A Glance at Gladys Cooper

If you’re like me, you are apt to mix up Gladys Cooper (1888-1971) with Alice Cooper, and, folks, don’t do that. They had very different acts.

Most Americans know Cooper for her Hollywood period, which began in 1940 and included such classics and semi-classics as Rebecca (1940), Kitty Foyle (1940), That Hamilton Woman (1941), The Black Cat (1941), Now, Voyager (1942), The Song of Bernadette (1943), Green DolphinStreet (1947), The Pirate (1948), The Secret Garden (1949), Madame Bovary (1949), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), and My Fair Lady (1964), as well as episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone,andOuter Limits. In 1964 she had a recurring character on the tv show The Rogues with David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Gig Young.

But of course aside from a couple of rare exceptions, most elderly actors were originally young actors. Cooper had started out on the British stage as a young girl, acting in pantos, Edwardian musical comedies, and silent films. She had made her debut in Bluebell in Fairyland (1905) with Seymour Hicks, and was a Gaiety Girl for a time. Other early stage credits include productions of The Importance of Being Earnest (1911), Man and Superman (1911), Diplomacy (1913), The Admirable Crichton (1916), Trelawney of the Wells (1916), Home and Beauty (1919), The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1922), Peter Pan (1923-24), The Letter (1927-28), MacBeth (1935) and Dodsworth (1938).

She was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar three times, for Now, Voyager, The Song of Bernadette, and My Fair Lady. She received her DBE in 1967.