Melville Cooper(1896-1973)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born George Melville Cooper on October 15, 1896, in Birmingham England,
he was the son of non-professionals W.C.J. and Frances (Brennan)
Cooper, and attended various English public schools, including King
Edward's School in Birmingham. Attracted to the stage as a teenager, he
made his debut at Stratford-on-Avon at age 18, but his young career was
interrupted by World War I. Serving in a Scottish regiment on the
Western Front, he was captured and made prisoner of war for a time by
the Germans.
Following the war Cooper returned to the theatre and earned good
reviews in the play "The Farmer's Wife" in 1921. He made his official
London debut with a production of "Back to Methuselah in 1924, and
furthered his career on stage with roles in "The Third Finger" (1927)
and "Journey's End" (1929). He turned to films in middle age with the
English entry Black Coffee (1931)
and, after supporting roles in the popular costumers
The Private Life of Don Juan (1934)
and
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934),
decided to cross the waters to seek work in America. Taking his first
Broadway curtain call with "Laburnum Grove" (1935), he also appeared in
"Jubilee" (1935) and "Tovarich" (1937) and subsequently became a
sometime stage director, as in the case of the 1947 production of "We
Love a Lassie."
In Hollywood Cooper was effectively cast as ineffectual types and
played in a number of "A" pictures. Giving great snob appeal, he made a
most reliable and disdainful butler, chauffeur or doorman in such films
as
The Bishop Misbehaves (1935),
Four's a Crowd (1938),
Too Many Husbands (1940),
And Baby Makes Three (1949)
and The Petty Girl (1950). More
quality roles, however, wormed their way outside this stereotype with
his blundering and cowardly Sheriff of Nottingham opposite dashing
Errol Flynn in
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938);
conman sidekick to Barbara Stanwyck in
The Lady Eve (1941); portentous
Mr. Collins whom Greer Garson nearly
married in
Pride and Prejudice (1940);
and Mr. Tringle, the wedding supervisor, in
Father of the Bride (1950)
being particular standouts.
Cooper made an active jaunt into TV roles in the 1950s but returned
strongly to the stage after biding farewell to films in 1958. In the
1960s he enjoyed such scene-stealing theatrical roles as Colonel
Pickering in "My Fair Lady," Pellinore in "Camelot" and Reverend
Chasuble in "The Importance of Being Earnest". He made one last return
to Broadway playing (what else?) a valet in a short-run revival of the
farcical comedy "Charley's Aunt" in 1970, which co-starred
Rex Thompson,
Louis Nye and 'Maureen O'Sullivan'. Married
three times, his first was to London-born actress
Rita Page who had a bit part in one of his
films This Above All (1942), and
died in 1954. They had one daughter, Valerie. The 76-year-old Cooper
died in Los Angeles of cancer in 1973, and was survived by third wife
Elizabeth.
he was the son of non-professionals W.C.J. and Frances (Brennan)
Cooper, and attended various English public schools, including King
Edward's School in Birmingham. Attracted to the stage as a teenager, he
made his debut at Stratford-on-Avon at age 18, but his young career was
interrupted by World War I. Serving in a Scottish regiment on the
Western Front, he was captured and made prisoner of war for a time by
the Germans.
Following the war Cooper returned to the theatre and earned good
reviews in the play "The Farmer's Wife" in 1921. He made his official
London debut with a production of "Back to Methuselah in 1924, and
furthered his career on stage with roles in "The Third Finger" (1927)
and "Journey's End" (1929). He turned to films in middle age with the
English entry Black Coffee (1931)
and, after supporting roles in the popular costumers
The Private Life of Don Juan (1934)
and
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934),
decided to cross the waters to seek work in America. Taking his first
Broadway curtain call with "Laburnum Grove" (1935), he also appeared in
"Jubilee" (1935) and "Tovarich" (1937) and subsequently became a
sometime stage director, as in the case of the 1947 production of "We
Love a Lassie."
In Hollywood Cooper was effectively cast as ineffectual types and
played in a number of "A" pictures. Giving great snob appeal, he made a
most reliable and disdainful butler, chauffeur or doorman in such films
as
The Bishop Misbehaves (1935),
Four's a Crowd (1938),
Too Many Husbands (1940),
And Baby Makes Three (1949)
and The Petty Girl (1950). More
quality roles, however, wormed their way outside this stereotype with
his blundering and cowardly Sheriff of Nottingham opposite dashing
Errol Flynn in
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938);
conman sidekick to Barbara Stanwyck in
The Lady Eve (1941); portentous
Mr. Collins whom Greer Garson nearly
married in
Pride and Prejudice (1940);
and Mr. Tringle, the wedding supervisor, in
Father of the Bride (1950)
being particular standouts.
Cooper made an active jaunt into TV roles in the 1950s but returned
strongly to the stage after biding farewell to films in 1958. In the
1960s he enjoyed such scene-stealing theatrical roles as Colonel
Pickering in "My Fair Lady," Pellinore in "Camelot" and Reverend
Chasuble in "The Importance of Being Earnest". He made one last return
to Broadway playing (what else?) a valet in a short-run revival of the
farcical comedy "Charley's Aunt" in 1970, which co-starred
Rex Thompson,
Louis Nye and 'Maureen O'Sullivan'. Married
three times, his first was to London-born actress
Rita Page who had a bit part in one of his
films This Above All (1942), and
died in 1954. They had one daughter, Valerie. The 76-year-old Cooper
died in Los Angeles of cancer in 1973, and was survived by third wife
Elizabeth.