JOLEE-Power-Edition-2020

NOSTALGIA AND YOU —————————————————————————————
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Gary Cooper
By Kerry Baker
Brisbane – Australia
Gary Cooper was a dab hand at sketching and watercolours and had developed a love of Art early in life.
During their marriage, he and his wife Veronica Balfe amassed a sizable collection of modern Art including
works by Picasso, Renoir, Gauguin and Georgia O’Keefe. In fact Cooper fell into acting almost accidentally
as his initial foray into Silent films was mainly to help finance studies in Art.
This changed forever when Clara Bow (the first of so very, very many women) fell hard for the young
taciturn Montana lad and basically was instrumental in getting him the role in ‘Wings’.
From 1923- 1927, Coop appeared in 28 films as an uncredited extra, some shorts and only one substantial
role until Ms. Bow used all her influence to land him the role of Cadet White in ‘Wings’ in 1927 that won
two Oscars including Best Picture. The rest, as they say, is history.
By 1939, his star power and box office clout saw the United States Treasury list Cooper as the highest paid
man in the country that year. The list of famous women who became notches on the Cooper belt was
legendary. Tallulah Bankhead, Marlene Dietrich, Lupe Velez, Carole Lombard, Countess Dorothy di Frasso,
Ingrid Bergman, Patricia Neal and the beat goes on. But of his considerable line up of ladies, it was Lupe
Velez, the Mexican Spitfire, who caused the most drama.
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