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. JOHN – Cooper Part 2
    (1) He had a prolific output in that decade of 19 movies that on average crashed through the Cogerson achievement–defining 100 million dollar barrier.. Although he had some big so-stars many of his movies were stand-alone.

    (2) He was among the highest paid stars of the decade earning $49.4 million in 2017 dollars. For Vera Cruz alone his salary was $12.48 million in today’s money and he had a 10% share of gross

    (3) Continuing artistic success with an Oscar for High Noon and a Golden Globe nomination for Friendly Persuasion. His 1958 Man of the West is considered by many historians to be a ”great film” to quote one.

    (4) He like other Greats of past decades “always seemed to be around” because of not only his continual stream of new movies but owing as well to the large reservoir of past movies getting repeated TV and cinematic re-runs.

    (5) He was in Quigley’s Top 10 over the 7 consecutive years from 1951- 1957. I don’t regard Quigley of definitive but I think it was picking up how big a 1950’s presence Coop was in the minds of cinema goers such as my father, my brothers and me and movie the moguls paying him the great salaries.

    (6) Britain’s top film magazine in the 1950s Photoplay designated Cooper the biggest male star of 1953 and he was twice nominated as No 1 male star for Golden Laurel Awards in 1957 and 1958 and lost but Laurel still declared him the No 6 & 7 greatest male star of 1958 and 1959 respectively [what a failure!]
    CONTINUED in PART 3

    Reply

  2. JOHN
    PART ONE

    1. I was listening last night on the radio to a musical historian who was discussing the impact that successful longevity had on the later careers of great singers who had been around much longer than contemporary ones and had become “established” stars.

    2 The historian opined that to maintain considerable engagement with the public such singers didn’t need to have the same success as a newcomer provided the former were still commercially viable to some degree. He emphasized the benefit for older performers of what he called “momentum” which combined with a reasonable plateau of current success enabled them to maintain star status.

    3 The historian gave a number of singers as examples but I opine that in the 1950s and beyond stars such as Gable, the Duke and Cooper can be used as potent examples in the cinema. Regarding Cooper I will in part 2 remind you of some of the salient facts…

    Reply

  3. Hey Bruce,
    Gary Cooper sure had an impressive career, and among his films were a lot of Westerns. I’ve seen 38 of the above listed, and while there where quite a few Westerns among those, non made my list of favorites …not even High Noon, although it does make the list of my favorite Western movies. I like Coop best when he is cast against type or when he spoofs his own image as a man of very little words. Thus, I just love his comedies with Stanwyck, Colbert and Dietrich, his films for Capra, City Streets with Sylvia Sidney, The Wedding Night with the unfortunate Anna Sten, Design for Living and the wonderful romantic melodrama Peter Ibbetson. Of his later films, I really like Ten North Frederic and Friendly Persuation.
    It would really have been interesting to see Cooper as a Hitchcock hero, if maybe in something other than Foreign Correspondent. Nice trivia about Coopers dead on target prediction about GWTW, too 😉

    Reply

    1. Hey Lupino…..this Cooper page needs to be updated yet again….as I screwed this one up during a hurricane all the way back in 2012….and yet 5 years later…I still have not fixed my issues (the lack of power erased the stats on his page…and I took a shortcut to get the info back in)….but enough of my issues.

      Tally Counts….I had to go back years and lots of comments…for these stats

      Eric L. 52 Gary Cooper movies watched
      Lupino 38 movies watched
      Flora 34 movies watched
      Cogerson 20 movies watched….though when I wrote the page…I was only at 4
      Steve 16 movies

      Glad you have liked his comedy roles….some are classics….but I have seen a few that have fallen flat. I have not seen City Streets, Design For Living and Ten North Frederic….but I want to for sure. You are 100% correct….too bad Coop and Hitch never made a movie together.

      Great feedback…thanks for sharing this information.

      Reply

      1. Hey Bruce,

        seems I know how to pick the pages that you feel need to be updated…sorry about that!

        “Tally Counts….I had to go back years and lots of comments…for these stats”….and sorry about that, too 🙁 Hope you enjoyed your weekend and the OSCARS anyway!

        Reply

        1. No issues Lupino. It is fun seeing all of these comments from yesteryear. My updates are almost done….. FINALLY….28 to update and 1 to fix (Cooper). 91% done….not that I am counting….lol.

          Reply

  4. Cogerson

    If you haven’t got time to put up the full list, and it isn’t somewhere else,

    where did Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin finish? I’m interested.

    Reply

    1. I should have answers to these questions and in just a few more minutes….as I am working on putting together a quick table that shows everybody in my database that has a UMR page.

