Sunday, March 27, 2016
BLOOD ALLEY - The 1955 Movie filmed on Belverdere Island, CA
BLOOD ALLEY
Phantoming the wood-burning sternwheeler riverboat from the 1955 movie "Blood Alley" starring John Wayne now floating on the Sacramento River about 15 miles north of downtown on the east bank from Brad's Baja Hammer 12.14.2013! It is slated to be restored and turned into a John Wayne floating museum! I have many pictures from all over the boat on all decks from 2 years ago before it was "rescued" from sinking.
DIRECTED BY WILLIAM A.WELLMAN/JOHN WAYNE (uncredited)
BATJAC PRODUCTION
WARNER BROS
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/bood_alley.jpg..http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/MOVIE_TVFOTOPHOTO00198PHOTOBC.jpg
INFORMATION FROM IMDb
Plot Summary
Wilder(John Wayne), an adventurous merchant marine captain, who knows every current,
port and prevailing wind in the far east, is approached by oppressed villagers
,to lead them to the saftey of Hong Kong.
Full Cast
John Wayne .... Capt. Tom Wilder
Lauren Bacall .... Cathy Grainger
Paul Fix .... Mr. Tso
Joy Kim .... Susu, Cathy's maid
Berry Kroeger .... Old Feng (as Berry Kroger)
Mike Mazurki .... Big Han
Anita Ekberg .... Wei Ling
George Chan .... Mr. Sing (uncredited)
W.T. Chang .... Mr. Han (uncredited)
David Chow .... Boat man (uncredited)
Chester Gan .... Ferry Boat Captain (uncredited)
Lowell Gilmore .... British officer (uncredited)
James Hong .... Communist soldier (uncredited)
Eddie Luke .... Feng's #2 nephew (uncredited)
Henry Nakamura .... Tack, engineer (uncredited)
Walter Soo Hoo .... Feng's #1 nephew (uncredited)
Victor Sen Yung .... Cpl. Wang (uncredited)
Stunts
David Chow .... stunts (uncredited)
Gene Coogan .... stunts (uncredited)
Evelyn Finley .... stunts (uncredited)
Duke Green .... stunts (uncredited)
Tom Hennesy .... stunts (uncredited)
Stubby Kruger .... stunts (uncredited)
Sharon Lucas .... stunts (uncredited)
Shirley Lucas .... stunts (uncredited)
Harvey Parry .... stunts (uncredited)
Regis Parton .... stunts (uncredited)
Peter Peterson .... stunts (uncredited)
Jack Sterling .... stunts (uncredited)
Terry Wilson .... stunts (uncredited)
Writing Credits
Albert Sidney Fleischman novel Blood Alley
Albert Sidney Fleischman screenplay
Original Music
Roy Webb
Cinematography
William H. Clothier
Trivia
Robert Mitchum was originally cast as Capt. Wilder. He was fired from the film after an altercation in which he shoved the film's transportation manager into San Francisco Bay. Gregory Peck subsequently turned down the role of Capt. Wilder, and Humphrey Bogart wanted a $500,000 salary, which would have put the film over budget. Without a major male star involved, Warner Bros. contacted producer John Wayne, threatening to pull out of their distribution deal for the film unless he took the role himself. To keep his new production company Batjac afloat, Wayne agreed to play Capt. Wilder.
Average Shot Length = ~6.2 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~5.6 seconds. Both of these figures are fast for an early CinemaScope film, and much faster than William A. Wellman's first CinemaScope film, The High and the Mighty (1954).
John Wayne appeared in an episode of "I Love Lucy" (1951) to promote this film.
There was some surprise when Lauren Bacall agreed to make the movie since she was a left-wing Democrat and the film was right-wing propaganda.
Goofs
* Revealing mistakes: When Captain Wilder leans against the window, the wall moves.
* Continuity: Bacall tells Wayne that the map he had been making was burned in the kitchen because there was no time to hide it before the troops arrived. A short time later, Wayne is seen writing on the same map (note the human anatomy on the front side of it).
* Continuity: When Wilder says "Half the Red navy's out there ...", the position of the wheel and the placement of his hands on it changes between shots.
* Revealing mistakes: In three scenes with Captain Wilder and Big Han are talking, the sampan is not moving. The trees reflected in the water behind the sampan are the give away.
* Revealing mistakes: Two scenes were definitely "low budget" and were obviously scale mockups that weren't believable: 1. When the wood goes through the paddle, this is obviously a 2x4 going through a small model. 2. As the paddleboat comes into Hong Kong, it is clearly models and a fake city.
