Man of the West

Throughout Hollywood's Golden Age, few actors proved as versatile or memorable as Gary Cooper. Cooper's humble, authentic style of acting resonated with audiences far and wide, and ultimately helped establish him as one of the silver screen's finest players. Throughout his career, Cooper starred in over 80 films, including classics such as The Virginian, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Sergeant York, The Pride of the Yankees, and his definitive work, High Noon. While he grew up the quintessential cowboy and is perhaps best remembered for his westerns, Cooper excelled in many different kinds of roles. That said, the one common thread seen in all of Cooper's performances was that of a genuine, natural performer to whom audiences could almost relate. It was this quality that led to Cooper being called "The champion of the common man", a new type of hero in a time that desperately needed one. Whether he was portraying the charming Longfellow Deeds, the folksy Alvin York, or the downtrodden yet determined Marshal Kane, Cooper brought each of his characters alive in a way that audiences cherished both then and now.

Gary Cooper

Publicity photo c. 1936

Early Life

Gary Cooper was born as Frank James Cooper on May 5th, 1901 in Helena, Montana. Cooper's parents, Alice and Charles Cooper, were English immigrants. After arriving in America, Charles Cooper worked as a lawyer, rancher, and eventually a Supreme Court Justice.

Cooper grew up at his family's ranch, working to help raise their cattle like a true cowboy. While attending high school, Cooper developed a profound interest in the arts. He decided to pursue a career as an artist, and spent time working in both Chicago and Helena. In 1924, Cooper's parents moved to Los Angeles and Cooper, who had yet to find steady employment in his chosen field, decided to move with them.

After a few weeks without any gainful employment, a couple of Cooper's friends invited him to audition for a job as a stunt rider at a small movie studio while he waited on his art career to pick up. Cooper, an experienced rider from his days working at his family's ranch, agreed to give it a try.

Early Career

Cooper started out appearing in several low-budget westerns alongside some of the stars of the day. However, Cooper found the work arduous and risky, and sought to move into the easier and safer work of acting. On the advice of his agent, he changed his first name to "Gary", which he liked and kept for the rest of his life.

Cooper slowly worked his way up the ladder by first landing an assortment of bit parts followed by some minor credited roles. Eventually, with help from his then-girlfriend and Hollywood superstar Clara Bow (with whom he had appeared in the hit film It), Cooper landed leading roles in several successful movies, including Children of Divorce, Wings, and Lilic Time. Cooper's popularity rose with each film and he quickly became one of Hollywood's rising stars.

Rise to Stardom

Gary Cooper in The Virginian (1929)

In 1929, Cooper landed the lead role in his first sound picture, The Virginian. The film was a major hit, and helped define the western genre for years to come. Cooper's performance as the honest, honor-bound protagonist established the image of the ideal western hero that persists to the present day. The film also made Cooper an instant star, and his resident studio, Paramount, decided to capitalize on his newfound popularity by thrusting him into filming ten films over the next two years; of these films, the most noteworthy was the drama Morocco, where Cooper starred alongside Marlene Dietrich in her Hollywood debut. While Cooper's popularity soared over this period, the stress of making so many films so quickly left him both physically and emotionally drained. At the conclusion of this ten-film run, Cooper decided to take a year-long vacation to Europe to recuperate.

Upon returning to Hollywood in 1932, Cooper resumed his acting career, albeit at a more sensible pace. While his films over the next few years were hit-or-miss, Cooper did star in several critical and box office hits, including A Farewell to Arms (the first of two Hemingway adaptations in which he would star), Now and Forever (where he appeared alongside Shirley Temple), and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (one of the 1930s biggest adventure films).

Peak Years

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Publicity photo for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Jean Arthur.

1936 was the start of the peak of Cooper's Hollywood career. Early that year, Cooper was selected by director Frank Capra for the title role in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, for which Cooper earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Cooper excelled in the role of the folksy and down-to-earth Longfellow Deeds, a character with whom he shared many personality similarities. Combined with the charming performance of co-star Jean Arthur and an excellent script courtesy of writer Robert Riskin, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town easily became Cooper's biggest hit at the time. Indeed, his performance crafted the image of the new American "folk hero" with which Cooper would be associated for the rest of his career.

