Real Name:Frank James Cooper
Birthdate: May 7,1901
Birthplace:Helena, Montana
Deathdate: May 13,1961
Deathplace:Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California
Cause Of Death:Lung Cancer
Wife:Sandra Shaw (1933 - 1961) (his death)
Children:1 daughter Maria
Nickname:Coop
Height:6'3"
Hobbies: Fishing, hunting, riding, swimming, and taxidermy.
In the early 1930s, Gary Cooper's doctor told him he had been working too hard. Cooper went to Europe and stayed a lot longer than planned. When he returned, he was told there was now a "new" Gary Cooper -- an unknown actor needed a better name for films, so the studio had reversed Gary Cooper's initials and created a name that sounded similar - Cary Grant.
Along with actress Mylene Demongeot, Cooper set in motion the first escalator to be installed in a cinema, at the Rex Theatre in Paris, June 7, 1957.
Worked as a Yellowstone Park guide for several seasons before becoming an actor.
Upon seeing him, a proffessor in the theater department at Grinnell College recorded "shows no promise."
Pictured on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued 23 March 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp featured Cooper as the title character of _Beau Geste (1939)_. The other films honored were _Stagecoach (1939)_, _Wizard of Oz, The (1939)_, and _Gone with the Wind (1939)_.
