The General Died at Dawn

The General Died at Dawn

Directed by Lewis Milestone. 98 mins (1936)

Gary Cooper - O'Hara

In revolution-torn China, American mercenary O’Hara (Gary Cooper) is entrusted with a perilous mission, to get arms for the helpless authorities in a province ravaged by warlord General Yang (Akim Tamiroff). On the train to Shanghai, he meets Judy Perrie (Madeleine Carroll), whose father is in league with Yang. Will Judy regret agreeing to lure O’Hara to his doom, and if so, can she make it up to him? The balance of power seesaws to a perilous conclusion.

Also starring Madeleine Carroll, Akim Tamiroff, Dudley Digges, Porter Hall and William Frawley.

Future novelist John O Hara made his only acting appearance as a reporter on a train. Twenty-two years later Gary Cooper would star in the screen adaptation of O'Hara's novel Ten North Frederick.

Nominated for 3 Oscars - Best Supporting Actor (Akim Tamiroff), Best Cinematography and Best Music Score (Boris Moross).

The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead

Directed by King Vidor 114 mins (1949)

Gary Cooper - Howard Roark

An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.

Also starring Patricia Neal,  Raymond Massey, Kent Smith, Robert Douglas and Henry Hull.

Drama based on the best-selling novel by Ayn Rand, published in 1943. Director King Vidor wanted Humphrey Bogart for the lead role but author Ayn Rand insisted on Gary Cooper. The courtroom speech by Gary Cooper  was the longest in film history up until that time.

Tagline - No Man Takes What's Mine!

The Cowboy and the Lady

The Cowboy & The Lady

Directed by H.C Potter 

Gary Cooper – Stretch Willoughby

Mary Smith decides after a lifetime of being a shut-in to do something wild while her father is out campaigning for the presidency, so she takes off for the family’s home in West Palm Beach and inadvertently becomes romantically entangled with earnest cowboy Stretch Willoughby. Neither the dalliance nor the cowboy fit with the upper class image projected by her esteemed father, forcing her to choose.

Also starring Merle Oberon, Patsy Kelly, Walter Brennan, Fuzzy Knight, Henry Kolker and Mabel Todd

The role of Mary's father, Horace Smith, was originally assigned to Thomas Mitchell, but due to various production issues, shooting was delayed. As a result, Mitchell, who had a previous commitment, had to leave before his scenes were completed. All of his previously shot scenes were scrapped, and his part was recast with Henry Kolker, who quickly re-shot all of Mitchell's scenes.

Nominated for 3 Oscars, winning one, Best Sound, Recording.

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

Directed by Otto Preminger. 100 mins (1955)

Gary Cooper - Col. Billy Mitchell

A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command’s dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.

Also starring Charles Bickford, Ralph Bellamy, Rod Steiger, Elizabeth Montgomery, Jack Lord, Peter Graves and Darren McGavin.

Based on real events. Gen. Frank R. McCoy, one of the court-martial's judges, served as a pallbearer at Mitchell's funeral in 1935, ten years after the trial. The appearance of Major H. H. ("Hap") Arnold, played by Robert Brubaker in the film, is significant, for it was he who would authorize the famed Doolittle air attack on Tokyo in April 1942. The raid consisted of B-25 Mitchell bombers - named in honor of Billy Mitchell.

Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. 

Tagline - He defied the army and navy . . . and they gave him a Court Martial!

The Betrayal

The Betrayal

Director Lewis Milestone 80 mins (1929)

Gary Cooper – Andre Frey

She risks all for love! All he can give her is home, position, life devotion. And she wants love. She steals it! She learns the joy and heartbreak that love really is. And you will thrill to the- REVELATION!

Also starring Emil Jennings, Esther Ralston, Douglas Haig and Jada Weller

This film was Gary Cooper’s last silent drama film.

The Adventures of Marco Polo

The Adventures of Marco Polo

Directed by Archie Mayo. 104 mins (1938)

Gary Cooper - Marco Polo

Marco Polo travels from Venice to Peking, where he quickly discovers spaghetti and gunpowder and falls in love with the Emperor's daughter. The Emperor Kublai Khan is a kindly fellow, but his evil aide Ahmed wants to get rid of Kublai Khan so he can be emperor, and to get rid of Marco Polo so he can marry the princess. Ahmed sends Marco Polo to the West to fight barbarians, but he returns just in time to save the day.