The Plainsman (1936)

Cooper in The Plainsman (1936), again alongside Arthur.

Later in 1936, Cooper reunited with Arthur and returned to his roots in the western epic The Plainsman. Under the direction of the legendary Cecil B. DeMille, Cooper delivered another iconic Cooper-esque performance as Wild Bill Hickok and the film was a smash hit. The combined successes of Cooper in both Mr. Deeds and The Plainsman catapulted Cooper to the top of the list of actors under consideration for the vaulted role of Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind. Producer David O. Selznick tried several times to convince Cooper to take the role, but after reading the script, Cooper felt that he was ill-suited for it. After witnessing Clark Gable's performance in the role in 1938, Cooper felt his earlier assessment was accurate.

Meet John Doe (1941)

Cooper in Meet John Doe (1941) with Barbara Stanwyck

Cooper took most of 1937 off from filmmaking, and his return in 1938 was marked by several box-office failures. However, Cooper returned to form beginning in 1939, during which he filmed the adventure epics Beau Geste and The Real Glory, which were in turn followed by The Westerner and North West Mounted Police in 1940. While each of these films were box-office successes, none quite matched the dazzling heights of Cooper's 1936 hits. However, in 1941, Frank Capra offered to reunite with Cooper for the comedy Meet John Doe. Without even reading the script, Cooper accepted, trusting Capra implicitly after their success with Mr. Deeds. Cooper's faith in Capra proved to be well-founded; Meet John Doe opened to rave reviews for both Cooper and co-star Barbara Stanwyck, with whom Cooper shared a delightful on-screen chemistry. Meet John Doe was also a commercial hit, and Cooper was back on top of Hollywood.

Sergeant York (1941)

Cooper in Sergeant York (1941)

Later that year, Cooper teamed up with director Howard Hawks to film perhaps his most memorable picture, Sergeant York. Cooper initially turned down the role, but was convinced to take it when contacted personally by Alvin York. Immediately upon meeting, Cooper and York established a good rapport and, while nervous about portraying a living hero, Cooper agreed to accept the role. Upon release, Sergeant York was a mega-hit, and easily became 1941's top-grossing movie. Critics raved over Cooper's performance, and for his efforts, Cooper earned his second nomination and first win for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Cooper and Babe Ruth in The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Due to the outbreak of World War II, Cooper made only one film in 1942, The Pride of the Yankees. However, the film would be considered one of his finest. For the second time in as many years, Cooper found himself portraying a real-life hero in a biographical picture. Cooper felt he wasn't right for the role, as he knew nothing of baseball and was not left-handed like Lou Gehrig (a critical point of consideration for the batting sequences). However, Gehrig's widow, Eleanor Gehrig, insisted that Cooper play her husband and Cooper, under pressure from the studio, relented.

The studio in question, Samuel Goldwyn Productions, was nervous about the film's prospects; sports movies were not particularly popular at the time, so it was hoped that the inclusion of a high-profile star (Cooper, in this case) would serve as a hedge against a possible box-office flop. Ultimately, The Pride of the Yankees was a hit, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and a third nomination for Cooper for Best Actor.

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

Cooper and Ingrid Bergman in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

In 1943, Cooper returned to the screen for his second Hemingway adaptation, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Starring alongside Ingrid Bergman (a new star in her own right after appearing in the surprise hit Casablanca a year earlier), Cooper delivered another fine performance and earned another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, his fourth. Afterwards, Cooper would spend the rest of World War II on tour, visiting military hospitals and meeting the servicemen and women. Cooper would later call his adventures visiting with the military "the greatest emotional experience" of his life.

Late Career

Following World War II, Cooper's career fell into a bit of a rut. While he remained a major star, his films over the next few years underperformed. Along Came Jones (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945), and Cloak and Dagger (1946) all contributed to this downturn; 1947's Unconquered proved to be Cooper's only appreciable success over this period.

