Editing Gary Cooper (section)

====From ''The Westerner'' to ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', 1940–1943====
Cooper returned to the Western genre in [[William Wyler]]'s ''[[The Westerner (1940 film)|The Westerner]]'' (1940) with [[Walter Brennan]] and [[Doris Davenport]], about a drifting cowboy who defends homesteaders against [[Roy Bean]], a corrupt judge known as the "law west of the [[Pecos River|Pecos]]".<ref name="meyers-138" /><ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 169–73.</ref> Screenwriter [[Niven Busch]] relied on Cooper's extensive knowledge of [[American frontier|Western]] history while working on the script.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 139.</ref> The film received positive reviews and did well at the box office,<ref name="swindell-226">Swindell 1980, p. 226.</ref> with reviewers praising the performances of the two lead actors.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 172–73.</ref> That same year, Cooper appeared in his first all-[[Technicolor]] feature,<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 227.</ref> Cecil B. DeMille's adventure film ''[[North West Mounted Police (film)|North West Mounted Police]]'' (1940).<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 174–77.</ref>{{refn|Cooper previously appeared in the all-star feature ''[[Paramount on Parade]]'' (1930), which included scenes in [[Technicolor#Process 3|two-color Technicolor]], including his "Let Us Drink to the Girl of My Dreams" sequence.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 8, 73–74.</ref> He also appeared as himself in the Technicolor [[short film]]s ''Star Night at the Coconut Grove'' (1935) and ''[[La Fiesta de Santa Barbara]]'' (1936).<ref name="dickens-23-24" />|group=Note}} In the film, Cooper plays a [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Ranger]] who pursues an outlaw into western Canada, where he joins forces with the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] who are after the same man, a leader of the [[North-West Rebellion]].<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 141–42.</ref> While not as popular with critics as its predecessor,<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 140.</ref> the film was another box-office success, the sixth-highest grossing film of 1940.<ref name="swindell-226" /><ref>Arce 1979, p. 163.</ref>
[[File:Meet John Doe 1941 (3).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|alt=Film still of Edward Arnold, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, and Walter Brennan|[[Edward Arnold (actor)|Edward Arnold]], [[Barbara Stanwyck]], Cooper, and [[Walter Brennan]] in ''[[Meet John Doe]]'', 1941]]

The early 1940s were Cooper's prime years as an actor.<ref name="dickens-14">Dickens 1970, p. 14.</ref> In a relatively short period, he appeared in five critically successful and popular films that produced some of his finest performances.<ref name="dickens-14" /> When Frank Capra offered him the lead role in ''[[Meet John Doe]]'' before [[Robert Riskin]] even developed the script, Cooper accepted his friend's offer, saying, "It's okay, Frank, I don't need a script."<ref name="meyers-144">Meyers 1998, p. 144.</ref> In the film, Cooper plays Long John Willoughby, a down-and-out bush-league pitcher hired by a newspaper to pretend to be a man who promises to commit suicide on Christmas Eve to protest all the hypocrisy and corruption in the country.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 178–180.</ref> Considered by some critics to be Capra's best film at the time,<ref name="swindell-230">Swindell 1980, p. 230.</ref> ''Meet John Doe'' was received as a "national event"<ref name="swindell-230" /> with Cooper appearing on the front cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' on March 3, 1941.<ref name="meyers-146-147">Meyers 1998, pp. 146–147.</ref> In his review in the ''New York Herald Tribune'', Howard Barnes called Cooper's performance a "splendid and utterly persuasive portrayal"<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 180.</ref> and praised his "utterly realistic acting which comes through with such authority".<ref name="meyers-146-147" /> [[Bosley Crowther]], in ''The New York Times'', wrote, "Gary Cooper, of course, is 'John Doe' to the life and in the whole{{snd}}shy, bewildered, nonaggressive, but a veritable tiger when aroused."<ref name="nytimes-meet" />
[[File:Joan Fontaine and Gary Cooper.jpg|thumb|alt=Photo of Joan Fontaine and Gary Cooper at the Academy Awards holding their Oscars|[[Joan Fontaine]] and Cooper at the Academy Awards, 1942]]

That same year, Cooper made two films with director and good friend [[Howard Hawks]].<ref name="meyers-153">Meyers 1998, p. 153.</ref> In the biographical film ''[[Sergeant York (film)|Sergeant York]]'', Cooper portrays war hero [[Alvin C. York]],<ref name="swindell-231">Swindell 1980, p. 231.</ref> one of the most decorated American soldiers in World War{{spaces}}I.<ref>Owens 2004, pp. 97–98.</ref> The film chronicles York's early backwoods days in [[Tennessee]], his religious conversion and subsequent piety, his stand as a conscientious objector, and finally his heroic actions at the [[Meuse-Argonne Offensive|Battle of the Argonne Forest]], which earned him the [[Medal of Honor]].<ref name="swindell-231" /><ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 181–83.</ref> Initially, Cooper was nervous and uncertain about playing a living hero, so he traveled to Tennessee to visit York at his home, and the two quiet men established an immediate rapport and discovered they had much in common.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 152.</ref> Inspired by York's encouragement, Cooper delivered a performance that Howard Barnes of the ''New York Herald Tribune'' called "one of extraordinary conviction and versatility", and that Archer Winston of the ''New York Post'' called "one of his best".<ref name="dickens-182">Dickens 1970, p. 183.</ref> After the film's release, Cooper was awarded the Distinguished Citizenship Medal by the [[Veterans of Foreign Wars]] for his "powerful contribution to the promotion of patriotism and loyalty".<ref name="arce-177">Arce 1979, p. 177.</ref> York admired Cooper's performance and helped promote the film for [[Warner Bros.]]<ref name="meyers-156" /> ''Sergeant York'' became the top-grossing film of the year and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards.<ref name="arce-177" /><ref name="meyers-157">Meyers 1998, p. 157.</ref> Accepting his first Academy Award for Best Actor from his friend [[James Stewart]], Cooper said, "It was Sergeant Alvin York who won this award. Shucks, I've been in the business 16 years and sometimes dreamed I might get one of these. That's all I can say{{spaces}}... Funny when I was dreaming I always made a better speech."<ref name="meyers-157" />
[[File:Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper in Ball of Fire trailer 2.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|alt=Screen capture of Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper|[[Barbara Stanwyck]] and Cooper in ''[[Ball of Fire]]'', 1941]]

