, The Virginian, which was directed by
Victor Fleming

Victor Fleming and
co-starred
Mary Brian
.jpg/440px-Mary_Brian_a_color_(1931).jpg)
Mary Brian and Walter Huston.[60] 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 have lasted to the present
day.[61] 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.[62] Unlike some silent film actors who had trouble adapting to
the new sound medium, Cooper transitioned naturally, with his "deep
and clear" and "pleasantly drawling" voice, which was perfectly suited
for the characters he portrayed on screen, also according to
Meyers.[63] Looking to capitalize on Cooper's growing popularity,
Paramount cast him in several Westerns and wartime dramas in 1930,
including Only the Brave, The Texan, Seven Days' Leave, A Man from
Wyoming, and The Spoilers.[64]
Lili Damita

Lili Damita and Cooper in Fighting Caravans, 1931
One of the more important performances in Cooper's early career was
his portrayal of a sullen legionnaire in Josef von Sternberg's 1930
film Morocco[65] with
Marlene Dietrich
_(Cropped).png/500px-Marlene_Dietrich_in_No_Highway_(1951)_(Cropped).png)
Marlene Dietrich in her introduction to American
audiences.[66] During production, von Sternberg focused his energies
on Dietrich and treated Cooper dismissively.[66] Tensions came to a
head after von Sternberg yelled directions at Cooper in German. The
6-foot-3-inch (191 cm) actor approached the 5-foot-4-inch
(163 cm) director, physically 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."[67][68] Despite the tensions on the set,
Cooper produced "one of his best performances", according to Thornton
Delehanty of the New York Evening Post.[69] In 1931, after returning
to the Western genre in Zane Grey's
Fighting Caravans

Fighting Caravans with French
actress Lili Damita,[70] Cooper appeared in the
Dashiell Hammett

Dashiell Hammett crime
film City Streets playing a westerner who gets involved with big-city
gangsters in order to save the woman he loves.[71] Cooper concluded
the year with appearances in two unsuccessful films: I Take This Woman
with Carole Lombard, and
His Woman

His Woman with Claudette Colbert.[72] The
demands and pressures of making ten films in two years left Cooper
exhausted and in poor health, suffering from anemia and
jaundice.[66][73] He had lost thirty pounds (fourteen kilograms)
during that period,[73][74] and felt lonely, isolated, and depressed
by his sudden fame and wealth.[75][76] In May 1931, Cooper left
Hollywood and sailed to
Algiers

Algiers and then Italy, where he lived for the
next year.[75]
During his time abroad, Cooper stayed with the Countess Dorothy di
Frasso at the
Villa Madama

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.[77] After
guiding him through the great art museums and galleries of Italy,[77]
she accompanied him on a ten-week big-game hunting safari on the
slopes of
Mount Kenya

Mount Kenya in East Africa,[78] where he was credited with
over sixty kills, including two lions, a rhinoceros, and various
antelopes.[79][80] His safari experience in Africa had a profound
influence on Cooper and intensified his love of the wilderness.[80]
After returning to Europe, he and the countess set off on a
Mediterranean cruise of the Italian and French Rivieras.[81] Rested
and rejuvenated by his year-long exile, a healthy Cooper returned to
Hollywood in April 1932[82] and negotiated a new contract with
Paramount for two films per year, a salary of $4,000 a week, and
director and script approval.[83]
Cooper and
Helen Hayes

Helen Hayes in A Farewell to Arms, 1932
In 1932, after completing
Devil and the Deep

Devil and the Deep with
Tallulah Bankhead

Tallulah Bankhead to
fulfill his old contract,[84] Cooper appeared in A Farewell to
Arms,[85] the first film adaptation of an
Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway novel.[86]
Co-starring Helen Hayes, a leading New York theatre star and Academy
Award winner,[87] and Adolphe Menjou, the film presented Cooper with
one of his most ambitious and challenging dramatic roles,[87] playing
an American ambulance driver wounded in Italy who falls in love with
an English nurse during World War I.[85] Critics praised his highly
intense and emotional performance,[88][89] and the film became one of
the year's most commercially successful pictures.[87] In 1933, after
making
Today We Live

Today We Live with
Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford and
One Sunday Afternoon

One Sunday Afternoon with
Fay Wray, Cooper appeared in the
Ernst Lubitsch

Ernst Lubitsch comedy film Design for
Living, based on the successful
Noël Coward

Noël Coward play.[90][91] Co-starring
Miriam Hopkins

Miriam Hopkins and Fredric March,[92] the film received mixed reviews
and did not do well at the box office.[93] Cooper's
performance—playing an American artist in Europe competing with his
playwright friend for the affections of a beautiful woman—was
singled out for its versatility[94] and revealed his genuine ability
to do light comedy.[95] Cooper changed his name legally to "Gary
Cooper" in August 1933.[96]
Anna Sten

Anna Sten and Cooper in The Wedding Night, 1935
In 1934, Cooper was loaned out to MGM for the Civil War drama film
Operator 13

Operator 13 with Marion Davies, about a beautiful Union spy who falls
in love with a Confederate soldier.[97] Despite Richard Boleslawski's
imaginative direction and George J. Folsey's lavish cinematography,
the film did poorly at the box office.[98] Back at Paramount, Cooper
appeared in his first of seven films by director Henry Hathaway,[99]
Now and Forever, with
Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard and Shirley Temple.[100] 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.[101] Impressed by Temple's intelligence and charm, Cooper
developed a close rapport with her, both on and off screen.[99][Note
2] The film was a box-office success.[98]
The following year, Cooper was loaned out to Samuel Goldwyn
Productions to appear in King Vidor's romance film The Wedding Night
with Anna Sten,[102] who was being groomed as "another
Garbo".[103][104] 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.[102] Cooper delivered a
performance of surprising range and depth, according to biographer
Larry Swindell.[105] Despite receiving generally favorable
reviews,[106] 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.[105] That same year, Cooper appeared in
two
Henry Hathaway

Henry Hathaway films: the melodrama
Peter Ibbetson

Peter Ibbetson with Ann
Harding, about a man caught up in a dream world created by his love
for a childhood sweetheart,[107] and the adventure film The Lives of a
Bengal

Bengal Lancer, about a daring British officer and his men who defend
their stronghold at
Bengal

Bengal against rebellious local tribes.[108] While
the former was more successful in Europe than in the United States,
the latter was nominated for six Academy Awards[109] and became one of
Cooper's most popular and successful adventure films.[110][111]
Hathaway had the highest respect for Cooper's acting ability, calling
him "the best actor of all of them".[99]
American folk hero, 1936–43[edit]
From Mr. Deeds to The Real Glory[edit]
Cooper and
Jean Arthur

Jean Arthur in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, 1936
Cooper's career took an important turn in 1936.[112] After making
Frank Borzage's romantic comedy film Desire with
Marlene Dietrich
_(Cropped).png/500px-Marlene_Dietrich_in_No_Highway_(1951)_(Cropped).png)
Marlene Dietrich at
Paramount—in which he delivered a performance considered by some
contemporary critics as one of his finest[112]—Cooper returned to
Poverty Row for the first time since his early silent film days to
make Frank Capra's screwball comedy
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town with Jean
Arthur for Columbia Pictures.[113] In the film, Cooper plays the
character of 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 where he faces a world of corruption
and deceit.[114] Capra and screenwriter
Robert Riskin

Robert Riskin were able to use
Cooper's well-established screen persona as the "quintessential
American hero"[112]—a symbol of honesty, courage, and
goodness[115][116][117]—to create a new type of "folk hero" for the
common man.[112][118] Commenting on Cooper's impact on the character
and the film, Capra observed:
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 uncorruptibility, and in my
mind
Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper was that symbol.[119]
Both Desire and Mr. Deeds opened in April 1936 to critical praise and
were major box-office successes.[120] In his review in The New York
Times,
Frank Nugent wrote that Cooper was "proving himself one of the
best light comedians in Hollywood".[121] For his performance in Mr.
Deeds, Cooper received his first
Academy Award

Academy Award nomination for Best
Actor.[122]
Cooper and
Jean Arthur

Jean Arthur in The Plainsman, 1936
Cooper appeared in two other Paramount films in 1936. In Lewis
Milestone's adventure film
The General Died at Dawn

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.[123][124] Written by playwright Clifford Odets, the film was
a critical and commercial success.[123][125] In Cecil B. DeMille's
sprawling frontier epic The Plainsman—his first of four films with
the director—Cooper portrays
Wild Bill Hickok

