American actor Gary Cooper started his career in 1925 as a film extra and stuntman. He made his official cinematic debut in 1926 in the Samuel Goldwyn production The Winning of Barbara Worth . [1] He went on to become a contract player with Paramount Pictures where he established himself as a popular leading man prior to the end of the silent film era.
Cooper's future in the sound era was assured with the release of The Virginian (1929), his first all-talkie film. [2] For the next 32 years, he would be one of cinema's top money-making stars. From 1936 to 1957, Cooper ranked 18 times among the top ten box office attractions—a record when he died in 1961, and later surpassed only by John Wayne, who ranked among the top ten 25 times, Clint Eastwood (21 times) and Tom Cruise (20 times).
Cooper was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award five times and won twice, for Sergeant York (1942) and High Noon (1952). The latter film boosted his popularity, resulting in him being the number one box office attraction in 1953. Cooper received a third Academy Award—an honorary one—just prior to his death. His final film, The Naked Edge , was released posthumously. [3]
As of February 2008, more than half of Gary Cooper's feature films are available on DVD, while others not yet on home video are available for television broadcast. Unfortunately, at least two of his silent films—Beau Sabreur (1928) and The Legion of the Condemned (1928)—are now considered lost films. [4] [5] Another of his silent films, Wolf Song (1929), was originally released as a part talkie, but survives only as a silent film. [6] One of Cooper's earliest talkies, Paramount on Parade (1930), survives incomplete. The prints that are available for television are missing all but one of the film's Technicolor scenes—a partial restoration of these scenes was done by the UCLA Film Archives. [7]
The filmography contains sections for Cooper's work as an extra in the earliest part of his film career, his feature film appearances, his occasional appearances in short films, and a section for a compilation film. Due to its length (92 films), the listing of his feature films is divided in four sections. Cooper's film roles are listed, as well as the names of each film's director and co-stars. Cooper's awards and nominations are also listed. Except where noted, all of his films were shot in 35mm black and white. All films released prior to Lilac Time (1928) are silent films and all from The Virginian (1929) onward are sound films. The films made during the silent-to-sound transition are noted as being either silent or sound films. As an addendum, Cooper's handful of television appearances are also listed.
Year | Title | Role | Director | Co-stars | Studio | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1926 | The Winning of Barbara Worth | Abe Lee | Henry King | Ronald Colman Vilma Bánky | Goldwyn | [16] | |
1927 | It | Reporter | Clarence Badger | Clara Bow Antonio Moreno | Paramount | [17] | |
Children of Divorce | Ted Larrabee | Frank Lloyd | Clara Bow Esther Ralston | Paramount | [18] | ||
Arizona Bound | Dave Saulter | John Waters | Betty Jewel | Paramount | Lost film | [19] | |
Wings | Cadet White | William A. Wellman | Clara Bow Buddy Rogers Richard Arlen | Paramount | Magnascope sequences | [20] | |
Nevada | Nevada | John Waters | Thelma Todd | Paramount | [21] | ||
The Last Outlaw | Sheriff Buddy Hale | John Waters | Betty Jewel | Paramount | [22] | ||
1928 | Beau Sabreur | Major Henri de Beaujolais | John Waters | Evelyn Brent Noah Beery William Powell | Paramount | Lost film [4] | [23] |
The Legion of the Condemned | Gale Price | William A. Wellman | Fay Wray | Paramount | Lost film [5] | [24] | |
Doomsday | Arnold Furze | Rowland V. Lee | Florence Vidor | Paramount | [25] | ||
Half a Bride | Captain Edmunds | Gregory La Cava | Esther Ralston | Paramount | [26] | ||
Lilac Time | Captain Philip Blythe | George Fitzmaurice | Colleen Moore | First National | Silent film with synchronized music and sound effects [27] | [28] | |
The First Kiss | Mulligan Talbot | Rowland V. Lee | Fay Wray | Paramount | Silent film | [29] | |
The Shopworn Angel | William Tyler | Richard Wallace | Nancy Carroll | Paramount | Silent film with talking sequences, synchronized music, and sound effects [30] | [31] | |
1929 | Wolf Song | Sam Lash | Victor Fleming | Lupe Vélez | Paramount | Silent film with talking sequences, synchronized music, and sound effects [6] | [32] |
