Gary Cooper will forever be remembered as the all-American movie cowboy — the consummate good guy, the noble hero, the deliverer of justice. That was his classic image. Cooper has undoubtedly left his mark on American culture — besides his Old West good guy persona, he's actually the reason why any male today has the first name "Gary."
He got his start as a Hollywood stuntman and screen extra, was elevated to silent movie star, and was able to make the massive leap into "talkies" — and not all silent movie actors would survive that transition. And really, the shift to talkies made him an even bigger star than before — it was those movies where he was able to refine his manly, rugged, all-American image that the public came to adore. But underneath all that cowboy swagger, Cooper had a lot simmering underneath the surface. This is the untold truth of Gary Cooper.
GARY COOPER'S PARENTS WERE BRITISH IMMIGRANTS
He might have been the rough and tough all-American cowboy in his films, but Gary Cooper's parents were originally from England. Charles Henry Cooper and Alice Brazier Cooper emigrated to the United States and bought a massive ranch in Montana. As noted by History.com, in addition to being a wealthy ranch owner, Charles Cooper would also be elected to the Montana Supreme Court. Born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Mont., it was on his family's vast ranch that he learned how to ride horses, hunt, and fish — all in all, he had plenty of early training for those Western films he would one day star in.