Wild Bill Hickok in a highly
fictionalized version of the opening of the American western
frontier.[126] The film was an even greater box-office hit than its
predecessor,[127] due in large part to Jean Arthur's definitive
depiction of
Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane and Cooper's inspired portrayal of Hickock
as an enigmatic figure of "deepening mythic substance".[128] That
year, Cooper appeared for the first time on the Motion Picture Herald
exhibitor's poll of top ten film personalities, where he would remain
for the next twenty-three years.[129]
In late 1936, Paramount was preparing a new contract for Cooper that
would raise his salary to $8,000 a week[130] when Cooper signed a
contract with Samuel Goldwyn for six films over six years with a
minimum guarantee of $150,000 per picture.[131] 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.[132] 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
$8.49 million in 2017).[131][133][134]
In contrast to his output the previous year, Cooper appeared in only
one picture in 1937, Henry Hathaway's adventure film Souls at
Sea.[135] A critical and box-office failure,[136] Cooper referred to
it as his "almost picture", saying, "It was almost exciting, and
almost interesting. And I was almost good."[136] In 1938, he appeared
in Archie Mayo's biographical film The Adventures of Marco Polo.[137]
Plagued by production problems and a weak screenplay,[138] the film
became Goldwyn's biggest failure to that date, losing $700,000.[139]
During this period, Cooper turned down several important roles,[140]
including the role of
Rhett Butler

Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind.[141] Cooper
was producer David O. Selznick's first choice for the part.[141] He
made several overtures to the actor,[142] but Cooper had doubts about
the project,[142] and did not feel suited to the role.[129] Cooper
later admitted, "It was one of the best roles ever offered in
Hollywood ... But I said no. I didn't see myself as quite that
dashing, and later, when I saw
Clark Gable

Clark Gable play the role to
perfection, I knew I was right."[129][Note 3]
Cooper and
Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert in Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, 1938
Back at Paramount, Cooper returned to a more comfortable genre in
Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) with
Claudette Colbert.[139][145] 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.[146] Despite the clever screenplay by
Charles Brackett and Billy
Wilder,[147] and solid performances by Cooper and Colbert,[145]
American audiences had trouble accepting Cooper in the role of a
shallow philanderer.[147] After all, it succeeded only in the European
market.[147] 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.[148] The efforts of three directors and several eminent
screenwriters could not salvage what could have been a fine vehicle
for Cooper.[149] While more successful than its predecessor, the film
was Cooper's fourth consecutive box-office failure in the American
market.[150]
In the next two years, Cooper was more discerning about the roles he
accepted and made four successful large-scale adventure and cowboy
films.[150] 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

Sahara to fight local tribes.[151] Filmed in the
same
Mojave Desert
.jpg)
Mojave Desert locations as the original 1926 version with Ronald
Colman,[150][152] Beau Geste provided Cooper with magnificent sets,
exotic settings, high-spirited action, and a role tailored to his
personality and screen persona.[153] This was the last film in
Cooper's contract with Paramount.[153] 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.[154] Many film
critics praised Cooper's performance, including author and film critic
Graham Greene

Graham Greene who recognized that he "never acted better".[155]
From The Westerner to For Whom the Bell Tolls[edit]
Cooper returned to the Western genre in William Wyler's The Westerner
(1940) with
Walter Brennan

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".[155][156] Screenwriter Niven
Busch relied on Cooper's extensive knowledge of Western history while
working on the script.[157] The film received positive reviews and did
well at the box-office,[158] with reviewers praising the performances
of the two lead actors.[159] That same year, Cooper appeared in his
first all-
Technicolor

Technicolor feature,[160] Cecil B. DeMille's adventure film
North West Mounted Police (1940).[161][Note 4] 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

Royal Canadian Mounted Police who are after
the same man, a leader of the North-West Rebellion.[163] While not as
popular with critics as its predecessor,[164] the film was another
box-office success—the sixth-highest-grossing film of
1940.[158][165]
Edward Arnold, Barbara Stanwyck, Cooper, and
Walter Brennan

Walter Brennan in Meet
John Doe, 1941
The early 1940s were Cooper's prime years as an actor.[166] In a
relatively short period, he appeared in five critically successful and
popular films that produced some of his finest performances.[166] When
Frank Capra

Frank Capra offered him the lead role in
Meet John Doe

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."[167] 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.[168] Considered by some critics to be Capra's best
film at the time,[169]
Meet John Doe

Meet John Doe was received as a "national
event"[169] with Cooper appearing on the front cover of Time magazine
on March 3, 1941.[170] In his review in the New York Herald Tribune,
Howard Barnes called Cooper's performance a "splendid and utterly
persuasive portrayal"[171] and praised his "utterly realistic acting
which comes through with such authority".[170] Bosley Crowther, in The
New York Times, wrote, "Gary Cooper, of course, is 'John Doe' to the
life and in the whole—shy, bewildered, non-aggressive, but a
veritable tiger when aroused."[172]
Joan Fontaine

Joan Fontaine and Cooper at the Academy Awards, 1942
That same year, Cooper made two films with director and good friend
Howard Hawks.[173] In the biographical film Sergeant York, Cooper
portrays war hero Alvin C. York,[174] one of the most decorated
American soldiers in World War I.[175] 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.[174][176] Initially, Cooper was nervous and
uncertain about playing a living hero, so he traveled to
Tennessee

Tennessee to
visit York at his home, and the two quiet men established an immediate
rapport and discovered they had much in common.[177] 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".[178] 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".[179] York admired Cooper's performance and
helped promote the film for Warner Bros.[180] Sergeant York became the
top-grossing film of the year and was nominated for eleven Academy
Awards.[179][181] Accepting his first
Academy Award

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 sixteen
years and sometimes dreamed I might get one of these. That's all I can
say ... Funny when I was dreaming I always made a better speech."[181]
Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck and Cooper in Ball of Fire, 1941
Cooper concluded the year back at Goldwyn with
Howard Hawks

Howard Hawks to make
the romantic comedy
Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire with Barbara Stanwyck.[182] 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.[183] The
screenplay by
Charles Brackett and
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder provided Cooper the
opportunity to exercise the full range of his light comedy
skills.[183] 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".[184]
Though small in scale,
Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire was one of the top-grossing films
of the year[185]—Cooper's fourth consecutive picture to make the top
twenty.[185]
Cooper's only film appearance in 1942 was also his last under his
Goldwyn contract.[186] In Sam Wood's biographical film The Pride of
the Yankees,[187] Cooper portrays baseball star
Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig who
established a record with the
New York Yankees

New York Yankees for playing in 2,130
consecutive games.[188] Cooper was reluctant to play the seven-time
All-Star, who only died the previous year from amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS) —now commonly called "Lou Gehrig's disease".[189]
Beyond the challenges of effectively portraying such a popular and
nationally recognized figure, Cooper knew very little about
baseball[190] and was not left-handed like Gehrig.[189] After Gehrig's
widow visited the actor and expressed her desire that he portray her
husband,[189] Cooper accepted the role that covered a twenty-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.[191] Cooper quickly learned the physical movements of a baseball
player and developed a fluid, believable swing.[192] The handedness
issue was solved by reversing the print for certain batting
scenes.[193] The film was one of the year's top ten pictures[194] and
received eleven
Academy Award

Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and
Best Actor (Cooper's third).[195]
Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman and Cooper in For Whom the Bell Tolls, 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,[196] an American explosives expert who fights alongside the
Republican loyalists during the Spanish Civil War.[197] The original
director, Cecil B. DeMille, was replaced by
Sam Wood

Sam Wood who brought in
Dudley Nichols for the screenplay.[196] After the start of principal
photography in the Sierra Nevada in late 1942,
Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman was
brought in to replace ballerina
Vera Zorina

Vera Zorina as the female lead—a
change supported by Cooper and Hemingway.[198] The love scenes between
Bergman and Cooper were "rapturous" and passionate.[199][200] Howard
Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune wrote that both actors performed
with "the true stature and authority of stars".[201] While the film
distorted the novel's original political themes and meaning,[202][203]
For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls was a critical and commercial success and
received ten
Academy Award

Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and
Best Actor (Cooper's fourth).[200]
Cooper signing an autograph for a servicewoman in
Brisbane

Brisbane during his
tour of the South West Pacific, November 1943
Due to his age and health, Cooper did not serve in the military during
World War II,[166] but like many of his colleagues, he got involved in
the war effort by entertaining the troops.[194] In June 1943, he
visited military hospitals in San Diego,[194] and often appeared at
the
Hollywood Canteen

Hollywood Canteen serving food to the servicemen.[204] In late
1943, Cooper undertook a 23,000-mile (37,000 km) tour of the
South West Pacific with actresses
Una Merkel