Betrayal | Andre Frey | Lewis Milestone | Emil Jannings Esther Ralston | Paramount | Silent film with talking sequences, synchronized music, and sound effects [33] | [34] | |
The Virginian | The Virginian | Victor Fleming | Mary Brian Richard Arlen Walter Huston | Paramount | [35] | ||
1930 | Only the Brave | Captain James Braydon | Frank Tuttle | Mary Brian | Paramount | [36] | |
Paramount on Parade | Hunter ("Dream Girl") | Multiple [Note 1] | Mary Brian Fay Wray | Paramount | Part Technicolor | [37] | |
The Texan | Enrique, The Llano Kid | John Cromwell | Fay Wray | Paramount | [38] | ||
Seven Days' Leave | Kenneth Downey | Richard Wallace | Beryl Mercer | Paramount | [39] | ||
A Man from Wyoming | Jim Baker | Rowland V. Lee | June Collyer | Paramount | [40] | ||
The Spoilers | Roy Glenister | Edward Carewe | Kay Johnson | Paramount | [41] | ||
Morocco | Légionnaire Tom Brown | Josef von Sternberg | Marlene Dietrich | Paramount | [42] |
Year | Title | Role | Director | Stars | Studio | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1926 | Lightnin' Wins | Tom Harding | Hans Tiesler [13] | Eileen Sedgwick | Independent | [11] | |
1931 | The Stolen Jools | Himself | William C. McGann | — [Note 4] | Masquers Club | [11] | |
1932 | The Voice of Hollywood No. 13(Second Series) | Himself | Mack D'Agostino | — | Louis Lewyn | [11] | |
Hollywood on Parade | Himself | Louis Lewyn | — | Louis Lewyn | [120] | ||
1933 | Hollywood on Parade No. A-13 | Himself | Louis Lewyn | — | Louis Lewyn | [121] | |
1934 | Hollywood on Parade No. B-6 | Himself | Louis Lewyn | — | Louis Lewyn | [121] | |
The Hollywood Gad-About | Himself | Louis Lewyn | — | Louis Lewyn | [122] | ||
Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove | Himself | Louis Lewyn | — | MGM | Technicolor | [11] | |
1935 | Screen Snapshots Series 14, No. 8 | Himself | Ralph Staub | — | Columbia | [123] | |
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara | Himself | — | — | MGM | Technicolor | [124] | |
1937 | Lest We Forget | Himself | Frank Whitbeck | — | MGM | Cooper talking with Harry Carey about Will Rogers | [124] |
1940 | Screen Snapshots: Seeing Hollywood | Himself | Ralph Staub | — | Columbia | Cooper as a rodeo spectator | [123] |
Screen Snapshots Series 19, No 6: Hollywood Recreations | Himself | Ralph Staub | — | Columbia | [123] | ||
1941 | Breakdowns of 1941 | Himself | — | — | Warner Bros. | [125] | |
1944 | Memo for Joe | Himself | Richard O. Fleischner | — | RKO | Cooper with the troops on his USO tour of the Pacific | [124] |
1949 | Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc. | Himself | Ralph Staub | — | Columbia | [123] | |
Snow Carnival | Narrator | — | — | Warner Bros. | Technicolor | [126] | |
1955 | Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Premiere | Himself | Ralph Staub | — | Columbia | [123] | |
Hollywood Mothers | Himself | Ralph Staub | — | Columbia | [126] | ||
1958 | Screen Snapshots: Glamorous Hollywood | Himself | Ralph Staub | — | Columbia | [123] | |
1959 | Premier Khrushchev in the USA | Himself | — | — | NBC | [127] |
Year | Title | Role | Director | Stars | Studio | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1939 | Land of Liberty | Multiple | Cecil B. DeMille | Multiple | MGM | Historical events as shown in films [Note 5] | [128] |
Year | Title | Role | Director | Episode | Studio | Broadcast | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1953 | Toast of the Town | Himself | — | 5.21 | CBS | February 1, 1953 | [129] |
1955 | The Ed Sullivan Show | Himself | — | 8.14 | CBS | December 25, 1955 | [130] |
1956 | Cinépanorama | Himself | Jean Kerchbron | 9 | — | December 9, 1956 | [131] |
1957 | Cinépanorama | Himself | Jean Kerchbron | 15 | — | May 16, 1957 | [132] |
1957 | The Ed Sullivan Show | Himself | — | 9.41 | CBS | July 7, 1957 | [130] |
1958 | Wide Wide World | Himself | Van Fox | 3.20 | NBC | June 6, 1958 | [133] |
1958 | The Jack Benny Program | Himself | Seymour Berns | 95 | CBS | September 21, 1958 | [134] |
1959 | The Perry Como Show | Himself | — | — | NBC | February 27, 1959 | [135] |
1959 | What's My Line? | Himself | Franklin Heller | 487 | CBS | October 18, 1959 | [136] |
1961 | Project 20: The Real West | Host and narrator | Donald B. Hyatt | 20 | NBC | March 29, 1961 | [137] |
Year | Program | Episode | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