* Revealing mistakes: When the ferry pulls into Hong Kong, they encounter a Royal Navy vessel with close-ups of the sailors. Ordinarily, British sailors wear a tally on their caps with the name of their ship printed on it. However, the sailors' tallies only have "HMS" on them and no ship's name.
Memorable Quotes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047889/trivia?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu)
Filming Locations
Belvedere Island, California, USA
Colusa County, California, USA
San Francisco, California, USA
San Rafael, California, USA
Stockton, California, USA
Watch the Trailer
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ethanedwards
January 20th, 2006, 05:07 PM
Blood Alley is a 1955 seafaring adventure movie
starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall set in China.
The film was written by Albert Sidney Fleischman from his novel,
directed by William Wellman and was produced by Wayne's Batjac Productions.
Location filming took place in and near China Camp, a shrimp fishing village in the San Francisco Bay.
The real Blood Alley was located in Shanghai where Fleischman had visited as a sailor
on the USS Albert T. Harris (DE-447).
He was paid $5000 for the rights for his novel and allowed to do the screenplay.
Wayne plays a Merchant Marine captain in a role originally intended for Robert Mitchum
prior to an altercation with the producers.
Mitchum was fired from the production by Wellman.
Wayne took over the lead after Gregory Peck turned the film down
and Humphrey Bogart requested a large amount of money to assume the role.
Swedish actress Anita Ekberg and movie thug Mike Mazurki play Chinese roles.
Well, Well, what does everyone think of Duke and this film??
It is of course commonly known that, Humphrey Bogart, was Dukes choice for this film,
but when his price was too high, he signed Robert Mitchum,
ironically casting, Bogie's wife Lauren Bacall, to play opposite him!!
I think Mitchum, would probably, have been more suited to the role of Wilder.
However Big Mitch fell out with Director Wellman.
and Duke had to step in, to save the film!
This being Batjac's first venture.
Personally, although I enjoyed the film, I don't think Duke seemed right in the part,
and I think from the looks of it, he probably felt the same!!
Critics, found the film, slow moving, and that Duke, hadn't added perceptibly, to his acting range!
Although not a box office smash, it did well enough to more than recover Batjacs costs!!
User Review
Barrelling Down Blood Alley With The Duke At The Helm!
23 March 2006 | by gary-peterson (Omaha, Nebraska)
I was sparked to comment after reading another user comment here that contended Blood Alley is one of John Wayne's worst films. It may not be at the top of the heap, but it's far from the bottom. It well accomplishes what it sets out to do--entertain: fun, engrossing, action-packed and--on the wide-screen edition DVD I have--beautiful to behold.
The reviewer especially criticized Wayne's frequent side comments to "Baby" and the film's having non-Orientals playing the Chinese. I didn't find either factor a deterrent to my enjoyment. First, I took Baby to be Wayne's guardian angel more than an imaginary girlfriend. And I think his occasional comment to her was fitting. Yeah, the Captain Wilder got a little dotty after spending all those years alone in that cell. His hangup about "tennis shoes" was another example of his having gone a bit stir crazy.
Having non-Orientals play Chinese or Japanese was not uncommon in the Hollywood of yesteryear. Remember Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto? And closer to our time David Carradine in Kung Fu. I never understood why this is a stumbling-block for some people. And in Blood Alley the American actors playing Chinese did a great job.
Paul Fix first and foremost gets a nod. He made Mr. Tso a distinct character through mannerisms and distinctive sage-like speech. I especially liked the scene where Captain Wilder told him to toss that ornate sculpture in the furnace to fuel the ship, "That'll burn" Duke says, but Fix calmly notes how a craftsman put 10 years of his life into creating it. Here was a man who respected and had appreciation for the intangible things, like beauty and like freedom, which is what Mr. Tso was risking his life to help his townspeople regain.
Mike Mazurki also gets kudos for putting in a great performance as Big Hans. No, he didn't really look Oriental, but he brought weight to his part, especially in his first scene. You could tell that he was a guy you could count on. And for film buffs familiar with Mazurki, wasn't it nice to see him playing a good guy for a change?
Finally, the reviewer said Lauren Bacall was wooden. Well, was she ever among Hollywood's most dynamic actresses? I thought she did a good job with what she had to work with. She did seem tacked onto the film and her story was secondary to the main plot. I never did get a firm grasp on the subplot involving her father or why she ran off in the ship graveyard. However, she did sizzle in the scenes in the pilot house, especially when coming between Wilder and the ship's wheel. Yes, this film was not her finest hour, but Bacall certainly redeemed herself in The Shootist and proved she did indeed have an on-screen chemistry with Wayne.