Also starring Basil Rathbone, Sigrid Gurie, Binnie Barnes, Alan Hale, H.B. Warner and Lana Turner.

Lana Turner later recalled that her "fancy black oriental wig" had been glued around her face with spirit gum, while she felt extremely uncomfortable in her costumes and, worse yet, had her eyebrows shaved off at the insistence of Samuel Goldwyn himself, and replaced with false slanting black ones.

10 North Frederick

10 North Frederick

Directed by Phillip Dunne 102 mins  (1958)

Gary Cooper  - Joseph B. “Joe” Chapin

At his father's funeral, Joe Chapin thinks back over the last five years of his life, years of apparent political and personal failure dominated by a selfish and dissatisfied wife and eased only by alcohol. But it starts to emerge that there was in fact one brief and unsuspected period of happiness and love.

Also starring  Geraldine Fitzgerald, Diane Varsi, Ray Stricklyn, Barbara Nichols, Tom Tully and Stuart Whitman.

The film is based on the 1955 National Book Award-winning novel by John O'Hara. In the novel, Ann Chapin has an abortion. That was considered too volatile for 1950s audiences, so in the film she has a miscarriage.

Nominated for a Golden Globe and winning Golden Sail at Locarno International Film Festival.

Task Force

Task Force

Directed by Delmer Daves. 116 mins (1949)

Gary Cooper - Jonathan L. Scott

After learning the finer points of carrier aviation in the 1920s, career officer Jonathan Scott and his pals spend the next two decades promoting the superiority of naval air power. But military and political “red tape” continually frustrate their efforts, prompting Scott to even consider leaving the Navy for a more lucrative civilian job. Then the world enters a second World War and Scott finally gets the opportunity to prove to Washington the valuable role aircraft carriers could play in winning the conflict. But what will it cost him and his comrades personally?

Also starring Jane Wyatt, Wayne Morris, Walter Brennan, Julie London and Jack Holt.

The entire film is in black and white except for the last 18 minutes which were shot in color.

In the film, Gary Cooper is offered a copy of the book "A Farewell To Arms" by a fellow officer. Cooper starred in the 1932 film adaptation of Hemingway's novel.

Starlift

Starlift

Directed by Roy Del Ruth  103 mins (1951)

Gary Cooper – Gary Cooper

To impress a movie star, a U.S. Air Force crewman pretends he is soon to see combat. When his lie gets out, chaos ensues.

Also starring Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, James Cagney, Randolph Scott and Ruth Roman

The plot involves a  cavalcade of movie stars who are in San Francisco for a world movie premiere. Because of a chance meeting with a couple of air force men, some of those movie stars, including Doris Day and Ruth Roman, head to Travis Air Force Base outside of the city. Seeing the life of the enlisted men heading off to the Korean War, the movie stars decide to visit with the returning wounded men and put on a show at the base. Things turn chaotic though…..

Springfield Rifle

Springfield Rifle

Directed by Andre de Toth 93 mins (1952)

Gary Cooper - Maj. Alex  “Lex” Kearney

Major Lex Kearney, dishonorably discharged from the army for cowardice in battle, has actually volunteered to go undercover to try to prevent raids against shipments of horses desperately needed for the Union war effort. Falling in with the gang of jayhawkers and Confederate soldiers who have been conducting the raids, he gradually gains their trust and is put in a position where he can discover who has been giving them secret information revealing the routes of the horse shipments.
Western set during the Civil War.

Also starring Phyllis Thaxter, David Brian, Paul Kelly, Philip Carey and Lon Chaney Jr.

While filming at Lone Pine, California, at the base of Mount Whitney, a mushroom cloud from a nuclear device was seen on the horizon coming from a Nevada nuclear test site. The test site was operational from 1951 until 1992.

Tagline - The Gun That Made One Man The Equal Of Five!