1937 | Lux Radio Theatre | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | [138] |
Gary Cooper was an American actor known for his strong, silent screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, as well as an Academy Honorary Award in 1961 for his career achievements. 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 number 11 on its list of the 50 greatest screen legends.
Wings is a 1927 American silent and synchronized sound film known for winning the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Due to the general public's apathy towards silent films, the film was quickly re-released in 1928 with synchronized sound. While the sound version of the film has no audible dialogue, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The original soundtrack to the sound version is preserved at UCLA.
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before sound motion pictures became commercially practical. Reliable synchronization was difficult to achieve with the early sound-on-disc systems, and amplification and recording quality were also inadequate. Innovations in sound-on-film led to the first commercial screening of short motion pictures using the technology, which took place in 1923. Before sound-on-film technology became viable, soundtracks for films were commonly played live with organs or pianos.
Betty Compson was an American actress and film producer who got her start during Hollywood's silent era. She is best known for her performances in The Docks of New York and The Barker, the latter of which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
Laurel and Hardy were a motion picture comedy team whose official filmography consists of 106 films released between 1921 and 1951. Together they appeared in 34 silent shorts,A 45 sound shorts, and 27 full-length sound feature films.B In addition to these, Laurel and Hardy appeared in at least 20 foreign-language versions of their films and a promotional film, Galaxy of Stars (1936), produced for European film distributors.
John Waters was an American film director, second unit director and, initially, an assistant director. His career began in the early days of silent film and culminated in two consecutive Academy Award nominations in the newly instituted category of Best Assistant Director. He won on his second nomination, for MGM's Viva Villa!, and received a certificate of merit; the certificate was replaced with an Oscar statuette in 1965.
Kevin Brownlow is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent documenting and restoring film. Brownlow has rescued many silent films and their history. His initiative in interviewing many largely forgotten, elderly film pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s preserved a legacy of early mass-entertainment cinema. He received an Academy Honorary Award at the 2nd Annual Governors Awards given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on 13 November 2010. This was the first occasion on which an Academy Honorary Award was given to a film preservationist.
Leatrice Joy was an American actress most prolific during the silent film era.
For Whom the Bell Tolls is a 1943 American epic war film produced and directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Katina Paxinou and Joseph Calleia. The screenwriter Dudley Nichols based his script on the 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by American novelist Ernest Hemingway. The film is about an American International Brigades volunteer, Robert Jordan (Cooper), who is fighting in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists. During his desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge to protect Republican forces, Jordan falls in love with a young woman guerrilla fighter (Bergman).
Children of Divorce is a 1927 American silent romantic drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Clara Bow, Esther Ralston, and Gary Cooper. Adapted from the 1927 novel of the same name by Owen Johnson, and written by Louis D. Lighton, Hope Loring, Alfred Hustwick, and Adela Rogers St. Johns, the film is about a young flapper who tricks her wealthy friend into marrying her during a night of drunken revelry. Even though she knows that he is in love with another woman, she refuses to grant him a divorce and repeat the mistake of her divorced parents. Produced by Jesse L. Lasky, E. Lloyd Sheldon, and Adolph Zukor for the Famous Players–Lasky, the film was released on April 25, 1927 by Paramount Pictures.