Admittedly Blood Alley does not have a place in the crowded pantheon of GREAT John Wayne films, but it is certainly not among his worst! And as a huge fan of the Duke I can't even suggest a film for that dishonor. For me, any film featuring John Wayne is going to be better than most anything else on at the same time
starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall set in China.
The film was written by Albert Sidney Fleischman from his novel,
directed by William Wellman and was produced by Wayne's Batjac Productions.
Location filming took place in and near China Camp, a shrimp fishing village in the San Francisco Bay.
The real Blood Alley was located in Shanghai where Fleischman had visited as a sailor
on the USS Albert T. Harris (DE-447).
He was paid $5000 for the rights for his novel and allowed to do the screenplay.
Wayne plays a Merchant Marine captain in a role originally intended for Robert Mitchum
prior to an altercation with the producers.
Mitchum was fired from the production by Wellman.
Wayne took over the lead after Gregory Peck turned the film down
and Humphrey Bogart requested a large amount of money to assume the role.
Swedish actress Anita Ekberg and movie thug Mike Mazurki play Chinese roles.
Well, Well, what does everyone think of Duke and this film??
It is of course commonly known that, Humphrey Bogart, was Dukes choice for this film,
but when his price was too high, he signed Robert Mitchum,
ironically casting, Bogie's wife Lauren Bacall, to play opposite him!!
I think Mitchum, would probably, have been more suited to the role of Wilder.
However Big Mitch fell out with Director Wellman.
and Duke had to step in, to save the film!
This being Batjac's first venture.
Personally, although I enjoyed the film, I don't think Duke seemed right in the part,
and I think from the looks of it, he probably felt the same!!
Critics, found the film, slow moving, and that Duke, hadn't added perceptibly, to his acting range!
Although not a box office smash, it did well enough to more than recover Batjacs costs!!
User Review
Barrelling Down Blood Alley With The Duke At The Helm!
23 March 2006 | by gary-peterson (Omaha, Nebraska)
I was sparked to comment after reading another user comment here that contended Blood Alley is one of John Wayne's worst films. It may not be at the top of the heap, but it's far from the bottom. It well accomplishes what it sets out to do--entertain: fun, engrossing, action-packed and--on the wide-screen edition DVD I have--beautiful to behold.
The reviewer especially criticized Wayne's frequent side comments to "Baby" and the film's having non-Orientals playing the Chinese. I didn't find either factor a deterrent to my enjoyment. First, I took Baby to be Wayne's guardian angel more than an imaginary girlfriend. And I think his occasional comment to her was fitting. Yeah, the Captain Wilder got a little dotty after spending all those years alone in that cell. His hangup about "tennis shoes" was another example of his having gone a bit stir crazy.
Having non-Orientals play Chinese or Japanese was not uncommon in the Hollywood of yesteryear. Remember Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto? And closer to our time David Carradine in Kung Fu. I never understood why this is a stumbling-block for some people. And in Blood Alley the American actors playing Chinese did a great job.
Paul Fix first and foremost gets a nod. He made Mr. Tso a distinct character through mannerisms and distinctive sage-like speech. I especially liked the scene where Captain Wilder told him to toss that ornate sculpture in the furnace to fuel the ship, "That'll burn" Duke says, but Fix calmly notes how a craftsman put 10 years of his life into creating it. Here was a man who respected and had appreciation for the intangible things, like beauty and like freedom, which is what Mr. Tso was risking his life to help his townspeople regain.
Mike Mazurki also gets kudos for putting in a great performance as Big Hans. No, he didn't really look Oriental, but he brought weight to his part, especially in his first scene. You could tell that he was a guy you could count on. And for film buffs familiar with Mazurki, wasn't it nice to see him playing a good guy for a change?
Finally, the reviewer said Lauren Bacall was wooden. Well, was she ever among Hollywood's most dynamic actresses? I thought she did a good job with what she had to work with. She did seem tacked onto the film and her story was secondary to the main plot. I never did get a firm grasp on the subplot involving her father or why she ran off in the ship graveyard. However, she did sizzle in the scenes in the pilot house, especially when coming between Wilder and the ship's wheel. Yes, this film was not her finest hour, but Bacall certainly redeemed herself in The Shootist and proved she did indeed have an on-screen chemistry with Wayne.
