Editing Gary Cooper (section)

====From ''Mr. Deeds'' to ''The Real Glory'', 1936–1939====
[[File:Gary Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town trailer.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Screen capture of Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur|Cooper and [[Jean Arthur]] in ''[[Mr. Deeds Goes to Town]]'', 1936]]

Cooper's career took an important turn in 1936.<ref name="meyers-116">Meyers 1998, p. 116.</ref> After making [[Frank Borzage]]'s [[romantic comedy]] film ''[[Desire (1936 film)|Desire]]'' with Marlene Dietrich at Paramount, in which he delivered a performance considered by some contemporary critics as one of his finest,<ref name="meyers-116" /> Cooper returned to Poverty Row for the first time since his early silent-film days to make [[Frank Capra]]'s ''[[Mr. Deeds Goes to Town]]'' with [[Jean Arthur]] for [[Columbia Pictures]].<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 188.</ref> In the film, Cooper plays Longfellow Deeds, a quiet, innocent writer of greeting cards who inherits a fortune, leaves behind his idyllic life in Vermont, and travels to New York City, where he faces a world of corruption and deceit.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 140.</ref> Capra and screenwriter [[Robert Riskin]] were able to use Cooper's well-established screen persona as the "quintessential American hero"<ref name="meyers-116" />{{snd}}a symbol of honesty, courage, and goodness<ref name="meyers-119">Meyers 1998, p. 119.</ref><ref name="swindell-192">Swindell 1980, p. 192.</ref><ref>Kaminsky 1979, p. 78.</ref>{{snd}}to create a new type of "[[folk hero]]" for the common man.<ref name="meyers-116" /><ref>Arce 1979, p. 144.</ref> Commenting on Cooper's impact on the character and the film, Capra observed:<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 190.</ref>
{{Blockquote|As soon as I thought of Gary Cooper, it wasn't possible to conceive anyone else in the role. He could not have been any closer to my idea of Longfellow Deeds, and as soon as he could think in terms of Cooper, Bob Riskin found it easier to develop the Deeds character in terms of dialogue. So it just had to be Cooper. Every line in his face spelled honesty. Our Mr. Deeds had to symbolize incorruptibility, and in my mind Gary Cooper was that symbol.}}

Both ''Desire'' and ''Mr. Deeds'' opened in April 1936 to critical praise and were major box-office successes.<ref name="meyers-121">Meyers 1998, p. 121.</ref> In his review in ''The New York Times'', [[Frank Nugent]] wrote that Cooper was "proving himself one of the best light comedians in Hollywood".<ref name="nytimes-deeds" /> For his performance in ''Mr. Deeds'', Cooper received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.<ref name="oscars-1937" />
[[File:Gary Cooper in The Plainsman 1936.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|alt=Screen capture of Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur|Cooper and [[Jean Arthur]] in ''[[The Plainsman]]'', 1936]]

Cooper appeared in two other Paramount films in 1936. In [[Lewis Milestone]]'s adventure film ''[[The General Died at Dawn]]'' with [[Madeleine Carroll]], he plays an American soldier of fortune in China who helps the peasants defend themselves against the oppression of a cruel [[warlord]].<ref name="dickens-144-146">Dickens 1970, pp. 144–46.</ref><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 203.</ref> Written by playwright [[Clifford Odets]], the film was a critical and commercial success.<ref name="dickens-144-146" /><ref>Swindell 1980, p. 202.</ref>

In [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s sprawling frontier epic ''[[The Plainsman]]'', his first of four films with the director, Cooper portrays [[Wild Bill Hickok]] in a highly fictionalized version of the opening of the American western frontier.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 147–49.</ref> The film was an even greater box-office hit than its predecessor,<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 124.</ref> due in large part to Jean Arthur's definitive depiction of [[Calamity Jane]] and Cooper's inspired portrayal of Hickok as an enigmatic figure of "deepening mythic substance".<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 204.</ref> That year, Cooper appeared for the first time on the ''[[Motion Picture Herald]]'' exhibitor's poll of top-10 film personalities, where he remained for the next 23 years.<ref name="arce-147" />

In late 1936, Paramount was preparing a new contract for Cooper that would raise his salary to $8,000 a week,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 200.</ref> when Cooper signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn for six films over six years with a minimum guarantee of $150,000 per picture.<ref name="meyers-126">Meyers 1998, p. 126.</ref> Paramount brought suit against Goldwyn and Cooper, and the court ruled that Cooper's new Goldwyn contract afforded the actor sufficient time to also honor his Paramount agreement.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 201.</ref> Cooper continued to make films with both studios, and by 1939, the [[United States Treasury]] reported that Cooper was the country's highest wage earner, at $482,819 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.482819|1939|r=2}}{{spaces}}million in {{Inflation-year|US}}).<ref name="meyers-126" /><ref>Dickens 1970, p. 13.</ref><ref>Arce 1979, p. 161.</ref>