Souls at Sea

Souls at Sea

Directed by Henry Hathaway

Gary Cooper – Michael “Nuggin” Taylor

Michael ‘Nuggin’ Taylor and Powdah save lives during a sea tragedy in this story about the slave trade on the high seas during 1842.

Also starring George Raft, Frances Dee, Henry Wilcoxon, Harry Carey and Olympe Bradna

Loosely based on the real sinking of the American ship William Brown in 1841, after hitting an iceberg 250 miles off Newfoundland.When Nuggin and Powdah are in a tavern, the bartender immerses a hot iron into their beer mugs. This was most likely part of making a popular sailor's drink at the time called a "flip". It was made with beer, rum, sugar or molasses (and possibly a spice like cinnamon or cloves). The hot poker caramelizes the sugar. The technique was also just a quick way to warm beer during the winter.

Nominated for 3 Oscars

Seven Days’ Leave

Seven Days Leave

Director Richard Wallace 80 mins (1930)

Gary Cooper – Kenneth Downey

A young Canadian soldier is wounded while fighting in World War I. While recovering from his wounds in London, a YMCA worker tells him that a Scottish widow without a son believes that he is in fact her son. To comfort the widow, the soldier agrees to pretend to be her Scottish son. After fighting with British sailors who make fun of his kilts, he wants to desert, but moved by his mother's patriotism he returns to the war front and is killed in battle. Later the proud Scottish widow receives the medals that her "son" was awarded for bravery.

Also starring Beryl Mercer, Daisy Belmore, Nora Cecil and Tempe Pigott

Based on the play The Old Lady Shows Her Medals by J.M. Barrie.

Saratoga Trunk

Saratoga Trunk

Directed by Sam Wood 135 mins (1945)

Gary Cooper – Colonel Clint Maroon

An opportunistic Texas gambler and the exiled Creole daughter of an aristocratic family join forces to achieve justice from the society that has ostracized them.

Also starring Ingrid Bergman,  Flora Robson, Jerry Austin, John Warburton and Florence Bates.

Romantic drama based on the novel by Edna Ferber, first published in 1940. The word "trunk" refers to a railroad's main line - a "trunk" line - in this case, between Albany and Binghamton, New York on the Delaware and Hudson.

Due to wartime rationing shortages, most of the vegetables in the New Orleans, Louisiana market scene were fake.

Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress (Flora Robson).

Return to Paradise

Return to Paradise

Directed by Mark Robson 100 mins (1953)

Gary Cooper – Mr. Morgan

An American drifter comes to a remote Polynesian island controlled by a Puritanical missionary and turns the social life of the island upside-down.

Also starring Barry Jones, Roberta Haynes, Moira Walker and John Hudson

Roberta Haynes said she adored working with Gary Cooper, who she noted was ill and on medication during filming on location in British West Samoa.

Peter Ibbetson

Peter Ibbetson

Directed by Henry Hathaway 85 min (1935)

Gary Cooper – Peter Ibbotson

Architect Peter Ibbetson is hired by the Duke of Towers to design a building for him. Ibbetson discovers that the Duchess of Towers, Mary, is his now-grown childhood sweetheart. Their love revives, but Peter is sentenced to life in prison for an accidental killing. Mary comes to him in dreams and they are able to live out their romance in a dream world.

Also starring Ann Harding, John Halliday, Ida Lupino, Douglas Dumbrille and Virginia Weidler

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider

Nominated for an Oscar

Operator 13

Operator 13

Directed by Richard Boleslawski 85 mins (1934)

Gary Cooper – Capt. Jack Gailliard

Union spy Gail Loveless impersonates a black maid in the early days of the Civil War, but complications arise when she falls in love with a Confederate officer.

Also starring Marion Davies, Jean Parker, Katherine Alexander and Ted Healey

The only teaming of Marion Davies and Gary Cooper, whom Davies specifically requested for this film. Cooper was under contract at Paramount at the time. The interior set of the Shackleford mansion was reused as the interior of Twelve Oaks in Gone with the Wind.

Nominated for an Oscar

One Sunday Afternoon

One Sunday Afternoon

Director Stephen Roberts 85 mins (1933)

Gary Cooper – Biff Grimes

Middle-aged dentist Biff Grimes reminisces about his unrequited love for beautiful Virginia Brush and her husband Hugo, his ex-friend, who betrayed him.

