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.

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.

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154 thoughts on “Gary Cooper Movies”

    1. Hey Christine B….based on lots of stats…it is not one of his best…but it is far from one of his worst…seems to be in the middle of many of his stats….but that is just stats…I imagine Operator 13 is indeed one of his worst movies. Thanks for the comment.

      Reply

  2. BRUCE:
    1 Forty 100 million dollar hits. Wow! Those Greats who dominated the first three decades of the talkies sure were popular. Will we ever see their like again?

    2 You and I have agreed that Coop aged badly. However oddly enough I liked him better as he got older because of the increased quality of quiet dignity that age seemed to permit him to bring to his roles in such films as Ten North Frederick and his best 50s westerns: High Noon, Vera Cruz, Friendly Persuasion, and Garden of Evil.

    3 John Wayne disagreed, as one of your other readers pointed out some time ago. Wayne criticised Cooper for agreeing to appear in High Noon. The Duke (1) opined that the film was an insult to small town America by portraying them as cowards; and Wayne (2) disliked the fact that Cooper’s wife had to save him at the end of the film [“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” is I think the applicable cliche].

    4 Cooper was a staunch conservative Republican; but from time to time television will show the clip in which the Un-American Activities Committee humiliated him when he appeared before them to give evidence in I think 1947. Perhaps their displeasure with him was because unlike many other actors at that time he apparently would not oblige the Committee by pointing the finger at movie people who had committed perceived transgressions. That would of course be consistent with his caring and dignified screen persona.

    5. Strangely enough I saw Garden of Evil in 1954 at the age of 13 and have never been able to catch it again since. However down through the years some of the closing lines in it have vividly stuck in my memory. About half way through the film Richard Widmark had introduced the world-wise Cooper to someone and Widmark had said “This is Hooker. He knows everything.” As the film is reaching its climax Widmark lies dying and he says to Coop “One thing I never liked about you Hooker. You always knew everything.” Coop gets the final good lines in the movie.Looking out over the vast landscape he cynically observes: “If the earth was made of gold men would kill each other for a handful of dirt.”

    6. His final film was of course The Naked Edge. If my memory is correct Marlon Brando Senior produced it.

    Must go. Can’t concentrate any more tonight because of my excited anticipation of your forthcoming updated Dietrich page!

    Reply

    1. I LOVE GARDEN OF EVIL. It is one of my favorite movies. Says Richard Widmark fan me.

      You have just answered your own question about why Cooper ends up with Hepburn at the end of Love in the Afternoon.

      And as I said, re: High Noon – this is my favourite Gary Cooper film.

      Reply

        1. Garden of Evil is one of my favourite western. Flora, I’m a Richard Widmark’s fan since I was 12 years old, when I saw “the last wagon” on the TV.

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          1. I became a Richard Widmark fan when I was watching Yellow Sky and kept being distracted by him from Gregory Peck. I had seen Murder on the Orient Express lots of times before but I had never paid any attention to Widmark.

          2. Hey Laurent….glad to see another Widmark fan out there. Garden of Evil is indeed a very good movie. I am sure all of these Widmark talk makes Flora very happy indeed.

    2. Hey Robert Roy.
      1. The updates continue….the Cooper was one of the bigger updates left…I found some huge errors on some of his RKO movies….but they are now fixed. Not many people can get to 40 movies…and even fewer reach 40 $100 million dollar movies.
      2. I agree with you that his later movies are indeed great ones…and he is stellar in them as well….with the age helping out the cause….just in love story with Hepburn…it did not work….for me at least.
      3. Yep Wayne did not like High Noon at all…..seems he could not imagine the town refusing to help out the sheriff…though I think people not wanting to help is probably a more accurate portrayal.
      4. Interesting information on #4.
      5. I actually just watched The Garden of Evil pretty recently. It is a very entertaining with 3 movie legends. I know it is on DVD now.
      6. Sadly not much is said about his swan song….The Naked Edge….but it is one I want to see.
      I know what you mean….this is the end of a very long…but good weekend…I will have to finish the rest of these comments tomorrow.

      Reply

      2. BRUCE:
        1 I think that film audiences would agree with you and Flora about the inaccuracy of the Dukes perception of the townspeople.

        2 I remember being in a cinema in the early 50s and showing there was one of those B movies that Wayne made before he hit the big time. A rancher tells the Duke that some bad guys are coming out to kill himself and he asks John what HE would do if they came after him Before Duke could reply some wit in the audience shouted out: “He’d hide!”.

        4 How perceptive of me to grasp that my taste and Flora’s often coincided! Along with Greg, Ladd, Jimmy Stewart and Morgan Freeman, Richard is in my top five favourite actors. I love the way he could rotate his styles as he demonstrated with his manic performance in Kiss of Death; his almost Rambo-type character in The Last Wagon; and his beautifully-underplayed Cooper-like hero in Warlock. He even gave us a glimpse of his Burt Lancaster/ Crimson Pirate persona in The Long Ships.