Admittedly Blood Alley does not have a place in the crowded pantheon of GREAT John Wayne films, but it is certainly not among his worst! And as a huge fan of the Duke I can't even suggest a film for that dishonor. For me, any film featuring John Wayne is going to be better than most anything else on at the same time
DukePilgrim
January 20th, 2006, 05:20 PM
Ive always thought Blood Alley was okay. There is enough to keep the viewer interested but as you say the role was written for Mitchum or Bogart in mind and it shows. John Wayne liked working with Lauren Bacall and her strong role helped the movie.
ethanedwards
February 3rd, 2006, 02:52 PM
Thought it might help if I transfered these earlier comments, to the new forum
Dec 11 2005, 10:38 AM
Hi,
AISSA WAYNE in her book JOHN WAYNE- My Father
Says that Pilar was so annoyed with Mitchum, for falling out with Wellman!!
Because of this, it meant Duke was to be away, filming, again, when she didn't expect him to be!
When later, the Mitchums, were house guests, she was less than friendly.
Duke was wary of his new wifes toughness,
"It was one of the reasons, my father adored her"
Keith
arthurarnell
post Dec 12 2005, 06:39 AM
Hi
In his book Them Ornery Mitchum Boys John Mitchum states that the incident with his brother Robert when he threw the transport manager into San Francisco Bay was contrived. He argues that John Wayne owed Warners a picture and by getting Mitchum fired they could then get Wayne to star.
Dec 11 2005, 10:38 AM
Hi,
AISSA WAYNE in her book JOHN WAYNE- My Father
Says that Pilar was so annoyed with Mitchum, for falling out with Wellman!!
Because of this, it meant Duke was to be away, filming, again, when she didn't expect him to be!
When later, the Mitchums, were house guests, she was less than friendly.
Duke was wary of his new wifes toughness,
"It was one of the reasons, my father adored her"
Keith
arthurarnell
post Dec 12 2005, 06:39 AM
Hi
In his book Them Ornery Mitchum Boys John Mitchum states that the incident with his brother Robert when he threw the transport manager into San Francisco Bay was contrived. He argues that John Wayne owed Warners a picture and by getting Mitchum fired they could then get Wayne to star.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Janey Reynolds Pin-Up Art in High Demand from Collectors
MEMPHIS TN (IFS) -- By the end of the 1960's, a lost art of the WWII pin-up girl was all but over. Most of the great pictures we have of these beautiful women are in Black & White. These images once considered "taboo" and just pornography is up for the high dollar price for original copies of these photos. After the Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson, and everyone one else in the picture with a porno video, this ledge is considered the bottom of the barrow for collectors. However, "soft porn pin-up girls" is what the market is demanding right now. Single lens reflex action with a good eye and a fast finger have given these ladies of a log ago and bye gone era just that -- memories of these women fixed in time is priceless for collectors.
EBay.com's bins are overloaded with "soft pron" memories from WWII. But whose pictures dominate the listing and the sample sites. . . Janey Reynolds. You will pay a pretty penny for these reprints from the original negatives and slides.
In the early 1950's the famed "Pin-Up Models" from WWII carried over into the new era of photography. The boys of the war only got the "clean" image photos that you could send home to mother. But now, the estates of many of these actresses, i.e., Hedy Lamarr's full color photos of her in the nude in various positions, is a little to much to believe, as this girl invented the US Navy's torpedo.
Not much is known about Ms. Janey Reynolds from Canada. She has changed her name as many times as some countries. Ms. Reynolds photographs have appeared in over 1,000 magazines all over the world. She is considered the most photographed woman in the world.
Let's not just point fingers at the "bad" girls, as one must exclude Ms. Lamarr's full nude from the other girls who just wanted to get their pictue taken, and exclude the one girl that is that most photographed woman in the world at that time was Miss Janey Reynolds.
The pictures of these glorious females in all their abundant beauty and form is all that is left of these media industry pioneers. There are very few stories of these ladies, especially Miss Janey Reynolds of Canada.
The color film and the new cameras of the day were made for each other. The topless form of photography with female models was known as "soft porn".
Ms. Reynolds, by far was the most photographed pin-up girl ever.
Also known as: Janey Reynolds, Janie Reynolds, Joanne Frawley, Marli Evans
Born: 1943 Canada
Nationality: Canadian
Body Measurements: 43-25-38
Boobs: Natural
Body type: Average
Hair: Brunette
Performances Shown: Topless
Joanne Frawley aka Janey Reynolds and friend. Busty brunette & popular canadian born model from the mid 60s. She is known also by names Jane Frawley, Janey Reynolds, Janey
Frawley, Ginny Cutrone.
Joanne Frawley aka Janey Reynolds and friend. Busty brunette & popular canadian born model from the mid 60s. She is known also by names Jane Frawley, Janey Reynolds, Janey
Frawley, Ginny Cutrone.
