Gary Cooper Movies

Want to know the best Gary Cooper movies?  How about the worst Gary Cooper movies?  Curious about Gary Cooper box office grosses or which Gary Cooper movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Gary Cooper movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Gary Cooper (1901–1961) was an American film actor who appeared in over 100 movies from 1923-1961. Unfortunately many of Cooper’s silent movies have been lost forever. So this page will only look at his movie career from his first “talkie” The Virginian (1929), to his last movie, The Naked Edge (1961) which was released a month after his death in 1961.  Just a few quick notes on Gary Cooper’s silent movie career. From 1923 to 1929, Cooper appeared in over 40 movies. Most of his roles, were either bit or uncredited parts. He did however appear in some very popular movies during this time period. He played a Roman guard in the original version of Ben-Hur (1925), he had one scene in the first movie to ever win the Oscar® for Best Picture….Wings (1927), and he was in the 1927 box office hit Children of Divorce.

In 1929, he became a major star with his first sound picture, The Virginian. He followed The Virginian with the blockbuster hit Morocco (1931), co-starring Marlene Dietrich in her first American film. Over the next thirty years, Cooper would appear in over 60 movies, earning 5 Oscar® nominations, two Oscar® wins (1941’s Sergeant York and 1952’s High Noon) and numerous blockbuster hits. Two of his movies, Sergeant York and 1943’s For Whom The Bell Tolls are still ranked in the Top 100 box office hits of all-time when you look at adjusted domestic box office numbers.

His IMDb page shows 118 acting credits from 1923-1961. This page will rank Gary Cooper movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and many of his silent movies were not included in the page.

Gary Cooper in 1952's High Noon.
Gary Cooper in 1952’s High Noon.

Gary Cooper Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Gary Cooper Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Gary Cooper movies by his co-stats
  • Sort Gary Cooper movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
  • Sort Gary Cooper movies by co-stars of yearly box office rank or trivia if rank not available
  • Sort Gary Cooper movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Gary Cooper movie received.
  • Sort Gary Cooper movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
 
Gary Cooper as Longfellow Deeds in 1936's Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
Gary Cooper as Longfellow Deeds in 1936’s Mr. Deeds Goes To Town

Possibly Interesting Facts About Gary Cooper

#1 After failing as an editorial cartoonist and a salesman of electronic signs in his early 20s, Gary Cooper moved from Montana to Los Angeles with his parents. His thinking on the move…”would rather starve where it was warm, than to starve and freeze too.”

#2 The American Film Institute named Gary Cooper as the 11th best male actor of the Classic Hollywood cinema period.

#3 Gary Cooper married Veronica “Rocky” Balfe in 1933. Despite being separated from between 1951 and 1954, she was with Cooper when he passed away in 1961. They had one daughter together, Maria Cooper. Here you go mom….personal information about him.

#4 Gary Cooper made four movies with legendary director Cecil B. DeMille. Those movies were The Plainsman(1936), North West Mounted Police (1940), The Story of Doctor Wassell (1944) and Unconquered (1947).

#5 During the filming of The Plainsman, Cecil B. DeMille wanted to fire a very young Mexican actor who was playing an indian. Gary Cooper talked DeMille out of firing the actor. The actor? Anthony Quinn who would go on to win two Oscars®.

#6 Cooper was the first choice for the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. When Cooper turned down the role, he was passionately against it. He is quoted as saying, “Gone With The Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling flat on his nose, not me”

#7 Alfred Hitchcock wanted Gary Cooper to star in 1940’s Foreign Correspondent and 1942’s Sabotuer. Cooper later admitted he had made a “mistake” in turning down the director.

#8 Gary Cooper’s reputation as the “strong silent type” goes back to one of his first talking pictures, The Virginian, in which his character had little to say but definitely commanded the respect of those around him. The strong silent type/Gary Cooper was mentioned numerous times in the great HBO series The Sopranos.

#9 Cooper was given a Honorary Oscar® in April 1961, his close friend James Stewart, accepted the award on his behalf. Stewart’s emotional speech hinted that something was seriously wrong, and the next day newspapers ran the headline, “Gary Cooper has cancer.” One month later, on May 13, 1961, six days after his 60th birthday, Cooper died.

#10 Check out Gary Cooper‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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154 thoughts on “Gary Cooper Movies”

  1. Very nicely done Conanson. I see your movie did not open very well this week(lol). As for Gary Cooper, I bet I have seen twenty of these movies, but I do not remember any of them. My dad used to love his westerns, and we would watch them on AMC or VHS all the time. My dad was a huge Cooper fan, but did not like the Duke. I never could figure that one out. It might be interesting to watch some of his westerns and see if I remember any of them.

    Reply

    1. Hey Shaun…..yep I am surviving the horrible opening weekend for Conan. Thanks for sharing your memories of watching Gary Cooper with the movie page. I wonder why your dad like Cooper and not Wayne….there has to be a story behind the reasoning….very interesting. Thanks for the compliment.

      Reply

  2. I’ve always liked Cooper’s laid-back acting style. His “strong, silent” image worked well for him. He was actually pretty good at comedy, too.

    My favorite Cooper films are “High Noon” and “Beau Geste”. (I think ‘Beau Geste’ is a very under-rated film.)

    I haven’t seen “Pride of the Yankees” since I was a kid, but I remember watching it with one of my uncles and he was angry that they completely changed Lou Gehrig’s famous speech.

    Reply

    1. Hey Robwrite. I read that Cooper wanted to do more comedy, but he felt Cary Grant was doing that better than anybody else could…so he stayed away from comedy after he reached the 1940s and onward.

      High Noon and Beau Geste did very well according to critics and audiences…..1st and 4th….I have seen parts of Beau Geste…I need to see the whole thing.

      I think I have seen the movie version of the Gehrig speech more than I have seen the actual Gehrig speech. I can imagine your uncles being New York City citizens would have been very upset with Hollywood changing words to make a better movie. As always thanks for your comments.

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    1. Hey WillStarr…you have two excellent movies of his….as well as the two that he won the Academy Award for Best Actor as well. I appreciate you stopping by and checking out this Cooper movie page.

      Reply

  4. It seems Gary’s movie came out at just the right time to garner him some box office gold….another great actor’s film biography Cogerson.;)

    Reply

    1. Hey mentalist acer thanks for stopping by…..Gary Cooper found a lot of box office gold….just taking these 65 movies in the movie page….his adjusted box office totals would be right around 6.5 billion…..which is about what Tom Hanks has earned in his career. Thanks for the compliment

      Reply

  5. Very nicely done, I learned many things while reading this movie page. As for Love in the Afternoon, the picture you posted, I would have to agree that he looks way too old for Hepburn. But I thing Hepburn did the same thing with Grant in Charade, and they were believable as a couple. I might have to check that movie out. Looking through your list, I have seen only one of Cooper’s movies, High Noon. But now I have a list of many movies to check out, thanks for the information.

    Reply

    1. Hey KellyE….thanks for stopping by and checking out my Gary Cooper movie page, as for Love in the Afternoon, I found sound black and white photos that really show their age difference….but they would not upload very well. I am glad you have a reference list for future movie viewing.

      Reply

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