Gary Cooper

Actors

Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, as well as receiving an Academy Honorary Award for his career achievements in 1961. He was one of the top 10 film personalities for 23 consecutive years, and one of the top money-making stars for 18 years. The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper at No. 11 on its list of the 25 greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.

Cooper’s career spanned 36 years, from 1925 to 1961, and included leading roles in 84 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 film genres. His 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, his first sound picture was Victor Fleming‘s The Virginian (1929), with Walter Huston. In the early 1930s, he expanded his heroic image to include more cautious characters in adventure films and dramas such as Josef von Sternberg’s Morocco (1930), with Marlene Dietrich and Adolphe Menjou; A Farewell to Arms (1932), with Helen Hayes and Menjou; and Henry Hathaway‘s The Lives of a 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 Frank Capra‘s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), with Jean Arthur; Meet John Doe (1941), with Barbara Stanwyck; Howard Hawks‘s Sergeant York (1941), with Walter Brennan and Joan Leslie; Hawks’s Ball of Fire (1941), with Stanwyck; Sam Wood’s The Pride of the Yankees (1942), with Teresa Wright and Brennan; For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), with Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Katina Paxinou and Joseph Calleia; Cecil B. DeMille‘s The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944), with Laraine Day, Signe Hasso, and Dennis O’Keefe. He later portrayed more mature characters at odds with the world in films such as King Vidor‘s The Fountainhead (1949), with Patricia Neal; and Fred Zinnermann‘s High Noon (1952), with Grace Kelly and Lloyd Bridges. In his final films, he played non-violent characters searching for redemption in films such as William Wyler‘s Friendly Persuasion (1956), with Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton, and Phyllis Love; Anthony Mann‘s Man of the West (1958), with Julie London, Jack Lord, Arthur O’Connell, and Lee J. Cobb; and Robert Rossen‘s They Came to Cordura (1959), with Rita Hayworth, Van Heflin, and Tab Hunter.

