Gary Cooper will always be remembered as the ultimate movie cowboy. Although his presence
on the silver screen is pretty much legendary, there's still a lot you might not know about
this icon of Golden Age cinema. This is the untold truth of Gary Cooper.
He might have played the rough and tough all-American cowboy in his films, but Gary Cooper's parents
actually came from England. They emigrated to the United States and eventually bought
a massive ranch in Montana. Born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Montana, it was on his parents'
vast ranch that he learned how to ride horses, hunt, and fish — the perfect training for
his future career.
Although he and his brother were born and raised in Montana, Cooper's parents thought
that the boys would benefit from having an English education, so they sent their sons
abroad for their schooling. The Cooper brothers later returned home and enrolled in American
schools around 1912; due to his origins and his early education, Cooper actually spoke
with an English accent for much of his childhood.
Cooper originally dreamed of working in the visual arts — and he showed some promising
talent in sketching and watercolor painting. Eventually, however, Cooper found that he
could earn more money working in Los Angeles as a stuntman and screen extra.
He later landed an agent named Nan Collins, who helped him find some real work — and
it was she who suggested that Cooper change his first name from "Frank" to "Gary." This
would have seemed like an unusual move, since "Gary" wasn't really used as a given name
at the time. But it certainly worked for Cooper. Thanks to his new name and new agent, Cooper
started landing some proper roles, with his big break coming in the form of a leading
part in the 1926 silent film, The Winning of Barbara Worth. Cooper subsequently signed
a long-term contract with Paramount.
Clara Bow was undoubtedly the biggest "It Girl" of the silent film age era, so her opinion
held a considerable amount of sway in Hollywood. After Bow acted alongside Gary Cooper in the
1927 film, Children of Divorce, she was absolutely smitten — both with his acting and his sex
appeal.
Bow insisted that Cooper should be cast in her 1927 movie, Wings. Although he only played
a small role, it's been widely rumored that the two were lovers off the screen as well
as on. Wings was a smash success and became the very first Oscar winner for "Best Picture."
Unfortunately, Bow's career didn't survive the transition from silent films to "talkies."
Although she may have been a talented performer on the screen, her harsh Brooklyn accent is
usually cited as the cause of her downfall. Cooper, however, went on to have a long and
prosperous film career.
Of course, Clara Bow wasn't the last of Gary Cooper's lovers. A noted ladies' man, Cooper's
list of lovers was an extensive one, including a number of actresses and co-stars, such as
Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard, Ingrid Bergman, and Grace Kelly.
Cooper eventually married the socialite Veronica Balfe, with whom he had a daughter, Maria.
But marriage didn't put a damper on his affairs. In fact, Cooper's womanizing ways were no
secret. As the director Howard Hawkins once said:
"If I ever saw him with a good-looking girl and he was kind of dragging his feet over
the ground and being very shy and looking down, I'd say, 'Oh-oh, the snake's gonna strike
again.'"
One of Cooper's most notable lovers was the Mexican actress Lupe Velez — but the two
had a particularly turbulent affair. Not only did Cooper's mother and Velez despise each
other, but Velez also once stabbed Cooper with a kitchen knife during an argument. Another
time, she tried to shoot Cooper while he was boarding a train. Impressively, that relationship
somehow still lasted three whole years.
In his later years, Cooper had a lengthy affair with his Fountainhead co-star Patricia Neal,
who was 25 years his junior.
"They won't destroy me, darling. I'll wait for you, and love you. I'm saying it now for
all the years we'll have to wait."
Although Cooper legally separated from his wife for a while and nearly married Neal,
in the end, he returned to Balfe.
Clark Gable was a swoon-worthy choice for the role of Rhett Butler in Gone With The
Wind, but Gary Cooper could just as easily have been cast in the role. In fact, David
O. Selznick approached Cooper personally about taking the role of Rhett Butler — and it's
not hard to see why.
Unfortunately for Selznick, Cooper had no interest whatsoever in the role or the movie.
He was convinced that Gone With The Wind would bomb and wanted no involvement in the picture.
Cooper did, however, give his wholehearted approval for the casting of Gable in the role,
allegedly saying:
"Gone With The Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I'm glad it'll
be Clark Gable who's falling flat on his nose, not me."
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
Gone With The Wind would go on to win eight Academy Awards.
One of Gary Cooper's most famous roles was in the 1942 film, Pride of the Yankees, in
which he played terminally ill baseball player Lou Gehrig. When Cooper was first offered
the part, he was hesitant to accept. He didn't know anything about baseball and had no interest
in the sport. He was also already 40 — three years older than Gehrig was when he passed
away. It wasn't until Gehrig's widow Eleanor expressed her desire for Cooper to play her
husband that he decided to accept the role.
Cooper went into this role with absolutely no knowledge of baseball, and learned pretty
much everything from scratch. To that end, Cooper went into rigorous training with the
former all-star Lefty O'Doul. Unfortunately, Cooper's efforts with baseball were hardly
impressive. O'Doul aimed some fairly harsh criticism at Cooper, once telling the actor:
"You throw a ball like an old woman tossing a hot biscuit."
Cooper eventually improved his game enough to look just about authentic, but Brooklyn
Dodgers star Babe Herman was nonetheless brought in to be Cooper's movie double. The film turned
out to be a hit, and, putting aside his less-than-stellar baseball skills, Cooper nailed the part of
Gehrig. In a letter to Eleanor Gehrig, the writer Paul Gallico made particular note of
Cooper's performance, saying:
"Lou seems to have become more Gary Cooper than Lou Gehrig."
