Frank James Cooper was born in Helena in 1901. His parents were English immigrants, and his father, Charles Cooper, was a lawyer who later served on the Montana Supreme Court. The family owned the Seven-Bar-Nine cattle ranch near Craig on the Missouri River, where young Frank learned to ride and work cattle.
He spent part of his boyhood at school in England, then returned to Montana and attended high school in Bozeman. A car accident as a teenager sent him to the ranch to recover, and horseback riding was part of his therapy. He studied at Grinnell College in Iowa and tried to make a living as a cartoonist before heading to Los Angeles, where he found work as a stunt rider in Westerns.
The star
A talent agent suggested a new first name, and Gary Cooper became one of the defining film stars of the century. He played laconic, decent men, in Westerns and out of them, and his performances were often described as so natural that audiences forgot he was acting.
He won Academy Awards for “Sergeant York” in 1941 and “High Noon” in 1952. Other well-known films include “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” “The Pride of the Yankees,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Friendly Persuasion.”
Cooper died in 1961, shortly after receiving an honorary Oscar that was accepted on his behalf by his friend James Stewart.
Montana has claimed him ever since. Bozeman, where he went to high school, marked his connection with a star in the sidewalk outside the Ellen Theatre on Main Street.