In contrast to his output the previous year, Cooper appeared in only one picture in 1937, Henry Hathaway's adventure film ''[[Souls at Sea]]''.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 150–52.</ref> A critical and box-office failure,<ref name="swindell-205">Swindell 1980, p. 205.</ref> Cooper referred to it as his "almost picture", saying, "It was almost exciting, and almost interesting. And I was almost good."<ref name="swindell-205" /> In 1938, he appeared in [[Archie Mayo]]'s biographical film ''[[The Adventures of Marco Polo]]''.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 153–55.</ref> Plagued by production problems and a weak screenplay,<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 131.</ref> the film became Goldwyn's biggest failure to date, losing $700,000.<ref name="meyers-132">Meyers 1998, p. 132.</ref> During this period, Cooper turned down several important roles,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 208.</ref> including the role of [[Rhett Butler]] in ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''.<ref name="selznick-172-173">Selznick 2000, pp. 172–73.</ref> Cooper was producer [[David O. Selznick]]'s first choice for the part.<ref name="selznick-172-173" /> He made several overtures to the actor,<ref name="swindell-209-210">Swindell 1980, pp. 209–10.</ref> but Cooper had doubts about the project,<ref name="swindell-209-210" /> and did not feel suited to the role.<ref name="arce-147">Arce 1979, p. 147.</ref> Cooper later admitted, "It was one of the best roles ever offered in Hollywood{{spaces}}... But I said no. I didn't see myself as quite that dashing, and later, when I saw Clark Gable play the role to perfection, I knew I was right."<ref name="arce-147" />{{refn|Cooper also turned down the leading roles in John Ford's ''[[Stagecoach (1939 film)|Stagecoach]]'' (1939)<ref>Kaminsky 1979, p. 99.</ref> and Alfred Hitchcock's ''[[Foreign Correspondent (film)|Foreign Correspondent]]'' (1940).<ref>McGilligan 2003, p. 259.</ref>|group=Note}}
[[File:Bluebeards-eighth-wife.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert|Cooper and [[Claudette Colbert]] in ''[[Bluebeard's Eighth Wife]]'', 1938]]

Back at Paramount, Cooper returned to a more comfortable genre in [[Ernst Lubitsch]]'s romantic comedy ''[[Bluebeard's Eighth Wife]]'' (1938) with Claudette Colbert.<ref name="meyers-132" /><ref name="dickens-156-158">Dickens 1970, pp. 156–58.</ref> In the film, Cooper plays a wealthy American businessman in France who falls in love with an impoverished aristocrat's daughter and persuades her to become his eighth wife.<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 157.</ref> Despite the clever screenplay by [[Charles Brackett]] and [[Billy Wilder]],<ref name="arce-154">Arce 1979, p. 154.</ref> and solid performances by Cooper and Colbert,<ref name="dickens-156-158" /> American audiences had trouble accepting Cooper in the role of a shallow philanderer. It succeeded only at the European box-office market.<ref name="arce-154" />

In the fall of 1938, Cooper appeared in [[H. C. Potter]]'s romantic comedy ''[[The Cowboy and the Lady (1938 film)|The Cowboy and the Lady]]'' with [[Merle Oberon]], about a sweet-natured rodeo cowboy who falls in love with the wealthy daughter of a presidential hopeful, believing her to be a poor, hard-working lady's maid.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 159–61.</ref> The efforts of three directors and several eminent screenwriters could not salvage what could have been a fine vehicle for Cooper.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 134.</ref> While more successful than its predecessor, the film was Cooper's fourth consecutive box-office failure in the American market.<ref name="meyers-135">Meyers 1998, p. 135.</ref>

In the next two years, Cooper was more discerning about the roles he accepted and made four successful large-scale adventure and cowboy films.<ref name="meyers-135" /> In [[William A. Wellman]]'s adventure film ''[[Beau Geste (1939 film)|Beau Geste]]'' (1939), he plays one of three daring English brothers who join the French Foreign Legion in the [[Sahara]] to fight local tribes.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 162–165.</ref> Filmed in the same [[Mojave Desert]] locations as the original [[Beau Geste (1926 film)|1926 version]] with Ronald Colman,<ref name="meyers-135" /><ref name="swindell-220">Swindell 1980, p. 220.</ref> ''Beau Geste'' provided Cooper with magnificent sets, exotic settings, high-spirited action, and a role tailored to his personality and screen persona.<ref name="dickens-164">Dickens 1970, p. 164.</ref> This was the last film in Cooper's contract with Paramount.<ref name="dickens-164" />

In Henry Hathaway's ''[[The Real Glory]]'' (1939), he plays a military doctor who accompanies a small group of American Army officers to the Philippines to help the Christian Filipinos defend themselves against Muslim radicals.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 166–68.</ref> Many film critics praised Cooper's performance, including author and film critic [[Graham Greene]], who recognized that he "never acted better".<ref name="meyers-138">Meyers 1998, p. 138.</ref>