Mr. Magazine- Nov. 1965
w/ Unique Fold-Out Cover
Featuring Janey Frawley 43-25-38 (on cover also)
listed as Masli Evans in this issue!
A cute, girl-next-door type brunette with bosoms that were hardly girl-next-door like, Janey Frawley (aka Janey Reynolds, Janie Reynolds, Joanne Frawley and Marli Evans in
"Fling") was a Canadian girl born circa 1943 who measured 43-25-38. She made a healthy number of appearances in various big-bust pinup mags during the span of her career, which seems to have lasted roughly five years, from 1963-1968.
Reviewer: Satyaban - favoritefavorite - July 23, 2015
Subject: Where are her tits today?
I know where her tits are today, dow around her knees. Ha Ha Ha
Reviewer: janeyfan - favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite - August 30, 2013
Subject: Janey Rules
The most gorgeous tits I've ever seen. Unbelievable tits. So succulent, massive and soft.
Reviewer: tbonestone - favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite - July 14, 2011
Subject: Amazing!
I'm not saying, I'm just saying. This movie is pretty fantastic. Her breasts are epic! Oh if only I could find more of Janey...
Reviewer: long20k - favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite - February 12, 2010
Subject: She's My Favorite
For me, she's the best of the best. Also see "Naked at Home."
Reviewer: Classic_TV_and_Radio_Fan - favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite - November 8, 2008
Subject: BEST FILM EVER
I like her boobs!
Janey Frawley was a Canadian pin up model, who made a healthy number of appearances in various big-bust pinup mags in her career. She also did a fair number … Tribute to vintage and retro porn from years gone by, an era when a pussy really was a pussy you could get lost in!
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Sir. Wiggins and The Synthysizers
Sir. Wiggins born in Brooklyn NY Brings the Authentic R&B Sound that your mature crowded is craving and the young crowd is in awe of. He has been a professional singer for the last 30 years.
Worked with top acts like BT. Express, Crown Heights Affair, The Joneses, Jazz Saxophones Oliver Lake, Carlos Garnett, The Drifters. His New Authentic R&B Album will give you a sense of relief to know that there real R&B music around with a mature sound.
His experience in singing songs of the great artist of the day like Teddy Pendergrass, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Tavares, The Tramps, The Spinners, The Whispers, Frankie Beverly and Maze the list go on and on. He’s a sure shot to have you crowed singing and dance all night long.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Matt Newton
Radio Quotes
"This is great!" "For the season we will give it as much airplay as possible!" Norbert Miles Kint 98 FM
"Lovely song!" "Thanks so much!" "I have sent to production area." Tamara Alvarez M FM Okey
Radio Azul
"A gorgeous and well produced song!" "Many thanks." John Weller Nevis Radio
Matt Newton grew up in Washington, Indiana on thirty acres of farmland. At the age of seven his mother noticed that he had good pitch and started teaching him to sing harmony with her at the piano.
Matt became lead singer of the rock band, Anarchy at age 17. After performing all over the U.S. in various performance venues, Matt performed in Okinawa, Japan at a five star hotel in 1996. Then he moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a record deal. Newton was hired at Opryland USA and started performing in various shows at the nationally known theme park, including Dick Clark's American Bandstand Classics.
In 1998, Matt won the coveted role of portraying Phil Everly in Bye Bye Love, The Everly Brothers musical at the famed Ryman Auditorium. Soon Matt was performing on the Grand Ole Opry, opening for the Everly Brothers and Tim McGraw. This got the attention of record labels and in 1999, Matt Newton was signed as part of a Music City duo.
Last year Matt Newton signed a recording contract with award winning ASCAP Nashville, Tennessee company, Clinetel Music.
Matt recorded a new winter/Christmas holiday song, Catch A Snowflake written by Nashville hit songwriter, Thornton Cline. The song reached #11 on the DRT Adult Contemporary National charts and #13 on the DRT Rock National charts. Newton reached #11 on the DRT Independent Artist National charts. In December Matt found his voice played and heard on over 50,000 radio stations worldwide!
His YouTube video, "Catch A Snowflake" has logged over 2 million views through February of this year!
Dove and Grammy nominated writer, Thornton Cline has been recognized as “Songwriter of the Year” twice in a row by the Tennessee Songwriters Association.
He has had over 150 major and independent recordings by Engelbert Humperdinck, Gloria Gaynor, Tammy Trent, Mark Chestnut, Tim Murphy, The Manhattans, Ray Peterson and Billy and Sarah Gaines.
