Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper in a 1934 portrait study by photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull. Born on May 7, 1901, in Helena, Montana, to English parents, Cooper studied in England before eventually moving to Los Angeles. In early 1925, he began his film career in silent pictures working as a film extra for five dollars a day, and as a stunt rider for twice that amount. After his appearance in "The Winning of Barbara Worth" (1926), Cooper's career began to take off. Throughout the 1930s, he turned in a number of strong performances in such films as "Design For Living" (1933), "A Farewell to Arms" (1934), "Peter Ibbetson" (1935), "Lives of A Bengal Lancer" (1936) and "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936). In "Sergeant York" (1941), he played a World War I hero and sharpshooter Alvin York, which earned Cooper a Best Actor Academy Award. The next year, he played one of baseball's greats, Lou Gehrig, in "The Pride of the Yankees" (1942). Again, he scored another Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Appearing in a film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943), Cooper starred opposite Ingrid Bergman in a drama set during the Spanish Civil War. This role garnered him a third Academy Award nomination. In 1952, Cooper took on what is known considered his signature role as Will Kane in "High Noon" where he appeared as a lawman who must face a deadly foe without any help from his own townspeople. The film won four Academy Awards, including a Best Actor win for Cooper. By the late 1950s, Cooper's health was in decline. He made a few more films, such as "Man of the West" (1958), before passing away of cancer on May 13, 1961, aged 60.

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