eMoviePoster.comAuction History Result 7x0052 GARY COOPER signed 9x11 contract '53 getting paid $275,000 as Jeff in Blowing Wild! Date Sold 6/19/2016Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Autographed Contract (measures 8 1/2" x 11"; 24 pages) (Learn More) Gary Cooper was born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Montana, USA in 1901. His mother was English born, and he and his brother were sent to an English boarding school to be educated when they were young, but when WWI broke out, they were brought home. His father was a judge who also owned a ranch, and Cooper went to college, but did not graduate, and ran his father's ranch afterwards, and also drew some cartoons for the local paper. When he was 23 his father left the bench and sold the ranch and his parents moved to California, and because Cooper could not make a living at his cartooning, he moved with them. After a year of odd jobs, he started getting extra roles in movie westerns. He signed a contract with Paramount, and changed his first name to Gary. Cooper got progressively better roles in non-talkie movies, and had romances with some of his more famous co-stars, including Clara Bow and Lupe Velez. In 1927, he played a small, but important role of a doomed flyer in Wings, which was a major breakthrough for him, and led to many better starring roles the following year. In 1929 he starred as the title character in The Virginian, which was made in both a talkie and non-talkie version. He had become the man that women everywhere swooned over, and men wanted to be like him. In 1930 he starred in Morocco, opposite Marlene Dietrich, and in 1932 he was hand picked by Hemingway to star in A Farewell to Arms, and in 1936 he starred in Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film). He had his pick of movies, and many of the ones he turned down were then offered to similar actor Joel McCrea, who basically lived in Cooper's shadow throughout the 1930s. He turned down the lead role in Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (it started out as a Mr. Deeds sequel), and James Stewart got the role. He turned down the lead in Stagecoach, and that part made John Wayne a major star after toiling in B-westerns for many years. His greatest blunder was turning down the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. He said at the time, "Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I'm glad it'll be Clark Gable who' falling flat on his nose, not me"! In 1941, Alvin York, the most decorated soldier in WWI, finally agreed to a movie being made of his life (to help recruiting efforts in WWII), but he insisted that only Cooper could play him, and Cooper won his first Oscar for that role in Sergeant York. The next year Lou Gehrig tragically died, and Cooper played him superbly in The Pride Of The Yankees (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film), and his "Today I am the luckiest man on the face of the Earth" speech is one of the great moments in movie history! He was Robert Jordan in Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film), and Ayn Rand picked him to play Howard Roark in The Fountainhead. In 1952 he had one of the finest roles of his career, as Will Kane in High Noon, and he won a second Oscar. In 1960 he got prostate cancer, and he died the following year, at 60 years of age. There will never be another star like Gary Cooper! He stayed a major leading actor for 25 solid years, starring in around 90 movies, and during that time he was the lead in important movies of all sorts, because so many writers, directors, and co-stars wanted him for their star! I highly recommend all the movies noted above, but you really can't go wrong with any Gary Cooper movie, for his presence elevated even his lesser movies into something worth watching! Important Added Info: Note that this item has been personally autographed (signed) by Gary Cooper! Note that this great contract required that Cooper sign both with his "true name" and with his "professional name", and since Cooper's "true name" was his professional name, he signed it twice, so this contract contains two great signatures, one above the other (of course, actually, Cooper had been born "Frank James Cooper", but he had legally changed his name to Gary prior to this). Note that we have photographed the cover and the first page of the contract, as well as the page with the We did not photograph the remaining pages, but you can see above how many pages there are in all. Note that included with the contract is a 5-page agreement between Warner Bros. and U.S. Pictures, stating that Warner Bros. is amending their agreement with U.S. Pictures about their use of Mr. Cooper during the time he is working for U.S. Pictures (see our image of the first page of that 5-page agreement, which is NOT signed by Cooper, but which is signed by representatives of the two studios). Note that our consignor has been a memorabilia dealer for the past 30 years, and he tells us that he is certain this autograph is authentic. In some cases he obtained the autographs in person, and in other cases (like with contracts and agreements), it is obvious the signatures are authentic, but he vouches for the authenticity of every item that he has consigned to us, and we also feel certain that the autographs are authentic. Condition: very good to fine. Learn More about condition grades
Postal Mailing Address:
Bruce Hershenson, P.O. Box 874, West Plains, MO 65775. (For our UPS or FedEx address, click here) phone: +1 417 256-9616 fax: +1 417 257-6948 E-mail: Contact Us Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM & 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM (CDT) |
|||||||||||||
Copyright Notice:
©1998-2024 Bruce Hershenson. All rights reserved.
All materials contained in this document are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Bruce Hershenson. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. However, you may download or print material from this Web site for your personal, non-commercial use only. |