Una Merkel and Phyllis Brooks, and
accordionist Andy Arcari.[194][204][205] Traveling on a B-24A
Liberator bomber,[194] the group toured the Cook Islands, Fiji, New
Caledonia, Queensland, Brisbane—where General
Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur told
Cooper he was watching Sergeant York in a Manila theater when Japanese
bombs began falling[194]—New Guinea, Jayapura, and throughout the
Solomon Islands.[206] The group often shared the same sparse living
conditions and K-rations as the troops.[207] Cooper met with the
servicemen and women, visited military hospitals, introduced his
attractive colleagues, and participated in occasional skits.[207] The
shows concluded with Cooper's moving recitation of Lou Gehrig's
farewell speech.[207] When he returned to the United States, he
visited military hospitals throughout the country.[207] Cooper later
called his time with the troops the "greatest emotional experience" of
his life.[205]
Mature roles, 1944–52[edit]
Cooper and
Loretta Young

Loretta Young in Along Came Jones, 1945
In 1944, Cooper appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's wartime adventure film
The Story of Dr. Wassell

The Story of Dr. Wassell with Laraine Day—his third movie with the
director.[208] 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.[209] Despite receiving poor
reviews, Dr. Wassell was one of the top-grossing films of the
year.[210] 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.[211] The fledgling studio's first offering was Sam
Wood's romantic comedy
Casanova Brown

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.[212] The film received poor
reviews,[213] with the New York Daily News calling it "delightful
nonsense",[214] and Bosley Crowther, in The New York Times,
criticizing Cooper's "somewhat obvious and ridiculous clowning".[215]
The film was barely profitable.[216] In 1945, Cooper starred in and
produced Stuart Heisler's Western comedy Along Came Jones with Loretta
Young for International.[217] In this lighthearted parody of his past
heroic image,[218] Cooper plays comically inept cowboy Melody Jones
who is mistaken for a ruthless killer.[218] Audiences embraced
Cooper's character, and the film was one of the top box-office
pictures of the year—a testament to Cooper's still vital audience
appeal.[219] It was also International's biggest financial success
during its brief history before being sold off to
Universal Studios

Universal Studios in
1946.[220]
Cooper and
Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman in Saratoga Trunk, 1945
Cooper's career during the post-war years drifted in new directions as
American society was changing.[221] 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.[222] In November 1945,
Cooper appeared in Sam Wood's nineteenth-century period drama Saratoga
Trunk with Ingrid Bergman, about a Texas cowboy and his relationship
with a beautiful fortune-hunter.[223] Filmed in early 1943, the
movie's release was delayed for two years due to the increased demand
for war movies.[224] Despite poor reviews,
Saratoga Trunk

Saratoga Trunk did well at
the box office[225] and became one of the top money-makers of the year
for Warner Bros.[226] Cooper's only film in 1946 was Fritz Lang's
romantic thriller Cloak and Dagger, about a mild-mannered physics
professor recruited by the OSS during the last years of World War II
to investigate the German atomic bomb program.[227] Playing a part
loosely based on physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer,[228] Cooper was
uneasy with the role and was unable to convey the "inner sense" of the
character.[229] The film received poor reviews and was a box-office
failure.[230] In 1947, Cooper appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's epic
adventure film
Unconquered

Unconquered with Paulette Goddard, about a Virginia
militiaman who defends settlers against an unscrupulous gun trader and
hostile Indians on the Western frontier during the eighteenth
century.[231] The film received mixed reviews, but even long-time
DeMille critic
James Agee

James Agee acknowledged the picture had "some authentic
flavor of the period".[232] This last of four films made with DeMille
was Cooper's most lucrative, earning the actor over $300,000 (equal to
$3,287,928 today) in salary and percentage of profits.[233]
Unconquered

Unconquered would be his last unqualified box-office success for the
next five years.[232]
Cooper in The Fountainhead, 1949
In 1948, after making Leo McCarey's romantic comedy Good Sam,[234]
Cooper sold his company to
Universal Studios

Universal Studios and signed a long-term
contract with
Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. that gave him script and director approval
and a guaranteed $295,000 (equal to $3,004,751 today) per
picture.[235] His first film under the new contract was King Vidor's
drama
The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead (1949) with
Patricia Neal

Patricia Neal and Raymond
Massey.[236] 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.[237] Based on the novel by
Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand who also wrote the
screenplay, the film reflects her Objectivist philosophy and attacks
the concepts of altruism and collectivism while promoting the virtues
of selfishness and individualism.[238] For most critics, Cooper was
hopelessly miscast in the role of Howard Roark.[239] In his review for
The New York Times,
Bosley Crowther concluded he was "Mr. Deeds out of
his element".[240] 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.[241] Cooper's performance and the
Technicolor

Technicolor newsreel footage supplied by the United States Navy made
the film one of Cooper's most popular during this period.[242] In the
next two years, Cooper made four poorly received films: Michael
Curtiz' period drama
Bright Leaf

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).[243]
Cooper and
Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly in High Noon, 1952
Cooper's most important film during the post-war years was Fred
Zinnemann's Western drama
High Noon

High Noon (1952) with
Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly for United
Artists.[244] In the film, Cooper plays retiring sheriff
Will Kane

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.[245] During the filming, Cooper was in poor
health and in considerable pain from stomach ulcers.[246] His ravaged
face and discomfort in some scenes "photographed as self-doubt",
according to biographer Hector Arce,[247] and contributed to the
effectiveness of his performance.[246] Considered one of the first
"adult" Westerns for its theme of moral courage,[248] High Noon
received enthusiastic reviews for its artistry, with Time magazine
placing it in the ranks of Stagecoach and The Gunfighter.[249] Bosley
Crowther, in The New York Times, wrote that Cooper was "at the top of
his form",[250] and John McCarten, in The New Yorker, wrote that
Cooper was never more effective.[251] The film earned $3.75 million in
the United States[249] and $18 million worldwide.[252] Following the
example of his friend James Stewart,[253] Cooper accepted a lower
salary in exchange for a percent of the profits, and ended up making
$600,000.[252] Cooper's understated performance was widely
praised,[247][251] and earned him his second
Academy Award

Academy Award for Best
Actor.[254][Note 5]
Later films, 1953–61[edit]
After appearing in André de Toth's Civil War drama Springfield Rifle
(1952)[256]—a standard
Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. film that was overshadowed by
the success of its predecessor[257]—Cooper made four films outside
the United States.[258] 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.[259] Cooper endured spartan living conditions, long
hours, and ill health during the three-month location shoot on the
island of
Upolu

Upolu in Western Samoa.[260] Despite its beautiful
cinematography, the film received poor reviews.[261] Cooper's next
three films were shot in Mexico.[258] In Hugo Fregonese's action
adventure film
Blowing Wild

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.[262] 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.[263] That same year, he appeared in Robert
Aldrich's Western adventure Vera Cruz with Burt Lancaster. In the
film, Cooper plays an American adventurer hired by Emperor Maximilian
I to escort a countess to Vera Cruz during the Mexican Rebellion of
1866.[264] All of these films received poor reviews but did well at
the box-office.[265] For his work in Vera Cruz, Cooper earned $1.4
million in salary and percent of the gross.[266]
Cooper and
Dorothy McGuire

Dorothy McGuire in Friendly Persuasion, 1956
During this period, Cooper struggled with health problems. As well as
his ongoing treatment for ulcers, he suffered a severe shoulder injury
during the filming of
Blowing Wild

Blowing Wild when he was hit by metal fragments
from a dynamited oil well.[266] During the filming of Vera Cruz, he
reinjured his hip falling from a horse, and was burned when Lancaster
fired his rifle too close and the wadding from the blank shell pierced
his clothing.[266] In 1955, he appeared in Otto Preminger's
biographical war drama The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, about the
World War I

World War I 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.[267] Some critics felt that
Cooper was miscast,[268] and that his dull, tight-lipped performance
did not reflect Mitchell's dynamic and caustic personality.[269] In
1956, Cooper was more effective playing a gentle Indiana Quaker in
William Wyler's Civil War drama Friendly Persuasion with Dorothy
McGuire.[270] Like Sergeant York and High Noon, the film addresses the
conflict between religious pacifism and civic duty.[271] For his
performance, Cooper received his second Golden Globe nomination for
Best Motion Picture Actor.[272] The film was nominated for six Academy
Awards, was awarded the
Palme d'Or
.svg/331px-Blason_ville_fr_Cannes_(Alpes-Maritimes).svg.png)
Palme d'Or at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival,
and went on to earn $8 million worldwide.[271][273]
Cooper and
Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn in Love in the Afternoon, 1957
In 1956, Cooper traveled to France to make Billy Wilder's romantic
comedy Love in the Afternoon with
Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn and Maurice
Chevalier.[274] In the film, Cooper plays a middle-aged American
playboy in Paris who pursues and eventually falls in love with a much
younger woman.[275] Despite receiving some positive
reviews—including from
Bosley Crowther who praised the film's
"charming performances"[276]—most reviewers concluded that Cooper
was simply too old for the part.[277] While audiences may not have
welcomed seeing Cooper's heroic screen image tarnished by his playing
an aging roué trying to seduce an innocent young girl, the film was
still a box-office success.[277] The following year, Cooper appeared
in Philip Dunne's romantic drama Ten North Frederick.[278] In the
film, which was based on the novel by John O'Hara,[279] Cooper plays
an attorney whose life is ruined by a double-crossing politician and
his own secret affair with his daughter's young roommate.[278] While
Cooper brought "conviction and controlled anguish" to his performance,
according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers,[279] it was not enough to save
what
Bosley Crowther called a "hapless film".[280]
Cooper in Man of the West, 1958
Despite his ongoing health problems and several operations for ulcers
and hernias, Cooper continued to work in action films.[281] In 1958,
he appeared in Anthony Mann's Western drama
Man of the West