Matt Newton continues to be an in-demand session singer in Nashville. Matt Newton continues to stay busy as co-owner of the music entertainment company, Now and Foreverly (The Everly Brothers). Matt is currently lead singer for Hot Blooded, the world's top Foreigner tribute band.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Gary Cooper western movies free online
Gary Cooper western movies free online
Gary Cooper was born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Montana, one of two sons of an English farmer from Bedfordshire, who later became an American lawyer and judge, Charles Henry Cooper (1865-1946), and Kent-born Alice (née Brazier) Cooper (1873-1967). His mother hoped for their two sons to receive a better education than that available in Montana and arranged for the boys to attend Dunstable Grammar School in Bedfordshire, England between 1910 and 1913.Upon the outbreak of World War I, Cooper’s mother brought her sons home and enrolled them in a Bozeman, Montana, high school.
When Cooper was 13, he injured his hip in a car accident. He returned to his parents’ ranch near Helena to recuperate by horseback riding at the recommendation of his doctor. Cooper studied at Iowa’s Grinnell College until the spring of 1924, but did not graduate. He had tried out, unsuccessfully, for the college’s drama club. He returned to Helena, managing the ranch and contributing cartoons to the local newspaper. In 1924, Cooper’s father left the Montana Supreme Court bench and moved with his wife to Los Angeles. Their son, unable to make a living as an editorial cartoonist in Helena, joined them, moving there that same year, reasoning that he “would rather starve where it was warm, than to starve and freeze too.”
Failing as a salesman of electric signs and theatrical curtains, as a promoter for a local photographer and as an applicant for newspaper work in Los Angeles, Cooper found work as an actor in 1925. He earned money as an “extra” in the motion picture industry, usually cast as a cowboy. He is known to have had an uncredited role in the 1925 Tom Mix Western, Dick Turpin. The following year, he had screen credit in a two-reeler, Lightnin’ Wins, with actress Eileen Sedgwick as his leading lady.
After the release of this short film, Cooper accepted a long-term contract with Paramount Pictures. He changed his name to Gary in 1925, following the advice of casting director Nan Collins, who felt it evoked the “rough, tough” nature of her native Gary, Indiana.
“Coop,” as he was called by his peers, went on to appear in over 100 films. Cooper broke through in a supporting role in Wings (1927), the only silent film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, following that with Nevada (1927) co-starring Thelma Todd and William Powell, based on the Zane Gray novel, which was remade in 1944 as an early Robert Mitchum vehicle, the only time Cooper and Mitchum played the same role. He became a major star with his first sound picture, The Virginian (1929) opposite Walter Huston as the villainous Trampas. The Spoilers appeared the following year with Betty Compson, which was remade in 1942 with Compson lookalike Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne in Cooper’s role. Cooper followed this action movie with his own Dietrich film entitled Morocco (1930) in which he played a Foreign Legionnaire. Devil and the Deep (1932) featured Cary Grant in a supporting role with Talullah Bankhead and Cooper in the leads alongside Charles Laughton. The following year, Cooper was the second lead in the sophisticated Ernst Lubitsch comedy production of Noël Coward’s Design for Living, billed under Fredric March in the kind of fast-talking role Cooper never played again after Cary Grant staked out the light comedy leading man field with his persona-changing The Awful Truth four years later. The screen adaptation of A Farewell to Arms (1932), directed by Frank Borzage, and the title role in Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) furthered Cooper’s box office appeal.
Cooper was producer David O. Selznick’s first choice for the role of Rhett Butler in the 1939 film 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”.Alfred Hitchcock wanted him to star in Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Saboteur (1942). Cooper later admitted he had made a “mistake” in turning down the director. For the former film, Hitchcock cast look-alike Joel McCrea instead.
Cooper cemented his cowboy credentials again in The Westerner (1940) opposite Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean and followed that immediately afterward with the lavish North West Mounted Police (1940), directed by Cecil B. DeMille and featuring Paulette Goddard.
In 1942, Cooper won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as the title character in Sergeant York. Alvin York refused to authorize a movie about his life unless Cooper portrayed him. Meet John Doe was released earlier the same year, a smash hit under the direction of Frank Capra. Ingrid Bergman had just made Casablanca when she and Cooper collaborated on For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), based on a novel by Cooper’s close friend Ernest Hemingway. As a change of pace, he made a Western comedy lampooning his hesitant speech and mannerisms and his own image in general called Along Came Jones (1945) in which he relied on gunslinging Loretta Young to save him when the chips were down. Cooper also starred in the original version of the Ayn Rand novel The Fountainhead (1949) with Patricia Neal.
In 1953, Cooper won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon, arguably considered his finest role. Ill with an ulcer, he wasn’t present to receive his Academy Award in February 1953. He asked John Wayne to accept it on his behalf, a bit of irony in light of Wayne’s stated distaste for the film.