Also starring Fay Wray, Frances Fuller, Roscoe Karns, Neil Hamilton and Jane Darwell

After Fredric March read the play, he told Gary Cooper about it, and Cooper urged Paramount to buy the film rights to it - which they did for $26,000 ($515,000 in 2019).At the beginning of the film, Biff and Snappy are depicted drinking Old Crow whiskey, at the time one of the most popular brands in the U.S.

Now and Forever

Now & Forever

Director Henry Hathaway 81 mins (1934)

Gary Cooper  - Jerry Day

Young freewheeling wanderer Jerry Day and his beautiful wife Toni are at odds over their lifestyle. Jerry can’t accept responsibility but Toni yearns for a family and a settled life. Then the Days ‘rediscover’ Jerry’s young daughter Pennie, who has been living with his rich deceased wife’s family. Pennie appears to be just what Jerry needs to mend his swindling ways and lead a straight life. Despite the responsibility of his new family, Jerry is swayed by the corruptible influence of jewellery thief Felix Evans. When Evans lures Jerry into a job, it puts the continuation of his new family life at risk.

Also starring Carole Lombard, Shirley Temple, Guy Standing and Charlotte Granville

When Gary Cooper first met Shirley Temple on the set of this movie, he asked her for her autograph.

Shirley Temple memorized every line of dialogue in this movie, and whenever Gary Cooper forgot or fumbled his lines, Temple prompted him, much to Cooper's annoyance.

Maria’s Notes

As Now and Forever was made in 1934 my father was still kind of “newlywed"(1933 marriage) and he didn’t want to accept more than one picture that year. My memories years later of his comments about that film revolved mainly around one very little, cute, adorable…and highly annoying little girl named Shirley Temple who played his daughter. She already had made a name for herself in the industry. He admired a lot her intelligence and talentbut was highly irritated with her annoying habit of knowing not only her own, but everybody else’s lines when shooting a scene. Little Shirley was not shy about speaking up and correcting you in front of the cast if you made a dialogue mistake and said “and” instead of “but”. Understandably, this is never done and it drove him crazy!!!But he overcame that frustration and they actually got along very well. and their relationship and scenes together are touching and memorable. By contrast, his co-star Carol Lombard and he have an explosive relationship in the film. The contact and dynamics work very well for the story. Off screen Carole was a family friend and there was many a weekend afternoon with the Coopers and she and Clark Gable who were madly in love with each other, just relaxing, playing tennis, swimming. I have been told she could hold her own with the guys when it came to swearing—quite a shock coming from this very feminine blond!The movie was a “sleeper” and a much better picture than popularly acknowledged by the critics at the time. But the public was very happy!

Maria Cooper Janis

North West Mounted Police

North West Mounted Police

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille 126 mins (1940)

Gary Cooper – Dusty Rivers

Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers (“Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?”, another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April’s brother is involved with Courbeau’s daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.)

Also starring Madeleine Carroll - April Logan, George Bancroft, Paulette Goddard, Preston Foster and Robert Preston
Due to budget restrictions, the movie was filmed at sound stages at the Paramount lot as well as on location in Oregon and California, even though the film was based on a real life incident in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Nominated for 4 Oscars, winning one for Best Film editing

Man of the West

Man of the West

Directed by Anthony Mann 100 mins (1958)

Gary Cooper  - Link Jones

Heading east to Fort Worth to hire a schoolteacher for his frontier town home, Link Jones is stranded with singer Billie Ellis and gambler Sam Beasley when their train is held up. For shelter, Jones leads them to his nearby former home, where he was brought up an outlaw. Finding the gang still living in the shack, Jones pretends to be ready to return to a life crime.

Also starring Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur O’ Connell and John Lord

Gary Cooper bravely did his own horse-riding scenes despite physical pain from a car accident years earlier. Jean-Luc Goddard, a film critic before he became a director, raved about the film, saying it was the best film of that year. Because of his recommendation, the film has been re-evaluated and is now considered a classic western.