Man of the West (1958)
with
Julie London

Julie London and Lee J. Cobb, about a reformed outlaw and killer
who is forced to confront his violent past when the train he is riding
in is held up by his former gang members.[282] The film has been
called Cooper's "most pathological Western", with its themes of
impotent rage, sexual humiliation, and sadism.[279] 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 integrity ... [and] brought authentic feeling to the
role of a tempted and tormented, yet essentially decent man".[283]
Mostly ignored by critics at the time, the film is now well-regarded
by film scholars[284] and is considered Cooper's last great film.[280]
After his
Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. contract ended, Cooper formed his own
production company, Baroda Productions, and made three unusual films
in 1959 about redemption.[285] 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.[286] 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.[287] In Robert Rossen's historical adventure
They Came to Cordura

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

Medal of Honor during the Pancho Villa
Expedition of 1916.[288] While Cooper received positive reviews,
Variety and Films in Review felt he was too old for the part.[289] 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 in order to prove the
vessel was deliberately scuttled and to redeem his good name.[290]
Like its two predecessors, the film was physically demanding.[291]
Cooper, who was a trained scuba diver, did most of his own underwater
scenes.[291] Biographer Jeffrey Meyers observed that in all three
roles, Cooper effectively conveyed the sense of lost honor and desire
for redemption[292]—what
Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad in
Lord Jim

Lord Jim called the
"struggles of an individual trying to save from the fire his idea of
what his moral identity should be".[292][293]
Personal life[edit]
Marriage and family[edit]
Veronica Balfe and Cooper, November 1933
Cooper was formally introduced to his future wife, twenty-year-old New
York debutante Veronica Balfe,[Note 6] on Easter Sunday 1933 at a
party given by her uncle, art director Cedric Gibbons.[295][296][297]
Called "Rocky" by her family and friends, she grew up on Park Avenue
and attended finishing schools.[298] Her stepfather was Wall Street
tycoon Paul Shields.[298] Cooper and Rocky were quietly married at her
parents'
Park Avenue

Park Avenue residence on December 15, 1933.[299] According to
his friends, the marriage had a positive impact on Cooper, who turned
away from past indiscretions and took control of his life.[300]
Athletic and a lover of the outdoors, Rocky shared many of Cooper's
interests, including riding, skiing, and skeet-shooting.[301] She
organized their social life, and her wealth and social connections
provided Cooper access to New York high society.[302] Cooper and his
wife owned homes in the
Los Angeles

Los Angeles area in Encino (1933–36),[300]
Brentwood (1936–53),[300] and Holmby Hills (1954–61),[303] and
owned a vacation home in
Aspen, Colorado

Aspen, Colorado (1949–53).[304][Note 7]
Gary and Veronica Cooper's daughter, Maria Veronica Cooper, was born
on September 15, 1937.[305] By all accounts, he was a patient and
affectionate father, teaching Maria to ride a bicycle, play tennis,
ski, and ride horses.[305] Sharing many of her parents' interests, she
accompanied them on their travels and was often photographed with
them.[305] Like her father, she developed a love for art and
drawing.[306][Note 8] 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.[302] Cooper
and Rocky were legally separated on May 16, 1951, when Cooper moved
out of their home.[307] For over two years, they maintained a fragile
and uneasy family life with their daughter.[308] Cooper moved back
into their home in November 1953,[309][310] and their formal
reconciliation occurred in February 1954.[266]
Romantic relationships[edit]
Patricia Neal

Patricia Neal and Cooper in The Fountainhead, 1949
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.[311][Note 9] Bow was also responsible for getting
Cooper a role in Wings, which generated an enormous amount of fan mail
for the young actor.[315] In 1928, he had a relationship with another
experienced actress, Evelyn Brent, whom he met while filming Beau
Sabreur.[316] 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.[317] During their two years together, Cooper also
had brief affairs with
Marlene Dietrich
_(Cropped).png/500px-Marlene_Dietrich_in_No_Highway_(1951)_(Cropped).png)
Marlene Dietrich while filming Morocco in
1930[318] and with
Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard while making I Take This Woman in
1931.[319] During his year abroad in 1931–32, Cooper had an affair
with the married Countess Dorothy di Frasso, while staying at her
Villa Madama

Villa Madama in Rome.[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.[320] Their
relationship lasted through the completion of filming Saratoga Trunk
in June 1943.[321] In 1948, after finishing work on The Fountainhead,
Cooper began an affair with actress Patricia Neal, his co-star.[322]
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.[323][324] Cooper and his
wife were legally separated in May 1951,[307] but he did not seek a
divorce.[325] 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.[326] Neal ended
their relationship in late December 1951.[327] During his three-year
separation from his wife, Cooper was rumored to have had affairs with
Grace Kelly,[328] Lorraine Chanel,[329] and Gisèle Pascal.[330]
Friendships, interests, and character[edit]
For me 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 everybody ...[331]
— Gary Cooper
Ernest Hemingway, Bobbi Powell, and Cooper at Silver Creek, Idaho,
1959
Cooper's twenty-year friendship with
Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway began at Sun
Valley in October 1940.[332] 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.[333] The two shared a passion for the
outdoors,[332] 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.[334] As well as admiring Cooper's hunting skills and
knowledge of the outdoors, Hemingway believed his character matched
his screen persona,[332] once telling a friend, "If you made up a
character like Coop, nobody would believe it. He's just too good to be
true."[334] They saw each other often, and their friendship remained
strong through the years.[335][Note 10]
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.[337][338][339] As well as hunting, Cooper
enjoyed riding, fishing, skiing, and later in life, scuba
diving.[340][341] 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.[342] Cooper owned several
works by Pablo Picasso, whom he met in 1956.[342] Cooper also had a
lifelong passion for automobiles, with a collection that included a
1930 Duesenberg.[343][344]
Cooper was naturally reserved and introspective, and loved the
solitude of outdoor activities.[345] Not unlike his screen persona,
his communication style frequently consisted of long silences[345]
with an occasional "yup" and "shucks".[346][347] He once said, "If
others have more interesting things to say than I have, I keep
quiet."[348] 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.[348] He was modest and unpretentious,[345] frequently
downplaying his acting abilities and career accomplishments.[349] His
friends and colleagues described him as charming, well-mannered, and
thoughtful, with a lively boyish sense of humor.[348] Cooper
maintained a sense of propriety throughout his career and never
misused his movie star status—never sought special treatment or
refused to work with a director or leading lady.[350] His close friend
Joel McCrea

Joel McCrea recalled, "Coop never fought, he never got mad, he never
told anybody off that I know of; everybody that worked with him liked
him."[350]
Political views[edit]
Like his father, Cooper was a conservative Republican; he voted for
Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge in 1924,
Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover in 1928 and 1932, and
campaigned for
Wendell Willkie
.jpg/440px-Wendell_Willkie_cph.3a38684_(cropped).jpg)
Wendell Willkie in 1940.[235] When Franklin D.
Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented fourth presidential term in 1944,
Cooper campaigned for
Thomas E. Dewey

Thomas E. Dewey and criticized Roosevelt for
being dishonest and adopting "foreign" ideas.[351] In a radio address
that he paid for himself just prior to the election,[351] Cooper said,
"I disagree with the
New Deal

New Deal belief that the America all of us love
is old and worn-out and finished—and has to borrow foreign notions
that don't even seem to work any too well where they come from ... Our
country is a young country that just has to make up its mind to be
itself again."[351][352] He also attended a Republican rally at the
Los Angeles

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that drew 93,000 Dewey supporters.[353]
Cooper was one of the founding members of the Motion Picture Alliance
for the Preservation of American Ideals,[354] a conservative
organization dedicated, according to its statement of principles, to
preserving the "American way of life" and opposing communism and
fascism.[355] The organization — whose membership included Walter
Brennan, Laraine Day, Walt Disney, Clark Gable, Hedda Hopper, Ronald
Reagan, Barbara Stanwyck, and
John Wayne

