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. My triffecta of actors has already been covered by you. Bogart.

    However-favourites you haven’t done yet:

    James Garner

    Dead: James Mason is my favourite among Hitch actors you’ve not done

    Speaking of Hitch:

    Character actor Raymond Burr is my favourite Canadian born actor of all time. He wasn’t happy with most of his big screen career.

    Myfavourite British actor i sbest known for tv: Jeremy Brett.

    So I am requesting James Garner first

    Keep James mason is mind for after Garner.

    Reply

    1. Well Flora….I guess Mr. James Garner is next….I usually wait for about three requests…and I do believe you and gunnarsarud make number two and three. A quick look at IMDB for him…and it looks like 43 movies in his career….of which 15 are already in my database. James Mason could be a good one, especially his early career….one of my favorites of his movies is The Last of Sheila….I love that movie. So look for James Garner coming to UMR movie pages soon.

      Reply

        1. Hey Flora….well all the James Garner numbers and facts have been found and put into the computer….just need to write the UMR movie page before Irene comes and takes away the electricity.

          Reply

  2. Isn’t great you never have to worry about runninng out of ideas? Of course, finding box office info can be tricky, but we won’t let you stew thinking about not being able to come up with actors

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora…you are correct their are no shortages of possible hub subjects. My mother-in-law first suggested doing some older actors…like Clark Gable….after doing about 15 current actors I finally did Gable and was shocked by the response I got….thus I started doing more classic actors. Seeing you are one of my best commetors…any classic actors you would like to see? I have two of your favorites done…Peck and Widmark….who finishes off your trifecta of classic actors?

      Reply

  3. Fantastic pages you’ve made, especially the “classic” actors. Can I suggest James Garner, Henry Fonda, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Lee Marvin….

    Again, great job!

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the comments and the follow gunnarsrud. You have made some great suggestions. I can tell you I will be doing some of them real soon(Sinatra/Garner/Fonda) and the rest later in my hub page career. I generally try to rotate between current actors and classic actors. Thanks for the compliment.

      Reply

  4. A great page as usual. Grace Kelly in High Noon was alot younger than Gary Cooper. Male actors always seemed to have younger female love interests.

    I don’t care much for sports movies but Pride of the Yankees was very good. Seagent York was a very good movie about a facinating man. My favorite Gary Cooper movie is Beau Geste.

    Reply

    1. Hey ruffridyer….I agree for years the older actor always gets the benefit of getting much younger women in movies. Just look at Audrey Hepburn’s early career……she fell in love with Bogart, Cooper and Grant in the movies and each doubled her age. You mention some great movies….and the movie that made my list after doing this movie page was Beau Geste….I have vague memories of watching the movie with my grandmother….but I hardly remember anything about the movie…thanks for the comments.

      Reply

  5. As I wrote before, I am not a huge fan of Sgt. York, but it is hard to argue against one of his biggest hits and one of the movies he won an Academy Award for. I love the rest of your Top Ten. Looking down the list I am shocked that Man of the West is so far down the list, that is a great movie, probably his last great movie he made. But I will say your ranking system has done a pretty decent job of sorting out all his movies. I would highly recommend one of my favorites, Desire, to people who have not seen many of his movies. It is a comedy and he is very good in the movie, it always made me wonder if Cary Grant took many roles away from him.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for coming back Faye. I am glad you like the Movie Score rankings. As for Man of the West…I have seen a few movie review books and it seems to always score the highest rankings possible. It finished just outside of the Top 10 according to critics and audiences…#11. I will have to check out Desire….and finally I agree I think Cary Grant probably made more than Cooper less willing to make romantic comedies.

      Reply

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