      Reply

      1. Brand new table just for you John….sorry it took so long….but I had to manual include all the commas and reduce the average….as it original was looking….like 14535332.344454364 which looked horrible.

        And the answer to your question….Dean Martin was 40th and Frank Sinatra was 51st.

        Reply

  5. New comment….as it is getting hard to follow the flow of conversation between Bob and John….but here is my two cents.
    (1) First of both of you make great points…in my eyes….both are right in many ways.
    (2) Now….my thoughts…ultimately the basis of our box office numbers is tickets sold (WoC has always since day one of this website said we should include tickets sold).
    (3) The population has exploded since the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s….see John’s stats.
    (4) Though population is up…..weekly movie attendance has steadily decreased since it’s peak year of 1946……on average 95 million people a week went to theaters….now that average is less than a third of that total…as it is now roughly an average of 30 million people.
    (5) Things that helped back then….movies were the main type of entertainment….plus the newsreels provided much needed news….many people went for the news stayed for the movie….they would go many times during the week.
    (6) Things that hurt and the reason the business started to erode (a) television of course (b) the different platforms of entertainment have been invented…the reason for seeing a movie in theaters is quickly disappearing….shorter time spans between movies in theaters to home entertainment, people have awesome home entertainment systems….want to watch at home versus theaters…..movie tickets rapidly increasing…..just to name a few.

    So….seeing that current and classic performers had pros and cons….I think butts in seats….is a great way to compare classic and current performers….so for the first time….here are the Top 20 ticket sellers of all-time….will be on the next comment.

    Reply

    1. Top 20 Ticket Sellers of All-Time (Actors/Actresses Only)

      1. John Wayne 1,316,748,949.00
      2. Harrison Ford 1,273,106,233.00
      3. Clark Gable 1,266,123,922.00
      4. Gary Cooper 1,167,776,084.00
      5. James Stewart 1,129,709,347.00
      6. Spencer Tracy 1,082,971,824.00
      7. Samuel L. Jackson 1,031,076,753.00
      8. Bing Crosby 1,029,969,352.00
      9. Cary Grant 1,018,602,082.00
      10. Clint Eastwood 999,240,639.00
      11. Henry Fonda 973,577,038.00
      12. Mickey Rooney 970,756,306.00
      13. Charlton Heston 970,397,605.00
      14. Humphrey Bogart 956,626,037.00
      15. Fred MacMurray 945,334,693.00
      16. Myrna Loy 934,214,010.00
      17. Paul Newman 880,672,122.00
      18. Anthony Quinn 879,470,926.00
      19. Gregory Peck 876,497,939.00
      20. Tom Hanks 862,716,481.00

      Reply

      1. In response to my Top 20 Ticket Sellers.

        So only four are still active….though the average age of Hanks, Eastwood, Jackson and Ford is 72….so not thinking they have too many ticket sells left….sad but true.

        Others of interest:
        60th Michael Caine 697,607,632
        77th Bruce Willis 623,137,090
        78th Marlon Brando 621,468,110.00
        107th Richard Widmark 539,646,912
        156th Meryl Streep 439,761,983

        Reply

      2. Cogerson

        Thanks for this. (I hope we get the complete list, or is it already somewhere?) I really am interested in going further down the list.

        What jumped out at me is that Myrna Loy is the only female star on the list. Men seem to have largely dominated the box office, I guess. And I wonder how many buffs would pick Myrna Loy as the actress who sold the most tickets?

        The other major “surprise” is Fred MacMurray. Certainly a very underrated star. Also, note that only MacMurray and Eastwood of this group were in hit TV shows. Eastwood in Rawhide came before he was a movie star. MacMurray while he was appearing in hit movies. I don’t think anyone else can match MacMurray’s success at the movie box office and in TV ratings. Dean Martin probably comes close, but otherwise? Can you think of one?

        And I’m happy to see Charlton Heston appear so high. While Eastwood appeared in small roles in the fifties, Heston is the top finisher of someone who became a star in the fifties, finishing ahead of Newman and Brando. Good going Chuck.

        Reply

        1. Hey John…..I will see if I can get a quick table done with these stats….our massive update has sadly not gotten to all the stars….of the ones I posted…I have not done updates on Rooney, Loy and Quinn. So their ticket sells will actually increase when I finally get them done.

          As for Loy….I bet very few would ever guess that she was so successful. Heck I bet very few really remember her career. MacMurray had a great career….and then when others were fading away he found new life as “Disney Dad”….and had a nice 10 plus career making classic Disney movies.

          Glad you like Heston’s rankings in the above comment….love him or hate him….the man could put fannies in the seats…lol.

          Thanks for the return visit, comment and for sharing some of your movie thoughts.

          Reply

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