Cooper continued to play the lead in films almost to the end of his life. Among his later box office hits were the stark Western adventure Garden of Evil (1954) with Susan Hayward and Richard Widmark; Vera Cruz (1954), an extremely influential Western in which he guns down villain Burt Lancaster in a showdown; his portrayal of a Quaker farmer during the American Civil War in William Wyler’s Friendly Persuasion (1956); and Anthony Mann’s Man of the West (1958), a hard-edged action Western with Lee J. Cobb. His final motion picture was a British film, The Naked Edge (1961), directed by Michael Anderson. Among his final projects was narrating an NBC documentary, The Real West, in which he helped clear up myths about famous Western figures.
On December 15, 1933, Cooper wed Veronica Balfe (May 27, 1913 – February 16, 2000), known as “Rocky.” Balfe was a New York Roman Catholic socialite who had briefly acted under the name of Sandra Shaw. She appeared in the film No Other Woman, but her most widely seen role was in King Kong, as the woman dropped by Kong. Her third and final film was Blood Money. Her father was governor of the New York Stock Exchange, and her uncle was motion-picture art director Cedric Gibbons. During the 1930s she also became the California state women’s skeet shooting champion. Cooper and Balfe had one child, Maria, now Maria Cooper Janis, married to classical pianist Byron Janis.
In April 1960, Cooper underwent surgery for prostate cancer after it had spread to his colon. It spread to his lungs and bones shortly thereafter.
Cooper was too ill to attend the Academy Awards ceremony in April 1961, so his close friend James Stewart accepted the honorary Oscar 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.
Cooper was originally interred in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Culver City, California. In May 1974 his body was removed from the Grotto Section of Holy Cross Cemetery, when his widow Veronica remarried and moved to New York, and she had Cooper’s body relocated to Sacred Heart Cemetery, in Southampton, New York, on Long Island. Veronica “Rocky” Cooper-Converse died in 2000 and was buried near Cooper at Sacred Heart Cemetery.
For his contribution to the film industry, Cooper has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd.
In 1966, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In September 2009, Cooper was featured on a commemorative U.S. postage stamp.
He is mentioned numerous times in the HBO TV series The Sopranos as “the strong silent type” by Tony Soprano.
Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town with Jean Arthur (1936) source: http://garycooper.com/index.php?page=bio
Gary Cooper western movies watch for free . Just click on the one you want to watch . Then sit back and relax and enjoy the movie . Here on Gary Coopers page is a short interview with Coop about the western picture . Western movie full of boots, old west, big cowboy hats, spurs and saddles .
When Cooper was 13, he injured his hip in a car accident. He returned to his parents’ ranch near Helena to recuperate by horseback riding at the recommendation of his doctor. Cooper studied at Iowa’s Grinnell College until the spring of 1924, but did not graduate. He had tried out, unsuccessfully, for the college’s drama club. He returned to Helena, managing the ranch and contributing cartoons to the local newspaper. In 1924, Cooper’s father left the Montana Supreme Court bench and moved with his wife to Los Angeles. Their son, unable to make a living as an editorial cartoonist in Helena, joined them, moving there that same year, reasoning that he “would rather starve where it was warm, than to starve and freeze too.”
Failing as a salesman of electric signs and theatrical curtains, as a promoter for a local photographer and as an applicant for newspaper work in Los Angeles, Cooper found work as an actor in 1925. He earned money as an “extra” in the motion picture industry, usually cast as a cowboy. He is known to have had an uncredited role in the 1925 Tom Mix Western, Dick Turpin. The following year, he had screen credit in a two-reeler, Lightnin’ Wins, with actress Eileen Sedgwick as his leading lady.
After the release of this short film, Cooper accepted a long-term contract with Paramount Pictures. He changed his name to Gary in 1925, following the advice of casting director Nan Collins, who felt it evoked the “rough, tough” nature of her native Gary, Indiana.