John Wayne — advised the United States
Congress to investigate communist influence in the motion picture
industry.[356] On October 23, 1947, Cooper appeared before the House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and was asked if he had
observed any "communistic influence" in Hollywood.[357] Cooper
recounted statements he'd heard suggesting that the Constitution was
out of date and that Congress was an unnecessary
institution—comments that Cooper said he found to be "very
un-American".[357] He also testified that he had rejected several
scripts because he thought they were "tinged with communist
ideas".[357] Unlike some other witnesses, Cooper did not name any
individuals during his testimony.[357][358]
Religion[edit]
Cooper was baptized in the Anglican Church in December 1911 in
England,[15] and was raised in the Episcopal Church in the United
States.[359] While he was never an observant Christian during his
adult life, many of his friends believed he had a deeply spiritual
side.[360]
On June 26, 1953, Cooper accompanied his wife and daughter, who were
devout Catholics,[361] to Rome, where they had an audience with Pope
Pius XII.[362] Cooper and his wife were still separated at the time,
but the papal visit marked the beginning of their gradual
reconciliation.[363] In the coming years, Cooper contemplated his
mortality and his personal behavior,[360] and started discussing
Catholicism

Catholicism with his family.[361][364] He began attending church with
them regularly,[364] and met with their parish priest, who offered
Cooper spiritual guidance.[360][364] After several months of study,
Cooper was baptized as a Roman Catholic on April 9, 1959, before a
small group of family and friends at the Church of the Good Shepherd
in Beverly Hills.[359][364]
Final year and death[edit]
Cooper's grave in Sacred Hearts Cemetery in Southampton, New York
On April 14, 1960, Cooper underwent surgery at Massachusetts General
Hospital in Boston for an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had
metastasized to his colon.[365] He fell ill again on May 31 and
underwent further surgery at Lebanon Hospital in
Los Angeles

Los Angeles in early
June to remove a malignant tumor from his large intestine.[365] After
recuperating over the summer, Cooper took his family on vacation to
the south of France[366] before traveling to England in the fall to
make his last film, The Naked Edge.[365] In December 1960, he worked
on the NBC television documentary The Real West,[367] which was part
of the company's Project 20 series.[368][Note 11] On December 27, his
wife learned from their family doctor that Cooper's cancer had spread
to his lungs and bones and was inoperable.[370] His family decided not
to tell him immediately.[371]
On January 9, 1961, Cooper attended a dinner that was given in his
honor and hosted by
Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra and
Dean Martin

Dean Martin at the Friars
Club.[367] The dinner was attended by many of his industry
friends[372] 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."[373] In mid-January, Cooper took his family to Sun Valley
for their last vacation together.[371] Cooper and Hemingway hiked
through the snow together for the last time.[374] On February 27,
after returning to Los Angeles, Cooper learned that he was dying.[375]
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."[376] 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 achievement—his third Oscar.[377] Speaking to Cooper, an
emotional Stewart said, "Coop, I want you to know I'll get it to you
right away. With it goes all the friendship and affection and the
admiration and deep respect of all of us. We're very, very proud of
you, Coop."[377][Note 12] The following day, newspapers around the
world announced the news that Cooper was dying.[335] In the coming
days he received numerous messages of appreciation and encouragement,
including telegrams from Pope John XXIII[379] and Queen Elizabeth
II,[346][379] and a telephone call from President John F.
Kennedy.[346][379]
In his last public statement on May 4, Cooper said, "I know that what
is happening is God's will. I am not afraid of the future."[380] He
received the last rites on May 12. Cooper died quietly the following
day, Saturday, May 13, 1961, at 12:47 p.m., six days after his
sixtieth birthday.[381][382] A requiem mass was held on May 18 at the
Church of the Good Shepherd, attended by many of Cooper's friends,
including James Stewart, Henry Hathaway, Joel McCrea, Audrey Hepburn,
Jack L. Warner, John Ford, John Wayne, Edward G. Robinson, Frank
Sinatra, Dean Martin, Randolph Scott, Walter Pidgeon,
Bob Hope

Bob Hope and
Marlene Dietrich.[383][Note 13] Cooper was buried in the Grotto of Our
Lady of Lourdes in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City,
California.[385] In May 1974, after his family relocated to New York,
Cooper's remains were exhumed and reburied in Sacred Hearts Cemetery
in Southampton.[386][387] His grave is marked by a three-ton boulder
from a Montauk quarry.[386]
Acting style and reputation[edit]
Naturalness is hard 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.[388]
— Gary Cooper
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

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."[180] Film
director
François Truffaut

François Truffaut ranked Cooper among "the greatest actors"
because of his ability to deliver great performances "without
direction".[180] 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
that he was simply "playing himself".[389]
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

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 learn—namely, to be natural."[87] Charles Laughton,
who played opposite Cooper in
Devil and the Deep

Devil and the Deep agreed, "In truth,
that boy hasn't the least idea how well he acts ... He gets at it from
the inside, from his own clear way of looking at life."[87] William
Wyler, who directed Cooper in two films, called him a "superb actor, a
master of movie acting".[390] In his review of Cooper's performance in
The Real Glory,
Graham Greene

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
cholera—the 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."[87]
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.[391] Commenting on Cooper's performance in Sergeant York,
director
Howard Hawks

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 think ... 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."[173] 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."[392] His fellow actors
also admired his abilities as an actor. Commenting on her two films
playing opposite Cooper, actress
Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman concluded, "The
personality of this man was so enormous, so overpowering—and 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."[199]
Career assessment and legacy[edit]
Cooper's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Cooper's career spanned thirty-six years, from 1925 to 1961.[393]
During that time, he appeared in eighty-four feature films in a
leading role.[394] 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,[395] 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.[129] 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.[396] He topped the
list in 1953.[396] In Quigley's list of all-time money-making stars,
Cooper is listed fourth, after John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Tom
Cruise.[396] At the time of his death, it was estimated that his films
grossed well over $200 million[393] (equivalent to $1.64 billion in
2017).
In over half of his feature films, Cooper portrayed Westerners,
soldiers, pilots, sailors, and explorers—all men of action.[389] In
the rest he played a wide range of characters, included doctors,
professors, artists, architects, clerks, and baseball players.[389]
Cooper's heroic screen image changed with each period of his
career.[397] 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).[397] 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).[397] 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).[397] In the post-war years,
Cooper attempted broader variations on his screen image, which now
reflected a hero increasingly at odds with the world who must face
adversity alone (
The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead and High Noon).[398] 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).[399] The screen persona he developed and sustained
throughout his career represented the ideal American hero—a tall,
handsome, and sincere man of steadfast integrity[400] who emphasized
action over intellect, and combined the heroic qualities of the
romantic lover, the adventurer, and the common man.[401]
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.[402] He was also awarded a star on the sidewalk outside the
Ellen Theater in Bozeman, Montana.[403] On May 6, 1961, he was awarded
the French Order of Arts and Letters in recognition of his significant
contribution to the arts.[367] On July 30, 1961, he was posthumously
awarded the
David di Donatello

David di Donatello
Special

Special Award in Italy for his career
achievements.[404] In 1966, he was inducted into the Hall of Great
Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage
Museum in Oklahoma City.[405] In 2015, he was inducted into the Utah
Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame.[406] The American Film
Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper eleventh on its list of the 25 male
stars of classic Hollywood.[407] Three of his characters—Will Kane,
Lou Gehrig, and Sergeant York—made AFI's list of the one hundred
greatest heroes and villains, all of them as heroes.[408] His Lou
Gehrig line, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of
the earth.", is ranked by AFI as the thirty-eighth greatest movie
quote of all time.[409] More than a half 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.[410]
Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston once observed, "He projected the
kind of man Americans would like to be, probably more than any actor
that's ever lived."[411]
Awards and nominations[edit]
Year
Award
Category
Film
Result
Ref
1937
Academy Award
Best Actor
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Nominated
[122]
1937
New York Film Critics Circle Award
Best Actor
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Nominated
[412]
1941
New York Film Critics Circle Award
Best Actor
Sergeant York
Won
[272]
1942
Academy Award
Best Actor
Sergeant York
Won
[413]
1943
Academy Award
Best Actor
The Pride of the Yankees
Nominated
[195]
1944
Academy Award
Best Actor
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Nominated
[414]
1952
Photoplay

Photoplay Award
Most Popular Male Star
High Noon
Won
[272]
1953
Academy Award
Best Actor
High Noon
Won
[415]
1953
Golden Globe Award
Best Actor
High Noon
Won
[272]
1957
Golden Globe Award
Best Actor
Friendly Persuasion
Nominated
[272]
1959
Laurel Awards
Top Action Performance
The Hanging Tree
Won
[416]
1960
Laurel Award
Top Action Performance
They Came to Cordura
Won
[416]
1961
Academy Award
Academy Honorary Award
—
Won
[378]
Filmography[edit]
Main article:
Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper filmography
The following is a list of feature films in which Cooper appeared in a
leading role.[417][418]
The Winning of Barbara Worth