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife is a 1938 Paramount Pictures American romantic comedy film directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper. The film is based on the 1921 French play La huitième femme de Barbe-Bleue by Alfred Savoir and the English translation of the play by Charlton Andrews. The screenplay was the first of many collaborations between Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. The film is a remake of the 1923 silent version directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson.
Today We Live is a 1933 American pre-Code romance drama film produced and directed by Howard Hawks and starring Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Robert Young and Franchot Tone.
North West Mounted Police is a 1940 American epic north-western film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll. Written by Alan Le May, Jesse Lasky Jr., and C. Gardner Sullivan, and based on the 1938 novel The Royal Canadian Mounted Police by R. C. Fetherstonhaugh, the film is about a Texas Ranger who joins forces with the North-West Mounted Police to put down a rebellion in the north-west prairies of Canada. The supporting cast features Paulette Goddard, Preston Foster, Robert Preston, Akim Tamiroff, Lon Chaney Jr. and George Bancroft. Regis Toomey, Richard Denning, Rod Cameron, and Robert Ryan make brief appearances in the film playing small roles.
Mary Pickford (1892–1979) was a Canadian-American motion picture actress, producer, and writer. During the silent film era she became one of the first great celebrities of the cinema and a popular icon known to the public as "America's Sweetheart".
A Farewell to Arms is a 1932 American pre-Code romance drama film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou. Based on the 1929 semi-autobiographical novel A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, with a screenplay by Oliver H. P. Garrett and Benjamin Glazer, the film is about a tragic romantic love affair between an American ambulance driver and an English nurse in Italy during World War I. The film received Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Art Direction.
The Wedding Night is a 1935 American romantic tragedy film directed by King Vidor and starring Gary Cooper and Anna Sten. Written by Edith Fitzgerald and based on a story by Edwin H. Knopf, the film is about a financially strapped novelist who returns to his country home in Connecticut looking for inspiration for his next novel and becomes involved with a beautiful young Polish woman and her family.
Betrayal is a 1929 American sound drama film produced for Famous Players–Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film is the last film without audible dialogue that was directed by Lewis Milestone, the last non-speaking role performance by Gary Cooper, the last non-speaking performance by Germany's Emil Jannings, and the only onscreen pairing of Cooper and Jannings. It is considered a lost film.
Beau Sabreur is a 1928 American silent romantic adventure film directed by John Waters and starring Gary Cooper and Evelyn Brent. Due to the public apathy towards silent films, a sound version was also prepared. While the sound version has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. Based on the 1926 novel Beau Sabreur by P. C. Wren, who also wrote the 1924 novel Beau Geste. Produced by Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation and distributed by Paramount Pictures, only a trailer exists of this film today. The released feature version is a lost film.
Half a Bride is a 1928 American silent romance film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Esther Ralston, Gary Cooper, and William Worthington. Based on the short story "White Hands" by Arthur Stringer, and written by Doris Anderson, Percy Heath, and Julian Johnson, the film is about an impulsive thrill-seeking heiress who announces to her father that she entered into a "companionate marriage" with one of her party friends. After her father abducts her aboard his private yacht and sails away, she escapes in a small boat and after a storm ends up on a desert island along with the yacht's young captain who followed after her. Half a Bride was released on June 16, 1928 by Paramount Pictures in the United States.
The Right to Be Happy is an American silent film from 1916 that draws inspiration from Charles Dickens' 1843 Novella, A Christmas Carol. This film was Universal's first attempt at making a Feature film based on Dickens' novella. Throughout the silent era, it stood as the first and only feature film adaptation of A Christmas Carol by an American or foreign film company. The movie was directed by Rupert Julian and supported by a cast of Universal Bluebird players, including Rupert Julian, Claire McDowell, and Harry Carter.