Both Gary Cooper and Ernest Hemingway were famous for being the ultra-masculine, rough-and-tumble
icons of their respective art forms, so it makes sense that they would become very close
friends. Before they even met, Gary Cooper had starred in the 1932 movie adaptation of
Ernest Hemingway's novel, A Farewell To Arms — and Hemingway was impressed by his performance.
However, they wouldn't officially meet each other until 1940.
Oddly enough, the men bonded — which may have seemed surprising at the time, considering
Cooper and Hemingway were polar opposites in many ways. Hemingway was loud, rambunctious,
loved his drink, and occasionally enjoyed a good fight. Cooper, however, was solemn,
taciturn, a moderate drinker, and shied away from conflict. While Hemingway was a voracious
reader and novelist, Cooper barely picked up a book — unless it was a movie script.
But the two were great outdoorsmen and enjoyed hunting and fishing together.
When For Whom The Bell Tolls was to be made into a movie in 1943, Hemingway insisted that
Cooper be cast in the lead role. Sadly, the two friends also declined together: Cooper
physically and Hemingway mentally. In 1961, less than two months after Cooper died of
cancer, Hemingway took his own life.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.
Gary Cooper was famously opposed to communism and helped co-found the Motion Picture Alliance
for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing organization dedicated to keeping
any trace of communism or fascism out of film. And Cooper was perfectly happy to turn down
a script if he thought it was too left wing for his tastes.
Despite his conservative leanings, however, Cooper stepped up to support his friend and
High Noon screenwriter Carl Foreman, who was accused of communism and called before the
House Un-American Activities Committee. Foreman had indeed been a member of the Communist
Party in 1938, but had quit in 1943.
Cooper had great respect for Foreman's talents as a screenwriter and fully believed that
he was no longer a communist. Cooper was even willing to testify on Foreman's behalf, despite
the fact that his lawyer advised against it — likely fearing that Cooper could find
himself blacklisted. Although Foreman had long since ceased being a party member, he
was still subpoenaed and asked to give up others' names in the party, which he adamantly
refused to do. Ultimately, Foreman was blacklisted by Hollywood and eventually emigrated to England.
But Cooper continued to fight for Foreman, eventually securing him an on-screen credit
for High Noon and a number of other films.
Although Gary Cooper's wife and daughter were both Catholic, the actor himself was Episcopalian.
That changed, however, after Cooper suffered a number of setbacks and personal troubles.
His affair with Patricia Neal was putting pressure on his family, and her pregnancy
and subsequent abortion hardly helped things. On top of that, the actor was also suffering
from a number of ulcers.
In the end, the strain was becoming too much. Cooper ended his relationship with Neal and
returned to his family. They took a European trip together, which coincided with a publicity
tour for his latest film, High Noon. One of their stops was at the Vatican for a private
audience with the Pope, and it was here that Cooper's interest in Catholicism began.
It wasn't an automatic conversion, and Cooper still had lapses in his fidelity. Nonetheless,
Cooper wanted to make more of an effort in his marriage — he began attending Catholic
Mass with his wife and daughter, reasoning that a little religion wouldn't do him any
hurt, and later decided to officially convert to Catholicism. Cooper was formally admitted
into the Catholic Church in 1959.
Gary Cooper is best known for playing the noble hero character, and he liked it that
way. Whenever a screenwriter was concocting a new character for Cooper, Cooper would urge
the writer to make sure that his character got to be the hero.
The actor always said he preferred playing characters that exemplified a man's best qualities,
hence his attraction to Westerns, which Cooper felt emphasized these traits particularly
well.
"Don't try to be a hero, you don't have to be a hero, not for me."
"I'm not trying to be a hero — if you think I like this, you're crazy!"
In those movies, there was always a clear-cut good guy and bad guys, and the good guy always
won. In that respect, the films were very black and white — and Cooper loved them.
When asked in 1959 why he did so many Western movies, Cooper responded:
"I like Westerns because the good ones are real. You feel real when you make them [...] we
are brought close to the pioneer people by seeing the Western picture and [...] realize
that our country was and is full of people who believe in America."
Cooper's daughter, Maria Cooper Janis, likewise recalled her father's love of playing the
hero in his movies, saying:
"He always said he wanted to make films that showed the best a man could be."
Cooper's physical health began to decline significantly in 1960. He had long-suffered
from ulcers, but now he was afflicted by cancer. In 1960, Cooper had a prostate operation,
and five weeks later he had a cancerous part of his colon removed. He did his best to conceal
the severity of his illness from others, but people were starting to notice Cooper's prolonged
public absences — and it was obvious that something was very wrong.
As much as Cooper and his family hoped the surgeries would help, the cancer soon spread
to his lungs and bones. The pain was intense, and Cooper needed powerful drugs for relief.
Cooper died in 1961 at the age of 60, with his wife, daughter, doctor, and family priest
by his side.
One month before his death, Cooper received an honorary Oscar at the 1961 Academy Awards.
Cooper was unable to attend due to his illness, so his friend, Jimmy Stewart, accepted the
award on his behalf. As Stewart accepted his friend's award, he lost his composure and
became teary-eyed, saying:
"We're very, very proud of you, Coop. All of us are tremendously proud."
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