The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)
Children of Divorce (1927)
Arizona Bound (1927)
Wings (1927)
Nevada (1927)
The Last Outlaw (1927)
Beau Sabreur

Beau Sabreur (1928)
The Legion of the Condemned

The Legion of the Condemned (1928)
Doomsday (1928)
Half a Bride

Half a Bride (1928)
Lilac Time (1928)
The First Kiss (1928)
The Shopworn Angel

The Shopworn Angel (1928)
Wolf Song

Wolf Song (1929)
Betrayal (1929)
The Virginian (1929)
Only the Brave (1930)
The Texan (1930)
Seven Days' Leave (1930)
A Man from Wyoming

A Man from Wyoming (1930)
The Spoilers (1930)
Morocco (1930)
Fighting Caravans

Fighting Caravans (1931)
City Streets (1931)
I Take This Woman (1931)
His Woman

His Woman (1931)
Devil and the Deep

Devil and the Deep (1932)
If I Had a Million

If I Had a Million (1932)
A Farewell to Arms (1932)
Today We Live

Today We Live (1933)
One Sunday Afternoon

One Sunday Afternoon (1933)
Design for Living (1933)
Alice in Wonderland (1933)
Operator 13

Operator 13 (1934)
Now and Forever (1934)
The Lives of a
Bengal

Bengal Lancer (1935)
The Wedding Night

The Wedding Night (1935)
Peter Ibbetson

Peter Ibbetson (1935)
Desire (1936)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
The General Died at Dawn

The General Died at Dawn (1936)
The Plainsman

The Plainsman (1936)
Souls at Sea

Souls at Sea (1937)
The Adventures of Marco Polo

The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938)
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
The Cowboy and the Lady (1938)
Beau Geste (1939)
The Real Glory

The Real Glory (1939)
The Westerner (1940)
North West Mounted Police (1940)
Meet John Doe

Meet John Doe (1941)
Sergeant York (1941)
Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire (1941)
The Pride of the Yankees

The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
The Story of Dr. Wassell

The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944)
Casanova Brown

Casanova Brown (1944)
Along Came Jones (1945)
Saratoga Trunk

Saratoga Trunk (1945)
Cloak and Dagger (1946)
Unconquered

Unconquered (1947)
Good Sam

Good Sam (1948)
The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead (1949)
Task Force (1949)
Bright Leaf

Bright Leaf (1950)
Dallas (1950)
You're in the Navy Now
_01.jpg)
You're in the Navy Now (1951)
It's a Big Country

It's a Big Country (1951)
Distant Drums

Distant Drums (1951)
High Noon

High Noon (1952)
Springfield Rifle (1952)
Return to Paradise (1953)
Blowing Wild

Blowing Wild (1953)
Garden of Evil

Garden of Evil (1954)
Vera Cruz (1954)
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
Friendly Persuasion (1956)
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Ten North Frederick

Ten North Frederick (1958)
Man of the West

Man of the West (1958)
The Hanging Tree

The Hanging Tree (1959)
They Came to Cordura

They Came to Cordura (1959)
The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
The Naked Edge

The Naked Edge (1961) (final role)
Radio appearances[edit]
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
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
^ Cooper's popularity is largely responsible for the popularity of the
given name Gary from the 1930s to the present day.[43]
^ Cooper bought the child actress toys and taught her how to draw
using colored pencils during setups. He found it mildly irritating to
be corrected by the five-year-old, who knew everyone's lines.[99]
^ Cooper also turned down the leading roles in John Ford's Stagecoach
(1939)[143] and Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940).[144]
^ Cooper previously appeared in the all-star feature Paramount on
Parade (1930), which included scenes in two-color Technicolor,
including his "Let Us Drink to the Girl of My Dreams" sequence.[162]
He also appeared as himself in the
Technicolor

Technicolor short films Star Night
at the Coconut Grove (1935) and
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara

La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1936).[37]
^
John Wayne

John Wayne accepted the Oscar for Cooper who was out of the country
at the time, saying, "Coop and I have been friends, hunting and
fishing, for more years than I like to remember. He's one of the
nicest fellows I know. I don't know anybody any nicer."[255]
^ Balfe worked briefly as an actress in 1933 using the professional
name Sandra Shaw.[294] She appeared in uncredited bit parts in No
Other Woman, King Kong, and Blood Money.[294]
^ After their wedding, Cooper and his wife lived on a 10-acre
(4.0 ha) ranch at 4723 White Oak Avenue in Encino, from 1933 to
1936.[300] In 1936, they built a large white Bermuda-Georgian house at
11940 Chaparal in Brentwood, where they lived from 1936 to 1953.[300]
In 1948, they purchased 15 acres (6.1 ha) of land in Aspen,
Colorado, and built a four-bedroom house, where they vacationed from
1949 to 1953.[304] In July 1953, they began building a lavish,
6,000-square-foot (560 m2) mansion on 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) of
land at 200 North Baroda Drive in Holmby Hills—a modernistic
four-bedroom house with an open floor plan, floor-to-ceiling windows,
and a sculpted garden.[303] They lived there from September 1954 until
his death.[303]
^ Maria attended the
Chouinard Art Institute in
Los Angeles

Los Angeles for four
years and became an artist, with exhibitions in
Los Angeles

Los Angeles and New
York.[306]
^ Cooper and Bow began their affair during the production of one of
her most popular films, It (1927), for which she had the studio film
an extra scene that included Cooper.[312] During the "It girl"
publicity campaign,[313] columnists started referring to Cooper as the
"It boy".[314]
^ Cooper's friendship with
Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway is explored in the
documentary Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen (2013).[336]
^ In March 1961, Cooper traveled to New York to record the off-camera
narration for the documentary—his last work as an actor.[369]
^ The award dedication read, "To
Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper for his many memorable
screen performances and the international recognition he, as an
individual, has gained for the motion picture industry."[378]
^ Hemingway was too ill to attend the funeral.[384] He took his own
life on July 2, 1961, less than two months after Cooper died.[384]
Citations[edit]
^ Meyers 1998, pp. 1, 4–5, 198, 259.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 1.
^ Arce 1979, pp. 17–18.
^ Meyers 1998, pp. 4–5.
^ Arce 1979, p. 18.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 10.
^ Meyers 1998, pp. 7–8.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 8.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 25.
^ a b Meyers 1998, p. 6.
^ Meyers 1998, pp. 10–12.
^ Benson 1986, pp. 191–195.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 19.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 21.
^ a b Meyers 1998, p. 13.
^ "
Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper Visits Dunstable". Dunstable Borough Gazette. March 30,
1932.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 29.
^ a b Meyers 1998, p. 17.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 33.
^ a b c Meyers 1998, p. 21.
^ a b Arce 1979, p. 21.
^ a b Meyers 1998, pp. 15–16.
^ a b Swindell 1980, p. 41.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 46.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 24.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 43.
^ Swindell 1980, pp. 47–48.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 49.
^ a b c Meyers 1998, p. 26.
^ Dickens 1970, p. 3.
^ a b Arce 1979, p. 23.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 52.
^ a b c Meyers 1998, p. 27.
^ a b Swindell 1980, p. 62.
^ a b c Swindell 1980, p. 63.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 61.
^ a b Dickens 1970, pp. 23–24.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 28.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 29.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 66.
^ Arce 1979, p. 25.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 67.
^ Hanks and Hodges 2003, p. 106.
^ Rainey 1990, p. 66.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 69.
^ a b Meyers 1998, p. 30.
^ Dickens 1970, p. 29.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 31.
^ Swindell 1980, pp. 73–74.
^ a b Meyers 1998, p. 32.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 74.
^ "The 1st Academy Awards, 1929". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences. Archived from the original on January 27, 2015. Retrieved
January 5, 2015.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 35, 39.
^ a b Arce 1979, p. 51.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 44.
^ a b Dickens 1970, p. 7.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 47.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 93.
^ a b c Swindell 1980, pp. 98–99.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 68–70.
^ Meyers 1998, pp. 51–52.
^ Meyers 1998, pp. 52–53.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 49.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 70–84.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 61.
^ a b c Dickens 1970, p. 9.
^ Meyers 1998, pp. 63–64.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 122.
^ Dickens 1970, p. 87.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 89–91.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 92–93.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 95–98.
^ a b Meyers 1998, p. 73.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 129.
^ a b Meyers 1998, p. 75.
^ Arce 1979, p. 71.
^ a b c Meyers 1998, p. 77.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 137.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 138.
^ a b Meyers 1998, p. 79.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 139.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 82.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 142.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 143.
^ a b Dickens 1970, pp. 106–108.
^ Baker 1969, p. 235.
^ a b c d e f Meyers 1998, p. 89.
^ Arce 1979, p. 95.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 152.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 95.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 163.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 115–116.
^ Dickens 1970, p. 116.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 96.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 165.
^ Arce 1979, p. 126.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 119–122.
^ a b Swindell 1980, p. 171.
^ a b c d Meyers 1998, p. 107.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 123–125.
^ Dickens 1970, p. 125.
^ a b Dickens 1970, pp. 126–128.
^ Arce 1979, p. 138.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 112.
^ a b Swindell 1980, p. 179.
^ Dickens 1970, p. 127.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 132–135.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 129–131.
^ Dickens 1970, p. 131.
^ Dickens 1970, p. 130.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 113.
^ a b c d Meyers 1998, p. 116.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 188.
^ Dickens 1970, p. 140.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 119.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 192.
^ Kaminsky 1979, p. 78.
^ Arce 1979, p. 144.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 190.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 121.
^ Nugent, Frank S. (April 17, 1936). "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town". The New
York Times. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved
December 18, 2014.
^ a b "The 9th Academy Awards, 1937". Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved
January 5, 2015.
^ a b Dickens 1970, pp. 144–146.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 203.
^ Swindell 1980, p. 202.
^ Dickens 1970, pp. 147–149.
^ Meyers 1998, p. 124.
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Bibliography[edit]
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Baker, Carlos (1969). Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story. New York:
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Dickens, Homer (1970). The Films of Gary Cooper. New York: Citadel
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Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia (2003). A Dictionary of First Names.
New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-192-11651-2.
Hoffmann, Henryk (2012). Western Movie References in American
Literature. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company.
ISBN 978-0-786-46638-2.
Janis, Maria Cooper (1999).
Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper Off Camera: A Daughter
Remembers. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
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Jordan, David M. (2011). FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
ISBN 978-0-253-00970-8.
Kaminsky, Stuart (1979). Coop: The Life and Legend of Gary Cooper. New
York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-16955-8.
McGilligan, Patrick (2003). Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and
Light. New York: Regan Books. ISBN 978-0-060-39322-9.
Meyers, Jeffrey (1998). Gary Cooper: American Hero. New York: William
Morrow. ISBN 978-0-688-15494-3.
Owens, Robert (2004). Medal of Honor: Historical Facts and Figures.
Nashville: Turner Publishing. ISBN 978-1-563-11995-8.
Rainey, Buck (1990). Those Fabulous Serial Heroines: Their Lives and
Films. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press.
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Roberts, Randy; Olson, James S. (1997). John Wayne: American. Lincoln,
Nebraska: Bison Books. ISBN 978-0-803-28970-3.
Schickel, Richard (1985). "Introduction". Gary Cooper. Legends.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-77307-2.
Selznick, David O. (2000). Rudy Behlmer, ed. Memo from David O.
Selznick. New York: Modern Library. ISBN 978-0-375-75531-6.
Shearer, Stephen Michael (2006). Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life.
Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.
ISBN 978-0-813-12391-2.
Swindell, Larry (1980). The Last Hero: A Biography of Gary Cooper. New
York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-14316-5.
Wayne, Jane Ellen (1988). Cooper's Women. New York: Prentice Hall
Press. ISBN 978-0-131-72438-9.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gary Cooper.
Official website
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Gary Cooper at the TCM Movie Database
Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper at AllMovie
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Emil Jannings

