Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper
Actor Gary Cooper was born on May 7, 1901 in Helena, Montana, U.S. He was the son of English parents who had settled in Montana. He was educated in Dunstable Grammar School in England. In 1920, while attending high school, he took three art courses at Montana Agricultural College. In 1922, he enrolled in Grinnell College in Iowa to continue his art education. He also studied at Grinnell College in Iowa before moving to Los Angeles to work as an illustrator. He worked as a film extra and played some small parts. His drawings and watercolors were exhibited and he was named art editor for the college yearbook. He worked at Yellowstone National Park as a tour guide driving the yellow open-top buses during 1922 to 1923. In 1924, his family moved to Los Angeles. He met two friends from Montana, Jim Galeen and Jim Calloway; both were working as film extras and stunt riders in low budget films. For saving enough money to pay for a professional art course, he worked as a film extra for five dollars a day and as a stunt rider for twice that amount. In early 1925, he began his film career working in silent pictures including "The Thundering Herd" and "Wild Horse Mesa" with Jack Holt, "Riders of the Purple Sage" and "The Lucky Horseshoe" with Tom Mix and "The Trail Rider" with Buck Jones. In 1926, he appeared in The Winning of Barbara Worth and his career began to take off. He played opposite silent movie star Clara Bow in Children of Divorce in 1927. He also earned praise as the ranch foreman in sound film The Virginian in 1929. In 1930s, he gave a number of strong performances in films such as A Farewell to Arms (1934) with Helen Hayes and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) directed by Frank Capra. Cooper received an Academy Award nomination for his work on the film. He continued to perform on the big screen. In Sergeant York (1941), he played a World War-I hero and sharpshooter, which was based on the life story of Alvin York. He earned a Best Actor Academy Award for his charactor of York. The next year, he played the role of baseball's Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees and scored another Best Actor Academy Award nomination. He appeared in a film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and also starred opposite Ingrid Bergman in a drama set during the Spanish Civil War. This role earned him a third Academy Award nomination. In 1952, he played the role as Will Kane in High Noon. The film won four Academy Awards, including a Best Actor win for him. He was also involved in romances with several of his leading ladies, including Clara Bow and Patricia Neal. By the late 1950s, Cooper's health was in decline. He made a few more films, such as Man of the West (1958). He died of cancer on May 13, 1961.