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(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • The Last Hour (1923) – directed by Edward Sloman – uncredited/unconfirmed
  • Dick Turpin (1925) – directed by John G. Blystone – uncredited
  • The Trail Rider (1925) – directed by W.S. Van Dyke – uncredited
  • The Thundering Herd (1925) – directed by William K. Howard – uncredited – lost
  • Riders of the Purple Sage (1925) – directed by Lynn Reynolds – uncredited
  • The Drug Store Cowboy (1925) – directed by Parke Frame – uncredited
  • Wild Horse Mesa (1925) – directed by George B. Seitz – uncredited
  • The Lucky Horseshoe (1925) – directed by John G. Blystone – uncredited
  • The Vanishing American (1925) – directed by George B. Seitz – uncredited
  • The Eagle (1925) – directed by Clarence Brown – uncredited
  • Tricks (1925) – directed by Bruce M. Mitchell – uncredited
  • Warrior Gap (1925) – directed by Alan James – uncredited
  • Ben-Hur: A Tale or Christ (1925) – directed by Fred Niblo – uncredited
  • North Star (1925) – directed by Paul Powell – uncredited
  • Three Pals (1926) – directed by Wilbur McGaugh & Bruce Mitchell – uncredited
  • The Enchanted Hill (1926) – directed by Irvin Willat – uncredited – lost
  • The Johnstown Flood (1926) – directed by Irving Cummings – uncredited
  • A Six Shootin’ Romance (1926) – directed by Clifford Smith – uncredited
  • Watch Your Wife (1926) – directed by Svend Gade – uncredited
  • Thundering Speed (1926) – directed by Alan James – uncredited
  • Lightin’ Wins (1926) – directed by Alan James (as Alan Neitz) – uncredited- short
  • The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) – directed by Henry King
  • Lightnin’ Flashes (1926) – directed by Hans Tiesler – unconfirmed – short
  • Old Ironsides (1926) directed by James Cruze – uncredited
  • Bad Man’s Bluff (1926) – directed by Alan James (as Alan J. Neitz) – uncredited
  • It (1927) – directed by Clarence G. Badger & Josef von Sternberg (uncredited)
  • Children of Divorce (1927) – directed by Frank Lloyd
  • Arizona Bound (1927) – directed by John Waters – lost
  • Wings (1927) – directed by William A. Wellman
  • The Last Outlaw (1927) – directed by John Waters
  • Nevada (1927) – directed by John Waters
  • Beau Sabreur (1928) – directed by John Waters – lost
  • Doomsday (1928) – directed by Rowland V. Lee
  • The Legion of the Condemned (1928) – directed by William A. Wellman
  • Half a Bride (1928) – directed by Gregory La Cava
  • Lilac Time (1928) – directed by George Fitzmaurice
  • The First Kiss (1928) – directed by Rowland V. Lee
  • The Shopworn Angel (1928) – directed by H. C. Potter
  • Wolf Song (1929) – directed by Victor Fleming
  • Betrayal (1929) – directed by Lewis Milestone
  • The Virginian (1929) – directed by Victor Fleming
  • Seven Days Leave (1930) – directed by Richard Wallace
  • Only the Brave (1930) – directed by Frank Tuttle
  • Paramount on Parade (1930) – Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H. Knopf, Frank Tuttle, & Victor Schertzinger – revue
  • The Texan (1930) – directed by John Cromwell
  • A Man from Wyoming (1930) – directed by Rowland V. Lee
  • The Spoilers (1930) – directed by Edwin Carewe
  • Morocco (1930) – directed by Josef von Sternberg
  • Fighting Caravans (1931) – directed by Otto Brower & David Burton
  • The Stolen Jools (1931) – directed by William C. McGann, John G. Adolfi (uncredited), Thomas Atkins (uncredited), Harold S. Bucquet (uncredited), Victor Heerman (uncredited), & Russell Mack (uncredited) – short
  • City Streets (1931) – directed by Rouben Mamoulian
  • I Take This Woman (1931) – directed by Marion Gering
  • His Woman (1931) – directed by Edward Sloman
  • Make Me a Star (1932) – directed by William Beaudine – cameo as himself
  • Devil and the Deep (1932) – directed by Marion Gering
  • If I Had a Million (1932) – directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog, Stephen Roberts, Norman Z. McLeod, James Cruze, William A. Seiter, & H. Bruce Humberstone – anthology
  • A Farewell to Arms (1932) – directed by Frank Borzage
  • Today We Live (1933) – directed by Howard Hawks
  • One Sunday Afternoon (1933) – directed by Stephen Roberts
  • Design for Living (1933) – directed by Ernst Lubitsch
  • Alice in Wonderland (1933) – directed by Norman Z. McLeod
  • Operator 13 (1934) – directed by Richard Boleslawski
  • Now and Forever (1934) – directed by Henry Hathaway
  • The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) – directed by Henry Hathaway
  • The Wedding Night (1935) – directed by King Vidor
  • Peter Ibbetson (1935) – directed by Henry Hathaway
  • Desire (1936) – directed by Frank Borzage
  • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) – directed by Frank Capra
  • Hollywood Boulevard (1936) – directed by Robert Florey – uncredited
  • The General Died at Dawn (1936) – directed by Lewis Milestone
  • The Plainsman (1936) – directed by Cecil B. DeMille
  • Souls at Sea (1937) – directed by Henry Hathaway
  • Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938) – directed by Ernst Lubitsch
  • The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) – directed by Archie Mayo
  • The Cowboy and the Lady (1938) – directed by H.C. Potter
  • Beau Geste (1939) – directed by William A. Wellman
  • The Real Glory (1939) – directed by Henry Hathaway
  • The Westerner (1940) – directed by William Wyler
  • North West Mounted Police (1940) – directed by Cecil B. DeMille
  • Meet John Doe (1941) – directed by Frank Capra
  • Sergeant York (1941) – directed by Howard Hawks
  • Ball of Fire (1941) – directed by Howard Hawks
  • The Pride of the Yankees (1942) – directed by Sam Wood
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) – directed by Sam Wood
  • The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) – directed by Cecil B. DeMille
  • Casanova Brown (1944) – directed by Sam Wood
  • Along Came Jones (1945) – directed by Stuart Heisler
  • Saratoga Trunk (1945) – directed by Sam Wood
  • Cloak and Dagger (1946) – directed by Fritz Lang
  • Variety Girl (1947) – directed by George Marshall
  • Unconquered (1947) – directed by Cecil B. DeMille
  • Good Sam (1948) – directed by Leo McCarey
  • The Fountainhead (1949) – directed by King Vidor
  • It’s a Great Feeling (1948) – directed by David Butler – uncredited cameo as himself
  • Task Force (1949) – directed by
  • Delmer Daves
  • Snow Carnival (1950) – directed by Owen Crump – documentary short
  • Bright Leaf (1950) – directed by Michael Curtiz
  • Dallas (1950) – directed by Stuart Heisler
  • You’re in the Navy Now (1951) – directed by Henry Hathaway
  • It’s a Big Country (1951) – directed by Clarence Brown, Don Hartman, John Sturges, Richard Thorpe, Charles Vidor, Don Weis, & William A. Wellman – anthology
  • Distant Drums (1951) – directed by Raoul Walsh
  • Starlift (1951) – directed by Roy Del Ruth – uncredited cameo as himself
  • High Noon (1952) – directed by Fred Zinnemann
  • Springfield Rifle (1952) – directed by Andre DeToth
  • Return to Paradise (1953) – directed by Mark Robson
  • Blowing Wild (1953) – directed by Hugo Fregonese
  • Boum sur Paris (1953) – directed by Maurice de Canonge – cameo as himself
  • Garden of Evil (1954) – directed by Henry Hathaway
  • Vera Cruz (1954) – directed by Robert Aldrich
  • The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955) – directed by Otto Preminger
  • Friendly Persuasion (1956) – directed by William Wyler
  • Love in the Afternoon (1957) – directed by Billy Wilder
  • Ten North Frederick (1958) – directed by Philip Dunne
  • Man of the West (1958) – directed by Anthony Mann
  • The Hanging Tree (1959) – directed by Delmer Daves
  • Alias Jesse James (1959) – directed by Norman Z. McLeod – uncredited cameo as himself
  • They Came to Cordura (1959) – directed by Robert Rossen
  • The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) – directed by Michael Anderson
  • The Naked Edge (1961) – directed by Michael Anderson