Gary Cooper: An American Hero - Hardcover

Meyers, Jeffrey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688154948 ISBN 13: 9780688154943

Publisher: William Morrow, 1998

Synopsis

The first definitive biography of Gary Cooper, national icon of the American Dream, from one of our most distinguished biographers.

In classic films such as "High Noon," Gary Cooper came to symbolize American ideals of self-reliance, independence, and integrity, but his turbulent private life was often at odds with his squeaky-clean public persona.

The off-screen Cooper was anything but simple -- behind Gary Cooper's American Dream facade lay a tempestuous life. As this meticulously researched book tracks his film career in fascinating detail, it tells the parallel tale of his complicated relationships with Marlene Dietrich and Patricia Neal (to name only two of many), his involvement with the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Hollywood black-list, and his long friendship with Ernest Hemingway.

With the full cooperation of the actor's daughter as well as such colleagues and close friends as Arlene Dahl and Fay Wray, Meyers examines every aspect of Cooper's life, beginning with his youth in Montana where he was a real cowboy before making the leap to Hollywood. There he created some of the quintessential screen westerns in movie history -- awkward, honest men who captured America's imagination with an irresistible air of aw-shucks simplicity. Gary Cooper is a robust portrait of a great star whose contradictions only enhance the artistry with which he created some of the most unforgettable and enduring characters of Hollywood's Golden Age.

About this title

About the Author:

Jeffrey Meyers, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, has written fifty-two books, including Samuel Johnson: The Struggle, The Genius and the Goddess: Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe, Orwell: Life and Art, John Huston: Courage and Art, Remembering Iris Murdoch, and Thomas Mann's Artist-Heroes. His books have been translated into fourteen languages and seven alphabets, and published on six continents.

From Kirkus Reviews:

The indefatigably prolific Meyers (Bogart: A Life in Hollywood, 1997, etc.) continues to work his way through the major icons of American film. Gary Cooper didn't set out to be an actor. Given a choice, he would have preferred to be a painter in the mold of the great western artist Charles Russell. But he was born into the roles in which he became best known, a lanky, laconic westerner, son of English parents living in Montana, raised on a ranch but educated (albeit briefly) in England. He fell into film acting more or less by accident, taking extra and stunt work while living with his family in Hollywood in the mid-1920s, replacing a missing actor on a silent western and revealing an affinity for the camera. His rise was stunningly fast, so much so that in 1931 he suffered a nervous breakdown. When he returned after a few months rest, he became bigger than ever. What is forgotten about Cooper is that his best work was not in westerns (or his equally famous pair of Frank Capra films, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Meet John Doe) but, rather, in the more rarified world of romantic comedy, particularly in an unlikely but highly successful series of collaborations with the urbane Ernst Lubitsch (Design for Living, Desire), Howard Hawks (Ball of Fire) and Billy Wilder (Love in the Afternoon), and romantic dramas like A Farewell to Arms. Meyers seems more interested in recounting Coop's numerous sexual conquests--his tempestuous affair with Lupe Velez, his several marriages and various dalliances--than in the films, and his critical judgment is unexceptional. Frankly, he has little of interest to say about the films, and when he attempts to generalize (as in a lengthy peroration on the role of the 1929 version of The Virginian in shaping the film western), his statements are riddled with clichs and inaccuracies. The books lifeless prose suggests great haste and no small lack of interest. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0688154948
• ISBN 13: 9780688154943
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288