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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155 thoughts on “Gary Cooper Movies”

  1. I see you are still producing quality movie pages, Cogerson. Gary Cooper is one of my favorites of all time. I have seen 56 of the 65 movies you mentioned. Does this mean I am not a fan since there are still so many of his movies to watch? My favorites would be Desire, High Noon, A Farewell To Arms, Friendly Persuasion, Beau Geste and Pride of the Yankees. One of his classics, that I was disappointed in was Sgt. York. I know that the real York was not happy with his portrayal. Anyway I found this to be an awesome Cooper movie page. Great work Cogerson.

    Reply

    1. Wow Faye, that is impressive, you have to be a serious Gary Cooper fan to have seen that many of his movies. You have me beat by 52 movies….I am feeling like a huge slacker now. So being a huge and knowledgeable fan of his, do you feel the Movie Score picked out his best movies? I noticed that his top 5 were all Oscar nominated performances…which I thought was kinda cool. I greatly appreciate your compliment.

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  2. Impressive page on Gary Cooper! He was a good looking guy and even aged well (as seen in last photo). Informative, educational and exceptionally well done!

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    1. Thanks for checking out my Gary Cooper page, Sunshine 625. I greatly appreciate the compliments as well. I sent you an e-mail of interesting fact #11.

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      1. WOW #11 was a LOT more then just interesting it was a HUGE fact! Thank you for sharing, I think! 🙂

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        1. Hey Sunshine625….I am glad you thought interesting fact #11 was indeed interesting…thanks for sharing your thoughts on the matter.

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  3. Dammit Conanson, I’m only interested in Coop’s silent movie output! 🙂

    One of the all time greats and another excellent movie page, kudos!

    Died at 60, that is sad, but than Flynn died at 50 and Dean died at… just 24. Jeez!

    Looking forward to that epic, complex, trivia filled James Dean hub Cogerson. 🙂

    I like High Noon more than Sergeant York and I still haven’t seen Pride of the Yankees.

    Of the 65 films you’ve listed I’ve seen 16, a lot less than I expected. I’ll stick with High Noon as my favourite, a film John Wayne hated because the townspeople refused to help the hero, too un-American according to Wayne.

    For Whom the Bell Tolls looked good but was too long and ponderous.

    Vera Cruz, co-starring Burt Lancaster was a hugely enjoyable film which must have been a huge influence on the Italian Westerns of the 1960’s.

    Reply

    1. Sorry that I disappointed you Steve, I tried to find some information on his silent movies, but they seem to have pretty much disappeared over time. I can tell you Cooper was in 2 of the top 6 movies of 1927/28….Wings #3, and Children of Divorce #6. I will try and do better in the future…lol.

      Wow your 16 Cooper movies watched….is 4 times the amount of Cooper movies I have watched…as I am sitting at 4 movies.

      You forgot Bogart on your death list…he died in 1957 at the age of 57….all way too young.

      I will have to check out Vera Cruz, I was not aware that spaghetti westerns used Vera Cruz as a reference…very interesting…as always thanks for your comments.

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  4. Very well done Conanson, another actor that I am aware of but realized after reading this page, that I really know nothing about him. Thanks for informative and interesting look at his career. Looking at the last photo, I can not tell if he looks too old or she looks too young, but I am not buying their love either.

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    1. Hey hinton1966, thanks for stopping by and thanks for the compliment. My mom likes Love in the Afternoon….so I posted the picture so I could see how Cooper and Hepburn looked together….to me it looks like a granddad and a granddaughter. Glad you learned a few things from my Cooper page.

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  5. Hey, thanks for the personal information on Gary Cooper. Ten North Frederick was a good love story – Susy Parker was the actress playing his love interest, check it out sometime. The Fountainhead was a good story as well…he was a good actor and I have enjoyed many of his movies. THANKS FOR SUCH A GOOD PAGE- INTERESTING FOR SURE…

    Reply

    1. Wow Bern1960, that was a quick response….as I had just posted the page and up popped your comment. I am glad you liked the page…Ten North Frederick was Cooper’s second movie in which he has a very young partner…the first was Love in the Afternoon….I am posting a still from that movie…looking at Cooper and Hepburn it is hard to believe people could buy them falling in love…thanks for the comments.

      Reply

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