Medford mail tribune., June 16, 1957, Image 34

This Hollywood veteran still
looks as if he has straw
behind the ears; but it probably
comes from unpacking a
case of imported delicacies.
Coop appears at a black-tie affair with
his glamorous, socially prominent wife.
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by Peer J. Oppenheimer
1 icture yourself sitting at a
fashionable Paris restaurant overlook
ing the Seine. Opposite you is a long
time movie star. He picks up a menu
the size of a billboard and says, "If
you'd like, I'll order for you. I know
the cuisine here."
Without hesitation, he outlines the
complete dinner to the waiter, stressing
precisely how each dish should bo
served. Then he leans back, adjusts a
silk tie, and discourses on art.
Who is he? Jean Pierre Aumont?
Jose Ferrer? Rossano Brazzi?
Nope, folks, just plain old Gary
Cooper! And if you're disenchanted
about this unfamiliar aspect of a favor
ite cowpoke figure, you have nothing
on me. Yet that's how he was when I
met him recently under just those
circumstances.
Cooper was in Paris to film Allied
Artists' "Love in the Afternoon," a
comedy costarring Audrey Hepburn
and Maurice Chevalier. He was as
much at home promenading the Champs
Elysees as he is strolling down that
long dusty street for a showdown with
a Western gunman.
"Why shouldn't I be?" he asked. "I
was born in Montana but hardly under
pioneer conditions." Actually he comes
from a wealthy family who provided
him a cosmopolitan education that be
gan at nine with his enrollment in an
English prep school. His father was a
wealthy lawyer and Montana supreme
court justice who instilled in the lanky
youth a love for fine living and comfort.
Coop's ambition was to be a cartoon
ist, and he studied art at Grinnell Col
lege in Iowa before joining a newspaper
in Helena, Mont. The only reason he
went to Los Angeles was to join his
parents, who had retired there. But
Coop was quick to realize his big op
portunity was in the movie capital as
a salesman.
"Shy" Gary Cooper became a door-to-door
salesman of portrait coupons,
and in a few months was the top
money-maker in the field. He's been a
top money-maker ever since.
Selling was still Coop's big goal when
a family friend got him his first film
job in 1924 as a stunt man. By 1925 he
had his first leading role, and when
Samuel Goldwyn cast him in "The
Winning of Barbara Worth" with
Ronald Colman, sales ambitions lost
out to a movie career.
While he's best known for "aw
shucks" roles, Gary Cooper's polished
background often has shown through
that rough-and-ready exterior. He has
achieved success, for example, in such
sophisticated comedies as Noel Cow
ard's "Design for Living" with Miriam
Hopkins and Fredric March and "De
sire" with Marleno Dietrich. It's been a
long time, though, since Coop traded
his buckskin vest for white tie and tails,
and he's happy with the change of pace
in "Love in the Afternoon." It'll give
him a chance to remind fans that his
vocabulary is considerably larger than
"yep" and that his acting talents go
beyond looking bashful.
While movie-goers may be startled
by Cooper's suavity, Hollywood will
take it in stride. They know Coop and
his wife, the former socialite Veronica
Balfe, as two of the town's leading
party-givers. A young star in filmville
doesn't really feel he "belongs" until he
has received an invitation to a soiree
at the Coopers'.
If you're getting the idea that the
Coopers are simply Beverly Hills snobs,
a recent joke Coop tells on himself will
set you straight. He was at France's
famed race track, Longchamps, when a
spectator tapped him on the shoulder
and said, "Monsieur Cooper, thees ees
one show where zee horses are zee
stars not you!"
Coop cites this as one reason he loves
Paris. Its people are impressed only by
the things Cooper himself admires
good horses, good food, good living.
But don't be deceived into believing
that Coop is the perfect cosmopolitan.
As he will proudly admit, the rough
edges of Montana are still with him.
Like the time he was driving to the
French Riviera for a holiday and
stopped to ask directions. He listened
to a spiel of French, nodded under
standingly, and took o(T with the as
surance of a man who knows his way
about the world. Unfortunately, he
ended up in the French Alps, 150 miles
from his destination.
But in this case Coop's real personal
ity matched the one he shows on the
screen he simply shrugged olT the
mistake good-naturedly and sat back
to take things easy.
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The nngy str tks to animals, and it
Hn mule mooches from Gary in
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seems they reciprocate. Gary was a rugged hero in "For Whom He has spent most of his screen life in monosyllabic he-man
"Along Came Jones." the Bell Tolls, with Ingrid Bagman, roles lto that of The Plainsman. Shown is James Ellison.
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