Gary Cooper - 1931 - Photo - PHOTOGRAPH - Portrait

A superb and rare photo, made from what we believe is the original negative, of Gary Cooper.  "Coop", as he was called by his peers, went on to appear in over 100 films. He became a major star with his first sound picture, The Virginian, in 1929.

The negative comes from one of Europe’s oldest, exquisite and most historic cinema collections that we recently took over from its famous private collector.  The collection, partly, consists of a vast collection of mostly very exclusive and very old photographic negatives, both on celluloid as glass plates.  We consider this material very historic, exclusive and valuable.

Please note that this is not a digital print (!), but a traditional photograph, which is processed through the traditional photographic process by a professional photo studio.  Every image is fully processed by hand, obtaining the best result possible. As most negatives are very old, several traditional photographic prints of each negative are made.  Each has different settings (like varying brightness and contrast). Out of these, the best of the photographic prints is then selected by a professional, and safely expedited to the winner of this auction.  This way the best result possible is obtained, as each photograph is absolutely unique and collectable!

Frank James Cooper

The lead in the screen adaptation of A Farewell to Arms (1932) and the title role in 1936's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town furthered his box office appeal. Cooper was producer David O. Selznick's first choice for the role of Rhett Butler in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind.^[5] When Cooper turned down the role, he was passionately against it. He is quoted as saying, "Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling flat on his nose, not me".^[6][7] Alfred Hitchcock wanted him to star in Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Saboteur (1942). Cooper later admitted he had made a "mistake" in turning down the director. For the former film, Hitchcock cast look-alike Joel McCrea instead.

In 1941, he won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as the title character in Sergeant York. Alvin York refused to authorize a movie about his life unless Gary Cooper was the actor who portrayed him.

In 1952, Cooper won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon, considered his finest role. He wasn't present to receive his Academy Award in February 1953. He asked John Wayne to accept it on his behalf.