Frank James Cooper was destined to become a well-known actor, excelling in Westerns. Growing up on his father's Montana ranch, Cooper learned how to ride horses and rope cattle. In an auto accident at 15 injuring his hip, he followed his doctor's advice to ride in the saddle for hours for therapy, a regimen that caused him to walk slightly off-balanced with a stiff-leg as an adult. But that slight handicap didn't deter him when his family moved to Los Angeles; he sought and got work as a movie stunt rider and as an extra in his early 20s.
Realizing stunt work was a risky physical profession after working in several movies in 1925, Cooper hired a casting director as an agent to round up some credited acting roles in film. His agent noted there were other Frank Coopers in the entertainment business, and a change in name would help. He pointed on a map to a city in Indiana and said that name Gary had a ring to it. The actor agreed, and from there onward he would be known as Gary Cooper.
Soon after the adoption to Gary, Cooper was slowly receiving some recognition with his small roles. By mid-1926, Sam Goldwyn offered him a $75 a week contract. When actor Monte Blue, the second male lead for an upcoming Western, had a scheduling conflict, Cooper was slotted into his part in October 1926's "The Winning of Barbara Worth." His performance received glowing reviews by movie critics, with one noticing he was a "dynamic new personality" on the screen. Cooper's Montana upbringing gave him an authenticity needed for the part as the town's prominent cowboy whose attentions had been captivated by an orphan who grew up to become a raving beauty, Barbara Worth (Vilma Banky). He has a rival in the gentleman Willard Holmes (Ronald Colman), whose father is scheming to take over a water project to divert a portion of the Colorado River's water into the valley by using cheap construction material on the dykes and dams.
The end result of the elder Holmes' shoddy work was a terrific onrushing of river water that flooded the desert valley. The episode relives the 1905 formation of Southern California's Salton Sea, where an irrigation canal from the river was overwhelmed by a spring flood, breaking through the canal head-gate into the valley.
Goldwyn reportedly instructed the newbie Cooper how to act, that "all you have to do is keep your eyes on Vilma." The actor followed the producer's advice right down to a tee, including when the camera wasn't rolling. Banky, nicknamed "the Hungarian Rhapsody," was a recent arrival to Hollywood from the Continent when Goldwyn caught the actress in a movie and signed her to a contract in 1925. She was an immediate hit and starred in Rudolph Valentino's final two movies, 1925's "The Eagle" and 1926" The Son of the Sheik." When movies went to sound, her career was finished with her thick Hungarian accent posing a huge obstacle. She ended up selling real estate and golfing, which became her passion in life.
Realizing stunt work was a risky physical profession after working in several movies in 1925, Cooper hired a casting director as an agent to round up some credited acting roles in film. His agent noted there were other Frank Coopers in the entertainment business, and a change in name would help. He pointed on a map to a city in Indiana and said that name Gary had a ring to it. The actor agreed, and from there onward he would be known as Gary Cooper.
Soon after the adoption to Gary, Cooper was slowly receiving some recognition with his small roles. By mid-1926, Sam Goldwyn offered him a $75 a week contract. When actor Monte Blue, the second male lead for an upcoming Western, had a scheduling conflict, Cooper was slotted into his part in October 1926's "The Winning of Barbara Worth." His performance received glowing reviews by movie critics, with one noticing he was a "dynamic new personality" on the screen. Cooper's Montana upbringing gave him an authenticity needed for the part as the town's prominent cowboy whose attentions had been captivated by an orphan who grew up to become a raving beauty, Barbara Worth (Vilma Banky). He has a rival in the gentleman Willard Holmes (Ronald Colman), whose father is scheming to take over a water project to divert a portion of the Colorado River's water into the valley by using cheap construction material on the dykes and dams.
The end result of the elder Holmes' shoddy work was a terrific onrushing of river water that flooded the desert valley. The episode relives the 1905 formation of Southern California's Salton Sea, where an irrigation canal from the river was overwhelmed by a spring flood, breaking through the canal head-gate into the valley.
Goldwyn reportedly instructed the newbie Cooper how to act, that "all you have to do is keep your eyes on Vilma." The actor followed the producer's advice right down to a tee, including when the camera wasn't rolling. Banky, nicknamed "the Hungarian Rhapsody," was a recent arrival to Hollywood from the Continent when Goldwyn caught the actress in a movie and signed her to a contract in 1925. She was an immediate hit and starred in Rudolph Valentino's final two movies, 1925's "The Eagle" and 1926" The Son of the Sheik." When movies went to sound, her career was finished with her thick Hungarian accent posing a huge obstacle. She ended up selling real estate and golfing, which became her passion in life.