“Coop,” as he was called by his peers, went on to appear in over 100 films. Cooper broke through in a supporting role in Wings (1927), the only silent film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, following that with Nevada (1927) co-starring Thelma Todd and William Powell, based on the Zane Gray novel, which was remade in 1944 as an early Robert Mitchum vehicle, the only time Cooper and Mitchum played the same role. He became a major star with his first sound picture, The Virginian (1929) opposite Walter Huston as the villainous Trampas. The Spoilers appeared the following year with Betty Compson, which was remade in 1942 with Compson lookalike Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne in Cooper’s role. Cooper followed this action movie with his own Dietrich film entitled Morocco (1930) in which he played a Foreign Legionnaire. Devil and the Deep (1932) featured Cary Grant in a supporting role with Talullah Bankhead and Cooper in the leads alongside Charles Laughton. The following year, Cooper was the second lead in the sophisticated Ernst Lubitsch comedy production of Noël Coward’s Design for Living, billed under Fredric March in the kind of fast-talking role Cooper never played again after Cary Grant staked out the light comedy leading man field with his persona-changing The Awful Truth four years later. The screen adaptation of A Farewell to Arms (1932), directed by Frank Borzage, and the title role in Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) furthered Cooper’s box office appeal.
Cooper was producer David O. Selznick’s first choice for the role of Rhett Butler in the 1939 film 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”.Alfred Hitchcock wanted him to star in Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Saboteur (1942). Cooper later admitted he had made a “mistake” in turning down the director. For the former film, Hitchcock cast look-alike Joel McCrea instead.
Cooper cemented his cowboy credentials again in The Westerner (1940) opposite Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean and followed that immediately afterward with the lavish North West Mounted Police (1940), directed by Cecil B. DeMille and featuring Paulette Goddard.
In 1942, Cooper won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as the title character in Sergeant York. Alvin York refused to authorize a movie about his life unless Cooper portrayed him. Meet John Doe was released earlier the same year, a smash hit under the direction of Frank Capra. Ingrid Bergman had just made Casablanca when she and Cooper collaborated on For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), based on a novel by Cooper’s close friend Ernest Hemingway. As a change of pace, he made a Western comedy lampooning his hesitant speech and mannerisms and his own image in general called Along Came Jones (1945) in which he relied on gunslinging Loretta Young to save him when the chips were down. Cooper also starred in the original version of the Ayn Rand novel The Fountainhead (1949) with Patricia Neal.
In 1953, Cooper won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon, arguably considered his finest role. Ill with an ulcer, he wasn’t present to receive his Academy Award in February 1953. He asked John Wayne to accept it on his behalf, a bit of irony in light of Wayne’s stated distaste for the film.
Cooper continued to play the lead in films almost to the end of his life. Among his later box office hits were the stark Western adventure Garden of Evil (1954) with Susan Hayward and Richard Widmark; Vera Cruz (1954), an extremely influential Western in which he guns down villain Burt Lancaster in a showdown; his portrayal of a Quaker farmer during the American Civil War in William Wyler’s Friendly Persuasion (1956); and Anthony Mann’s Man of the West (1958), a hard-edged action Western with Lee J. Cobb. His final motion picture was a British film, The Naked Edge (1961), directed by Michael Anderson. Among his final projects was narrating an NBC documentary, The Real West, in which he helped clear up myths about famous Western figures.
On December 15, 1933, Cooper wed Veronica Balfe (May 27, 1913 – February 16, 2000), known as “Rocky.” Balfe was a New York Roman Catholic socialite who had briefly acted under the name of Sandra Shaw. She appeared in the film No Other Woman, but her most widely seen role was in King Kong, as the woman dropped by Kong. Her third and final film was Blood Money. Her father was governor of the New York Stock Exchange, and her uncle was motion-picture art director Cedric Gibbons. During the 1930s she also became the California state women’s skeet shooting champion. Cooper and Balfe had one child, Maria, now Maria Cooper Janis, married to classical pianist Byron Janis.
In April 1960, Cooper underwent surgery for prostate cancer after it had spread to his colon. It spread to his lungs and bones shortly thereafter.
Cooper was too ill to attend the Academy Awards ceremony in April 1961, so his close friend James Stewart accepted the honorary Oscar 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.
Cooper was originally interred in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Culver City, California. In May 1974 his body was removed from the Grotto Section of Holy Cross Cemetery, when his widow Veronica remarried and moved to New York, and she had Cooper’s body relocated to Sacred Heart Cemetery, in Southampton, New York, on Long Island. Veronica “Rocky” Cooper-Converse died in 2000 and was buried near Cooper at Sacred Heart Cemetery.
For his contribution to the film industry, Cooper has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd.
In 1966, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In September 2009, Cooper was featured on a commemorative U.S. postage stamp.
He is mentioned numerous times in the HBO TV series The Sopranos as “the strong silent type” by Tony Soprano.
Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town with Jean Arthur (1936) source: http://garycooper.com/index.php?page=bio
Gary Cooper western movies watch for free . Just click on the one you want to watch . Then sit back and relax and enjoy the movie . Here on Gary Coopers page is a short interview with Coop about the western picture . Western movie full of boots, old west, big cowboy hats, spurs and saddles .
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