“Gary Cooper was probably the greatest cocksman who ever lived."
Director Stuart Heisler
Gary Cooper 51 years ago. No one I know under 40 years old, except for film fans who possibly might know High Noon, seem to know of him. But, he is my favorite male star of the first Golden Era of Hollywood. Cooper was charming doing light comedy in a film that is my Top 10 All Time Favorite Films- Ball Of Fire, starring opposite my favorite female star of the era- Barbara Stanwyck.
Cooper was nominated for 5 Best Actor Oscars & he won twice. He might not have been the best technical actor, but Cooper did have a simple, settled, shy presence that not only helped accentuate his performances in his good films, but also drew the filmgoer in closer. Women adored Cooper & men liked &admired him. Cooper was the quintessential American Guy on screen. Off screen Cooper was a lover of legendary proportions, & you know what I am talking about. He enjoyed infamous affairs with Clara Bow, Ingrid Bergman & Patricia Neal, & with several men as well.
He was born Frank James Cooper in Montana 101 years ago. It just figures he would be from the American West, but his parents were British, & Cooper was sent to England to attend grammar school. At the start of WWI, he was sent back to Montana, where his upbringing included horseback riding, a skill that would later lead to his film career. Cooper followed his parents when they moved to L.A. & he found work as an extra in films, as a cowboy. He chjanged his name to Gary, & signed a long term contract with Paramount in 1925. Cooper became a major star with his first sound film- The Virginian in 1929. He followed this up with the rather Gay- Morocco with an equally as alluring- Marlene Dietrich.
Cooper had an ongoing affair with fellow Paramount player- Anderson Lawler. Stephen Shearer’s bio- Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life states,"Cooper had a 3 year affair with a man, the young Alabama born Anderson Lawler, an aspiring film actor. Their letters indicated they had a deep infatuation with one another. They lived together at Cooper's apartment. Through Lawler Cooper gained entrance into Hollywood society." Lawler would later be one of the regulars at gay director George Cukor's infamous Sunday pool parties.
Patricia Neal cooperated on the book & explained to the author that she knew of this relationship & occasional assignations with other men, including flings with his camping buddy- Ernest Hemingway & Cecil Beaton. Cooper was bisexual, but he certainly did prefer women. Cooper's only marriage was to socialite- Veronica “Rocky” Balfe in 1933. They lived apart, but stay married for the rest of his life, despite his many affairs.
Cooper was at the apex of his talents in 1936 with Frank Capra's great Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Cooper's shy, introspective personality totally fit the role & his performance & the film were critical & box office hits. He received his first Best Actor nomination for his charming performance.
More hit films included Beau Geste, Meet John Doe, & Sergeant York for which Cooper won a 1941 Oscar for Best Actor playing a hick farmer who became a WWI hero. He won over Orson Welles for Citizen Kane & Cary Grant for Penny Serenade. Another case of an Oscar for the right actor in the wrong film. He was Oscar nominated for playing Lou Gehrig in Pride Of The Yankees (1942) & for For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943).
Cooper had a rare flop with The Fountainhead, with Patricia Neal. The fascist themed film was & is a stinker, Neal & Cooper began their 5 year affair; their open secret lead to Neal's having an abortion rather than risk the destruction of both of their careers. Neal had rented a small bungalow from Rudolph Valentino's first wife who lived next door with her female partner. Cooper, Neal & the lesbian couple formed a special secret friendship. Neal: "We quietly cheered each other's teams, knowing we were all in murky waters." Cooper, however, finally went back to his wife, converted to Catholicism, became a Republican & began to behave, but gave up having any fun.
I found the older Gary Copper to be sexy & with more gravity. Made on the cheap, with direction by Fred Zinnemann, High Noon (1952) was a big hit & won Cooper his second Best Actor Oscar. I think it is a near perfect Western, but in its day, a lot of people hated it, including John Wayne, for its political stance.
Cooper received a special was honorary Oscar in 1961 but was too ill to attend the ceremony. His close friend James Stewart accepted with a teary, emotional speech that announced to the world that Cooper was near death. A month later, only a week after his 60th birthday, Gary Cooper passed over to that big pasture in the sky.
As mentioned at the top of this post, one of my Top 10 Films Of All Times is a Gary Cooper comedy- Ball Of Fire, directed by Howard Hawkes. This screwball comedy is a variation on Snow White & The 7 Dwarfswith a group of professors having been living together for years in a NYC residence, compiling an encyclopedia of all human knowledge. The youngest, Professor Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper), is a scholar of Philology who is researching modern American slang. The professors are accustomed to working in relative seclusion at a leisurely pace with a prim housekeeper who keeps tabs on them. Their impatient financial backer suddenly demands that they finish their work soon.
Venturing out to do some independent research, Bertram becomes interested in the slang vocabulary of saucy nightclub performer- Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck). She is reluctant to assist him in the research until she needs a place to hide from the police, who want to question her about her boyfriend- mobster Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews). Sugarpuss takes refuge in the house where the professors live & work, despite Bertram's objections. Chaos, confusion, & commotion commence. Nutty & very funny, it is better to me than Bringing Up Baby. Ball Of Fire was nominated for several Oscars including for Stanwyck & the screenplay. It gives us Cooper at his most beautiful, with an easy, effortless, charming, performance. I insist that you seek out Ball Of Fire & watch it when you need a lift, which would be now.
