Gary Cooper

In 1933, Cooper got married to Veronica Balfe, a Roman Catholic socialite who appeared in movies like ‘No Other Woman’ and ‘King Kong’. The couple together had one girl named Maria.

Cooper and his wife separated in 1951 because of Cooper’s affair with Patricia Neal. The couple never got divorced as Cooper was scared that he might lose the respect of their daughter if he divorced his wife. They got back together in 1955.

In 1961, Cooper died at the age of 60 because his prostate cancer had spread to his lungs and bones. He was originally buried in California but his wife got his body reburied in Sacred Heart Cemetery, New York.

Gary Cooper was born in Helena, Montana, to Alice and Charles Henry Cooper. His father was an English immigrant farmer from Bedfordshire but after coming to the States he became a lawyer and Judge.

Cooper and his brother attended the Dunstable Grammar School in Bedfordshire, since their mother thought that the education was much better in England. But they were called back to Montana after the World War I broke out.

He was enrolled at the Gallatin Valley High School, Montana, and later studied at Grinnell College, Iowa but he did not finish the college and came back to the ranch and started contributing cartoons to a local newspaper.

When his father left the Montana Supreme Court to work in LA in 1924, Cooper too moved to LA with his parents. He took this decision as his career was not taking off in the desired manner in Montana.

Cooper tried out his luck in LA by first working as a salesman of electric signs and theatrical curtains, then as a promoter and later by applying for newspaper job, but nothing seemed to work for him.

In 1925, he found some work in acting and worked as an extra - usually in the cowboy movies. He had an uncredited role as a cowboy extra in the Tom Mix Western ‘Dick Turpin’.

He appeared in ‘The Winning of Barbara Worth’ in 1926 and with this his career in films took off. The same year, he was cast in ‘Children of Divorce’ along with the silent movie star Clara Bow.

In 1927, Cooper did movies like ‘Wings’—the movie won an Academy Award, ‘Nevada’—co-starring with Thelma Todd and William Powell, ‘The Last Outlaw’, ‘Beau Sabreur’, ‘The Legion of the Condemned’ and ‘Doomsday’.

His position as an A-listed star established in Hollywood with his first sound picture, ‘The Virginian’ in 1929. He starred in the movie along with Walter Hudson and Richard Arlen – the movie was based on a novel by Owen Wister.

‘High Noon’ in 1952 is one of the finest movies of Cooper. He was 50 at the time - almost 30 years older than his co-star Grace Kelly but despite the controversy, he won an Oscar for the movie.