Cooper concluded the year back at Goldwyn with Howard Hawks to make the romantic comedy ''[[Ball of Fire]]'' with [[Barbara Stanwyck]].<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 184–86.</ref> In the film, Cooper plays a shy linguistics professor who leads a team of seven scholars who are writing an encyclopedia. While researching slang, he meets Stanwyck's flirtatious burlesque stripper Sugarpuss O'Shea who blows the dust off their staid life of books.<ref name="meyers-161">Meyers 1998, p. 161.</ref> The screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder provided Cooper the opportunity to exercise the full range of his light comedy skills.<ref name="meyers-161" /> In his review for the ''New York Herald Tribune'', Howard Barnes wrote that Cooper handled the role with "great skill and comic emphasis" and that his performance was "utterly delightful".<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 185–86.</ref> Though small in scale, ''Ball of Fire'' was one of the top-grossing films of the year<ref name="arce-179">Arce 1979, p. 179.</ref> and Cooper's fourth consecutive picture to make the top 20.<ref name="arce-179" />

Cooper's only film appearance in 1942 was also his last under his Goldwyn contract.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 237.</ref> In [[Sam Wood]]'s biographical film ''[[The Pride of the Yankees]]'',<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 187–189.</ref> Cooper portrays baseball star [[Lou Gehrig]], who established a record with the [[New York Yankees]] for playing in 2,130 consecutive games.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 162.</ref> Cooper was reluctant to play the seven-time [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]], who had died only the previous year from [[ALS]] (now commonly called "Lou Gehrig's disease").<ref name="meyers-163">Meyers 1998, p. 163.</ref> Beyond the challenges of effectively portraying such a popular and nationally recognized figure, Cooper knew very little about baseball<ref name="swindell-238">Swindell 1980, p. 238.</ref> and was not left-handed like Gehrig.<ref name="meyers-163" />

After Gehrig's widow visited the actor and expressed her desire that he portray her husband,<ref name="meyers-163" /> Cooper accepted the role that covered a 20-year span of Gehrig's life: his early love of baseball, his rise to greatness, his loving marriage, and his struggle with illness, culminating in his farewell speech at [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]] on July 4, 1939, before 62,000 fans.<ref>Dickens 1970, pp. 188–89.</ref> Cooper quickly learned the physical movements of a baseball player and developed a fluid, believable swing.<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 164.</ref> The [[handedness]] issue was solved by reversing the print for certain batting scenes.<ref>Swindell 1980, p. 239.</ref> The film was one of the year's top-10 pictures<ref name="meyers-167" /> and received 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Cooper's third).<ref name="oscars-1943" />
[[File:For Whom The Bell Tolls trailer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Screen capture of Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper|[[Ingrid Bergman]] and Cooper in ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls (film)|For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'', 1943]]

Soon after the publication of Ernest Hemingway's novel ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'', Paramount paid $150,000 for the film rights with the express intent of casting Cooper in the lead role of Robert Jordan,<ref name="arce-183">Arce 1979, p. 183.</ref> an American explosives expert who fights alongside the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican]] loyalists during the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref>Meyers 1998, p. 180.</ref> The original director, Cecil B. DeMille, was replaced by Sam Wood, who brought in [[Dudley Nichols]] for the screenplay.<ref name="arce-183" /> After the start of principal photography in the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] in late 1942, [[Ingrid Bergman]] was brought in to replace ballerina [[Vera Zorina]] as the female lead, a change supported by Cooper and Hemingway.<ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 178–179.</ref> The love scenes between Bergman and Cooper were "rapturous" and passionate.<ref name="meyers-179">Meyers 1998, p. 179.</ref><ref name="swindell-247">Swindell 1980, p. 247.</ref> Howard Barnes in the ''New York Herald Tribune'' wrote that both actors performed with "the true stature and authority of stars".<ref>Dickens 1970, p. 193.</ref> While the film distorted the novel's original political themes and meaning,<ref>Arce 1979, p. 184.</ref><ref>Meyers 1998, pp. 181–182.</ref> ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls (film)|For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'' was a critical and commercial success and received 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Cooper's fourth).<ref name="swindell-247" />