The Fountainhead (1949)

Cooper in The Fountainhead (1949)

The low point of Cooper's career coincided with the release of The Fountainhead (1949). An adaptation of a novel by famed philosopher Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead was a highly-anticipated production. However, the film proved to be a colossal failure; a weak script which saw Cooper placed in a decidedly nontraditional role (a selfish anti-hero, diametrically opposed to the folksy "champion of the common man" which had defined his career) ultimately doomed the production.

Several explanations have been offered for Cooper's sudden downturn during this period. The first concerns the quality of the productions in which he starred; none of the films Cooper appeared in during this time were particularly well-executed. In addition, it's been suggested that the public's taste in movies evolved in the years after World War II, and Cooper's image as the "everyman's hero" simply wasn't that popular. Lastly, Cooper was simply getting old. In his mid-40s coming out of World War II, Cooper had been working in Hollywood for quite some time and his age was beginning to show. With each film, it was becoming increasingly difficult for audiences to embrace Cooper as a dashing young hero.

High Noon (1952)

Cooper with Grace Kelly in High Noon (1952)

In 1952, Cooper's fortunes began to turn back around when he starred in the suspenseful western High Noon. An allegory of the practice of blacklisting, High Noon featured Cooper's portrayal of the weary yet dutiful Marshal Kane. Combined with Grace Kelly's performance as his young bride, Cooper once again excelled in the role of the honor-bound hero. While the production was not without controversy, High Noon was a hit and led Cooper to his second Academy Award win for Best Actor.

Friendly Persuasion (1956)

Cooper and Dorothy McGuire in Friendly Persuasion (1956)

In 1956, Cooper again found himself in an unfamiliar role; that of an aging patriarch in Friendly Persuasion. While the part was decidedly new territory for Cooper (who had traditionally played bachelor roles), the film's theme of pacifism vs duty was becoming quite familiar to Cooper (Sergeant York and High Noon had tread much of the same ground) and he put on what was arguably one of his best performances. Cooper's ability to play to both the comedy and moral conflict of the story captivated audiences, and the picture was both a critical and commercial hit.

Man of the West (1958)

Cooper in Man of the West (1958)

In the mid-1950s, it was obvious that Cooper was nearing the end of his career. Cooper's health had been deteriorating for years, and his hit films were becoming fewer and farther between. In 1958, Cooper appeared in the dark western drama Man of the West, a production which would essentially serve as the swan song for his career. In the film, Cooper plays the role of a former outlaw who ends up battling his former gang. Many of the themes of moral conflicts that had marked the latter part of Cooper's career are present in Man of the West, and once again, Cooper played to them quite well. While Man of the West was not a critical or commercial success at the time of its release, the film and Cooper's performance have been re-evaluated in modern times and are now widely regarded as being among his best.

Later Years

Cooper appeared in only four films after completing Man of the West, none of which drew much attention. In 1961, Cooper retired for good. By that point, Cooper's health had seriously deteriorated; he had undergone operations for both prostate and intestinal cancer and was plagued by stomach ulcers. In February of that year, Cooper learned that he had inoperable cancer in his lungs and bones. On May 13, 1961, Gary Cooper passed away at his home in Holmby Hills (outside of Los Angeles), shortly after his 60th birthday.

Legacy

Gary Cooper, a Hollywood legend

Working professionally in Hollywood for 36 years and leading in over 80 films, Cooper had a long and varied career. For the most part, Cooper usually found himself in the role of a hero, and while that role evolved over the course of his career, I believe that it was during his peak years in the late 30s and early 40s, the time during which he mastered the part of the "homespun hero", that Cooper really shined brightest.

For me, Cooper's performance in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is easily one of my all-time favorites. While the popular image of the "perfect American hero" has changed over the years, I think that Cooper's role as the "common man's hero" will endure as a testament not only to the times in which he lived, but of the man himself.