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Charles Laughton

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Clark Gable

Clark Gable (1934)
Victor McLaglen

Victor McLaglen (1935)
Paul Muni

Paul Muni (1936)
Spencer Tracy

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Spencer Tracy

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Robert Donat

Robert Donat (1939)
James Stewart
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James Stewart (1940)
Gary Cooper

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James Cagney

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Paul Lukas

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Bing Crosby

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Ray Milland

Ray Milland (1945)
Fredric March

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Ronald Colman

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Laurence Olivier

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Broderick Crawford

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Gary Cooper

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Marlon Brando (1954)
Ernest Borgnine

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Yul Brynner

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Alec Guinness

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David Niven

David Niven (1958)
Charlton Heston

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Burt Lancaster

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Gregory Peck

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Lee Marvin

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Rod Steiger

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John Wayne

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Gene Hackman

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Jack Lemmon

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Jack Nicholson

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Robert De Niro

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Paul Newman

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1 refused award that year
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Academy Honorary Award
1928–1950
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Charlie Chaplin

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The March of Time

The March of Time /
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Harold Rosson (1936)
Edgar Bergen

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J. Arthur Ball /
Walt Disney

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Deanna Durbin

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Mickey Rooney

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Bob Hope

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George Pal
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George Pal (1943)
Bob Hope

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Walter Wanger

Walter Wanger / The House I Live In / Peggy Ann Garner
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Harold Russell

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Laurence Olivier

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Ernst Lubitsch

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James Baskett

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and
George Kirke Spoor

George Kirke Spoor /
Bill and Coo / Shoeshine (1947)
Walter Wanger

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Monsieur Vincent

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Sid Grauman

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Adolph Zukor

Adolph Zukor (1948)
Jean Hersholt

Jean Hersholt /
Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire /
Cecil B. DeMille

Cecil B. DeMille / The Bicycle Thief
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Louis B. Mayer

Louis B. Mayer /
George Murphy

George Murphy /
The Walls of Malapaga (1950)
1951–1975
Gene Kelly

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Rashomon

Rashomon (1951)
Merian C. Cooper

Merian C. Cooper /
Bob Hope

Bob Hope /
Harold Lloyd

Harold Lloyd / George Mitchell / Joseph
M. Schenck /
Forbidden Games

Forbidden Games (1952)
20th Century-
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Bausch & Lomb Optical Company /
Danny Kaye

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Jon Whiteley

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Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1955)
Eddie Cantor

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Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers / Gilbert M.
"Broncho Billy" Anderson /
Charles Brackett /
B. B. Kahane (1957)
Maurice Chevalier

Maurice Chevalier (1958)
Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton /
Lee de Forest

Lee de Forest (1959)
Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper /
Stan Laurel

Stan Laurel /
Hayley Mills
.jpg/440px-Hayley_MIlls_and_Firdous_Bamji_at_the_Kennedy_Center,_Washington_D.C_(cropped).jpg)
Hayley Mills (1960)
William L. Hendricks / Fred L. Metzler /
Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins (1961)
William J. Tuttle

William J. Tuttle (1964)
Bob Hope

Bob Hope (1965)
Yakima Canutt

Yakima Canutt /
Y. Frank Freeman

Y. Frank Freeman (1966)
Arthur Freed (1967)
John Chambers /
Onna White (1968)
Cary Grant
_01_Crisco_edit.jpg/440px-Grant,_Cary_(Suspicion)_01_Crisco_edit.jpg)
Cary Grant (1969)
Lillian Gish

Lillian Gish /
Orson Welles

Orson Welles (1970)
Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin (1971)
Charles S. Boren /
Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson (1972)
Henri Langlois

Henri Langlois /
Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx (1973)
Howard Hawks

Howard Hawks /
Jean Renoir

Jean Renoir (1974)
Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford (1975)
1976–2000
Margaret Booth (1977)
Walter Lantz

Walter Lantz /
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier /
King Vidor

King Vidor / Museum of Modern Art
Department of Film (1978)
Hal Elias /
Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness (1979)
Henry Fonda
.JPG/440px-Henry_Fonda_as_Mr._Roberts_1948_(cropped).JPG)
Henry Fonda (1980)
Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck (1981)
Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney (1982)
Hal Roach
.jpg/440px-WP_Hal_Roach_1920_(cropped).jpg)
Hal Roach (1983)
James Stewart
_01.jpg/440px-Annex_-_Stewart,_James_(Call_Northside_777)_01.jpg)
James Stewart /
National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts (1984)
Paul Newman

Paul Newman /
Alex North (1985)
Ralph Bellamy

Ralph Bellamy (1986)
Eastman
Kodak

Kodak Company /
National Film Board of Canada

National Film Board of Canada (1988)
Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa (1989)
Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren /
Myrna Loy

Myrna Loy (1990)
Satyajit Ray
.jpg)
Satyajit Ray (1991)
Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini (1992)
Deborah Kerr

Deborah Kerr (1993)
Michelangelo Antonioni

Michelangelo Antonioni (1994)
Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas /
Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones (1995)
Michael Kidd

Michael Kidd (1996)
Stanley Donen

Stanley Donen (1997)
Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (1998)
Andrzej Wajda
.jpg/440px-Andrzej_Wajda_OFF_Plus_Camera_2012_(cropped).jpg)
Andrzej Wajda (1999)
Jack Cardiff

Jack Cardiff /
Ernest Lehman (2000)
2001–present
Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier /
Robert Redford
.jpg/440px-Robert_Redford_(cropped).jpg)
Robert Redford (2001)
Peter O'Toole

Peter O'Toole (2002)
Blake Edwards

Blake Edwards (2003)
Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet (2004)
Robert Altman

Robert Altman (2005)
Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone (2006)
Robert F. Boyle (2007)
Lauren Bacall
.jpg)
Lauren Bacall /
Roger Corman

Roger Corman /
Gordon Willis

Gordon Willis (2009)
Kevin Brownlow /
Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard /
Eli Wallach

Eli Wallach (2010)
James Earl Jones
.jpg/440px-James_Earl_Jones_(8516667383).jpg)
James Earl Jones / Dick Smith (2011)
D. A. Pennebaker

D. A. Pennebaker /
Hal Needham

Hal Needham /
George Stevens Jr.

