Gary Cooper (May 7, 1901 - May 13, 1961) was an American film actor who received five Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, winning twice. He also received an Honorary Award from the Academy in 1961.

Cooper was born Frank James Cooper, and changed his name to Gary in 1925, following the advice of his agent.

Cooper was born in Helena, Montana, but lived in England with his mother and attended school there for seven years. When he was thirteen years old he was injured in an automobile accident, and had to move to his father's cattle ranch in Montana to recuperate, which is where he gained his riding skills. During this time he became friendly with 10 year old Myrna Loy, who lived near him. In 1924 he moved to Los Angeles with the intention of becoming a commercial artist, but was not very successful. After three months he became an extra in the motion picture industry. A year later he had a chance at a real part in a two reeler with Eileen Sedgewick as his leading lady. After the release of this short film he was called to Paramount Studios and offered a long-term contract, which he accepted.

"Coop", as he was called by his peers, appeared in over 100 films. In 1952, Cooper won an Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon, his best-remembered role.

After high-profile love affairs with actresses Clara Bow and Lupe Velez and the American-born socialite-spy Countess Carlo Dentice di Frasso (née Dorothy Caldwell Taylor , formerly wife of British aviator Claude Grahame-White ), Cooper married Veronica Balfe , a New York socialite who worked briefly as an actress under the name Sandra Shaw . They had one child, Maria. During his marriage, which lasted until his death, Cooper had affairs with several co-stars, including Grace Kelly and Patricia Neal.

After being received in to the Catholic faith, Gary Cooper died of lung cancer and was interred in the Sacred Heart Cemetery, Southampton, New York.

For his contribution to the television industry, Gary Cooper has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd. In 1966, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Filmography

• Dick Turpin (1925)
• The Thundering Herd (1925)
• Wild Horse Mesa (1925)
• The Lucky Horseshoe (1925)
• The Vanishing American (1925)
• The Eagle (1925)
• Tricks (1925)
• Three Pals (1926)
• The Enchanted Hill (1926)
• Watch Your Wife (1926)
• The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)
• Old Ironsides (1926)
• The Spider's Net (1927)
• It (1927)
• Arizona Bound (1927)
• Children of Divorce (1927)
• The Last Outlaw (1927)
• Wings (1927)
• Nevada (1927)
• Half a Bride (1928)
• Beau Sabreur (1928)
• Doomsday (1928)
• The Legion of the Condemned (1928)
• Lilac Time (1928)
• The First Kiss (1928)
• The Shopworn Angel (1928)
• The Wolf Song (1929)
• Betrayal (1929)
• The Virginian (1929)
• Seven Days' Leave (1930)
• Only the Brave (1930)
• Paramount on Parade (1930)
• The Texan (1930)
• A Man from Wyoming (1930)
• The Spoilers (1930)
• Morocco (1930)
• Fighting Caravans (1931)
• The Slippery Pearls (1931) (short subject)
• City Streets (1931)
• I Take This Woman (1931)
• His Woman (1931)
• The Voice of Hollywood No. 13 (1932) (short subject)
• Hollywood on Parade (1932) (short subject)
• Make Me a Star (1932) (cameo)
• Devil and the Deep (1932)
• If I Had a Million (1932)
• A Farewell to Arms (1932)
• Today We Live (1933)
• One Sunday Afternoon (1933)
• Alice in Wonderland (1933)
• Design for Living (1933)
• Operator 13 (1934)
• Now and Forever (1934)
• The Hollywood Gad-About (1934) (short subject)
• Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove (1934) (short subject)
• The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
• The Wedding Night (1935)
• Peter Ibbetson (1935)
• La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935) (short subject)
• Desire (1936)
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
• Hollywood Boulevard (1936) (cameo)
• The General Died at Dawn (1936)
• The Plainsman (1937)
• Lest We Forget (1937) (short subject)
• Souls at Sea (1937)
• Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
• The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938)
• The Cowboy and the Lady (1938)
• Beau Geste (1939)
• The Real Glory (1939)
• (1940) (short subject)
• Screen Snapshots Series 19, No. 6 (1940) (short subject)
• The Westerner (1940)
• North West Mounted Police (1940)
• Meet John Doe (1941)
• Sergeant York (1941)
• Ball of Fire (1941)
• Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 3 (1942) (short subject)
• The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
• The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944)
• Memo for Joe (1944) (short subject)
• Casanova Brown (1944)
• Along Came Jones (1945)
• Saratoga Trunk (1945)
• Cloak and Dagger (1946)
• Variety Girl (1947)
• Unconquered (1947)
• Good Sam (1948)
• Snow Carnival (1949) (short subject)
• The Fountainhead (1949)
• It's a Great Feeling (1949) (cameo)
• Task Force (1949)
• (1949) (short subject)
• Bright Leaf (1950)
• Dallas (1950)
• You're in the Navy Now (1951)
• It's a Big Country (1951)
• Starlift (1951) (cameo)
• Distant Drums (1951)
• High Noon (1952)
• Springfield Rifle (1952)
• Return to Paradise (1953)
• Blowing Wild (1953)
• Boom on Paris (1954)
• Garden of Evil (1954)
• Vera Cruz (movie) (1954)
• (1955) (short subject)
• The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
• Friendly Persuasion (1956)
• Love in the Afternoon (1957)
• Glamourous Hollywood (1958) (short subject)
• Ten North Frederick (1958)
• Man of the West (1958)
• The Hanging Tree (1959)
• Alias Jesse James (1959) (cameo)
• They Came to Cordura (1959)
• Premier Khrushchev in the USA (1959) (documentary)
• The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
• The Naked Edge (1961)

External links

• IMDb filmography