        5 The trouble is I can never write much about him because compared with other actors when I was growing up he went about his film-making in a quiet unassuming way and apparently led a quiet life; so he didn’t generate much publicity. On the other hand in the 50s/60s one could hardly pick up a paper or magazine without reading some nonsense or controversy about the likes of Monroe, Brando, Sinatra, or Liz and Burton. Two of the things of any interest that I can remember reading about Richard are that an airport near him was named after him and that he didn’t drink alcohol. Anybody – Flora in particular – know if that information is accurate?

        6 Great coincidence U watching Garden of Evil recently. When one is in one’s 7th decade memory goes back a long way; but the downside is that it might not be all that perfect. I recently watched Zero Hour starring Dana Andrews which I last saw in the 50s and it was not the film I remembered. So recall right about the ‘earth made of gold’ line at the end of Garden of Evil?

        Reply

        1. Hey Robert Roy.
          2. That is funny…about “he’d hide”….I imagine that would have irked the Duke even more that the town people of High Noon.
          3. That is cool…about Widmark and Peck being you and Flora’s favorite actors….since Flora has come into my life I have watched more of their movies. I have not seen The Last Wagon or The Long Ships…..but I will add them to my list of movies to watch. I very recently watched Peck in Moby Dick and Widmark in Night and the City.
          4. I think that might have benefited Widmark (not being cover material for magazines)..that way people looked at the performance….versus looking at Widmark.
          5. I can relate to your thinking about how movies change…as I approach my 5th decade…I am seeing the same thing with movies I loved in the 1970s and 1980s.
          As always….thanks for your input.

          Reply

          2. Hey Flora….I actually watched Night and the City for the first time from beginning to end…just the other day….my review is on letterboxd

        2. That perception is indeed accurate. He drank milk.

          Widmark was a private family man who did not want to have anything to do with our yahoogroups fanclub becoming an official fan club. He knew we existed because his daughter showed him the website. When there was talk of him getting an honourary Oscar, he did not want one, so his daughter contacted us to stop and we did.

          You can learn more about Richard Widmark on Cogerson’s Richard Widmark page. I talk about him extensively.

          He is number 2 on my favourite actors list just behind Gregory Peck.

          I will tell you something else about Hollywood families and dynasties.

          Widmark was married to one woman for life- he and screenwriter Jean Hazelwood met in college and they were married until she died.

          Meanwhile, Widmark and Henry Fonda were very close friends and they made several movies together. After Jean’s death, Widmark married Susan Blanchard, his widow – who was married to Henry Fonda. As Peter Fonda was always very close to Susan, after Richard Widmark married her, Peter referred to him as his step father until Richard died.

          Reply

          2. MY favourite Widmark movie is Warlock followed by his Comanche Todd in The last Wagon

          4. FLORA

            1 Bruce’s often reference to your being a Peck/Widmark fan and your confirmation that the latter drank just milk got me thinking about the contrasts and comparisons between the two men. [I wonder how well they would have gotten along with Errol Flynn.]

            2 Whilst both were sensible. well-behaved individuals Greg was apparently not the teetotaller that Richard was. I remember reading in the English Sunday Express about an interview that the paper’s movie columnist had with Greg and Veronique Passani at their home around about the time of The Guns of Navarone.

            3 They talked for a while and as the evening came in Greg said that he he didn’t mind an alcoholic drink “after the sun goes down” because Veronique felt that it brought a healthy glow to his cheeks. The journalist declined and Gregory told him to talk on while he, Greg, drank. “As the evening wore on I talked and talked while Peck glowed and glowed.”! wrote the journalist.

            4 Conversely I read an article about Sean Connery that included reference to a different kind of story about Dick Widmark. Apparently Richard was friendly with Karl Malden [they did Take the High Ground together] and Malden in turn was a Brando pal. Dick threw a small dinner party for the other two; and as Seam had expressed an interest in meeting Hollywood Greats Brando and Widmark Karl got Seam invited along.

            5 Now whilst Dick and Karl were both reserved men Sean and Marlon were not only massive drinkers but also had huge egos: so the got into a serious drinking competition and both became legless. It therefor fell to Dick as the host and being completely sober to make special arrangements to get the two ‘drunks’ home.

            6. I understand that when Sinatra was going through some kind of suitability hearing
            Greg came forward as a character witness. It illustrates how respected Greg was in the Hollywood of those days when his opinion carried weight in relation to as powerful a figure as Frankie.