George Stevens Jr. (2012)
Angela Lansbury
.jpg/440px-Angela_Lansbury_(8356239174).jpg)
Angela Lansbury /
Steve Martin

Steve Martin /
Piero Tosi (2013)
Jean-Claude Carrière

Jean-Claude Carrière /
Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki /
Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara (2014)
Spike Lee

Spike Lee /
Gena Rowlands

Gena Rowlands (2015)
Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan /
Lynn Stalmaster /
Anne V. Coates / Frederick Wiseman
(2016)
Charles Burnett /
Owen Roizman /
Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland / Agnès Varda
(2017)
v
t
e
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Paul Lukas

Paul Lukas (1943)
Alexander Knox
_trailer.jpg)
Alexander Knox (1944)
Ray Milland

Ray Milland (1945)
Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck (1946)
Ronald Colman

Ronald Colman (1947)
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier (1948)
Broderick Crawford

Broderick Crawford (1949)
José Ferrer

José Ferrer (1950)
Fredric March

Fredric March (1951)
Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper (1952)
Spencer Tracy

Spencer Tracy (1953)
Marlon Brando
.jpg/440px-Marlon_Brando_(cropped).jpg)
Marlon Brando (1954)
Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine (1955)
Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas (1956)
Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness (1957)
David Niven

David Niven (1958)
Anthony Franciosa

Anthony Franciosa (1959)
Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster (1960)
Maximilian Schell

Maximilian Schell (1961)
Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck (1962)
Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier (1963)
Peter O'Toole

Peter O'Toole (1964)
Omar Sharif

Omar Sharif (1965)
Paul Scofield

Paul Scofield (1966)
Rod Steiger

Rod Steiger (1967)
Peter O'Toole

Peter O'Toole (1968)
John Wayne

John Wayne (1969)
George C. Scott

George C. Scott (1970)
Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman (1971)
Marlon Brando
.jpg/440px-Marlon_Brando_(cropped).jpg)
Marlon Brando (1972)
Al Pacino

Al Pacino (1973)
Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (1974)
Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (1975)
Peter Finch

Peter Finch (1976)
Richard Burton

Richard Burton (1977)
Jon Voight

Jon Voight (1978)
Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman (1979)
Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro (1980)
Henry Fonda
.JPG/440px-Henry_Fonda_as_Mr._Roberts_1948_(cropped).JPG)
Henry Fonda (1981)
Ben Kingsley

Ben Kingsley (1982)
Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall /
Tom Courtenay

Tom Courtenay (1983)
F. Murray Abraham

F. Murray Abraham (1984)
Jon Voight

Jon Voight (1985)
Bob Hoskins

Bob Hoskins (1986)
Michael Douglas

Michael Douglas (1987)
Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman (1988)
Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise (1989)
Jeremy Irons
_(cropped).jpg/440px-SDCC_2015_-_Jeremy_Irons_(19524260758)_(cropped).jpg)
Jeremy Irons (1990)
Nick Nolte

Nick Nolte (1991)
Al Pacino

Al Pacino (1992)
Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks (1993)
Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks (1994)
Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage (1995)
Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush (1996)
Peter Fonda

Peter Fonda (1997)
Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey (1998)
Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington (1999)
Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks (2000)
Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe (2001)
Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (2002)
Sean Penn
.jpg)
Sean Penn (2003)
Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio (2004)
Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman (2005)
Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker (2006)
Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis (2007)
Mickey Rourke

Mickey Rourke (2008)
Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges (2009)
Colin Firth

Colin Firth (2010)
George Clooney

George Clooney (2011)
Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis (2012)
Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey (2013)
Eddie Redmayne

Eddie Redmayne (2014)
Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio (2015)
Casey Affleck
_(cropped).jpg/440px-Casey_Affleck_at_the_Manchester_by_the_Sea_premiere_(30199719155)_(cropped).jpg)
Casey Affleck (2016)
Gary Oldman
.jpg/440px-Gary_Oldman_in_2017_(36334517524).jpg)
Gary Oldman (2017)
v
t
e
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton (1935)
Walter Huston

Walter Huston (1936)
Paul Muni

Paul Muni (1937)
James Cagney

James Cagney (1938)
James Stewart
_01.jpg/440px-Annex_-_Stewart,_James_(Call_Northside_777)_01.jpg)
James Stewart (1939)
Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin (1940)
Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper (1941)
James Cagney

James Cagney (1942)
Paul Lukas

Paul Lukas (1943)
Barry Fitzgerald

Barry Fitzgerald (1944)
Ray Milland

Ray Milland (1945)
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier (1946)
William Powell

William Powell (1947)
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier (1948)
Broderick Crawford

Broderick Crawford (1949)
Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck (1950)
Arthur Kennedy

Arthur Kennedy (1951)
Ralph Richardson

Ralph Richardson (1952)
Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster (1953)
Marlon Brando
.jpg/440px-Marlon_Brando_(cropped).jpg)
Marlon Brando (1954)
Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine (1955)
Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas (1956)
Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness (1957)
David Niven

David Niven (1958)
James Stewart
_01.jpg/440px-Annex_-_Stewart,_James_(Call_Northside_777)_01.jpg)
James Stewart (1959)
Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster (1960)
Maximilian Schell

Maximilian Schell (1961)
No award (1962)
Albert Finney

Albert Finney (1963)
Rex Harrison

Rex Harrison (1964)
Oskar Werner

Oskar Werner (1965)
Paul Scofield

Paul Scofield (1966)
Rod Steiger

Rod Steiger (1967)
Alan Arkin

Alan Arkin (1968)
Jon Voight

Jon Voight (1969)
George C. Scott

George C. Scott (1970)
Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman (1971)
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier (1972)
Marlon Brando
.jpg/440px-Marlon_Brando_(cropped).jpg)
Marlon Brando (1973)
Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (1974)
Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (1975)
Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro (1976)
John Gielgud

John Gielgud (1977)
Jon Voight

Jon Voight (1978)
Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman (1979)
Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro (1980)
Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster (1981)
Ben Kingsley

Ben Kingsley (1982)
Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall (1983)
Steve Martin

Steve Martin (1984)
Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (1985)
Bob Hoskins

Bob Hoskins (1986)
Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (1987)
Jeremy Irons
_(cropped).jpg/440px-SDCC_2015_-_Jeremy_Irons_(19524260758)_(cropped).jpg)
Jeremy Irons (1988)
Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis (1989)
Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro (1990)
Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins (1991)
Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington (1992)
David Thewlis

David Thewlis (1993)
Paul Newman

Paul Newman (1994)
Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage (1995)
Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush (1996)
Peter Fonda

Peter Fonda (1997)
Nick Nolte

Nick Nolte (1998)
Richard Farnsworth

Richard Farnsworth (1999)
Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks (2000)
Tom Wilkinson
.jpg/440px-Belle_13_(9779878364).jpg)
Tom Wilkinson (2001)
Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis (2002)
Bill Murray

Bill Murray (2003)
Paul Giamatti

Paul Giamatti (2004)
Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger (2005)
Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker (2006)
Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis (2007)
Sean Penn
.jpg)
Sean Penn (2008)
George Clooney

George Clooney (2009)
Colin Firth

Colin Firth (2010)
Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt (2011)
Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis (2012)
Robert Redford
.jpg/440px-Robert_Redford_(cropped).jpg)
Robert Redford (2013)
Timothy Spall

Timothy Spall (2014)
Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton (2015)
Casey Affleck
_(cropped).jpg/440px-Casey_Affleck_at_the_Manchester_by_the_Sea_premiere_(30199719155)_(cropped).jpg)
Casey Affleck (2016)
Timothée Chalamet
.jpg/440px-Timothée_Chalamet_at_Berlinale_2017_(cropped).jpg)
Timothée Chalamet (2017)
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 64191304
LCCN: n79116412
ISNI: 0000 0001 2136 7002
GND: 118522043
SUDOC: 027312127
BNF: cb13892714x (data)
NLA: 35030965
NDL: 00620522
NKC: jn20000700326
BNE: XX1092900
SNAC: w6gt641t
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