            Best wishes BOB

          5. Hey Robert Roy….more great stories. I have been enjoying your memories of stories you have read and remembered. It sounds like we are a lot alike….collecting all of this information in our heads…and just waiting to unlease it….lol. Keep’ em coming. FYI…Speaking of Sir Sean….his page got updated yesterday. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/sean-connery-movies/

    3. As for the Dietrich page….it has already been updated…I actually did the update while working on the Sternberg page….as I figured it would not be good to have two pages with different numbers. Gotta get my 4 hours of sleep.

      Reply

  3. Just saw that you had updated this page. I cannot help but think that put discussions about the movie Love in the Afternoon inspired you to choose Coop as your next actor to update. I just saw this Friday night and wrote a letterboxd review of it as well as Sabrina.

    My total of Coop films now:

    33 movies.

    My favourite Cooper films remain as before: westerns and comedies

    High Noon is my top Cooper film. I love the theme song sung by Tex Ritter. I have the sheet music from the AFI 100 Top Songs. The lyrics are slightly different. I have both versions memorized.

    Wonderful, Bruce.

    Reply

    1. Flora has hit on a good idea! If there is somebody we particularly want an updated page on let’s start a controversy about them and Bruce may then quickly produce the page!

      Reply

      1. There is no doubt when a star gets mentioned my first thought is….have I done the update on him or her. So I do no think it has to be a controversy….just a mention….lol.

        Reply

    2. I was digging through the old comments….and I found a couple of interesting things (1) I mentioned Children of Divorce as being the 6th biggest hit of that year….so at some point I must have had box office for that movie….but it is not included here and (2) when I first wrote the page my tally was 4…..well it is now 20…..so I have done a pretty good job of expanding my Cooper movie watching history. Gotta do some research on Children of Divorce.

      Reply

      1. Ok…I feel better….Children of Divorce is now on the page…..lol. He is now so close to the $10 billion dollar club….$9.94 billion.

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  4. Hi

    Just by chance last Sunday I turned on TCM and it was showing The Cowboy and The Lady and I really enjoyed it. Of course pretty tame by today’s standards but Cooper really had the X factor. I remember a director in an interview years ago, it might have been Henry Hathaway, said that in the flesh Gary Cooper came across quite dull, but yet on the screen he became this magical figure that you couldn’t keep your eye off. Goes to show the power of stardom.
    I would say my favourite Cooper movies would be High Noon, The Fountain Head and Sergeant York.
    His last movie, The Naked Edge with Debra Kerr was also very good. By anyone standards, he had an incredible run of success.

    Reply

    1. Hey Chris….I have not seen The Cowboy and The Lady yet. That is a cool Hathaway quote on Cooper. Sadly Cooper does not seem to get mentioned much when people name screen legends….but just look at all the great movies on this table. I wonder who this generations Gary Cooper is?….Matt Damon maybe?

      Two of your favorite Cooper movies did well in my rankings…as Sgt York is #1 and High Noon is #2…both won him Oscars. …with The Fountainhead coming in 28th. I will have to check out The Naked Edge….that is a movie I have never seen a trailer….never seen a DVD cover….never seen a VHS cover….and never saw it on tv…..it is almost a forgotten Cooper movie….as always thanks for stopping by and checking out my Cooper page.

      Reply

  5. Everybody has their opinions, but the top 10 movies by Coop were:
    1) Sergeant York
    2) High a Noon
    3) Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
    4) The Pride of the Yankees
    5) Meet John Doe
    6) For Whom the Bell Tolls
    7) The Westerner
    8) Ball of Fire
    9) Beau Geste
    10) Morocco

    Although I enjoy all of his movies, some of them just don’t hold up to the others. Numbers 7, 9, and 10 on the list wouldn’t even be in my top 20 Coop films. Nevertheless, any film with Coop is still enjoyable.

    Reply

    1. Hey Dan. Well let’s see how my CogersonMovieScore formula ranked the 10 ways you listed.
      1) Sergeant York….1st according to Cogerson Movie Score….
      2) High a Noon……6th according to Cogerson Movie Score
      3) Mr. Deeds Goes To Town…..2nd according to Cogerson Movie Score
      4) The Pride of the Yankees….3rd according to Cogerson Movie Score
      5) Meet John Doe……16th according to Cogerson Movie Score
      6) For Whom the Bell Tolls….4th according to Cogerson Movie Score
      7) The Westerner……23rd according to Cogerson Movie Score
      8) Ball of Fire….12th according to Cogerson Movie Score
      9) Beau Geste…17th according to Cogerson Movie Score
      10) Morocco …..8th according to Cogerson Movie Score
      Top 5 looks pretty good with the exception of Wings…Wings only has a small Cooper part….but the fact that Cooper was in the first Best Picture Oscar winner has always been interesting to me.
      Thanks for sharing your thoughts and thanks for visiting my Cooper page….both are greatly appreciated

      Reply

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