Sherman WeisburdVintage Silver Gelatin Print Photograph Gary Cooper, His Last Photo, Signed, 1961

Details

Description

This is a vintage black and white photograph (shot in 1961 and printed in 1975) of famed actor Gary Cooper … Read more This is a vintage black and white photograph (shot in 1961 and printed in 1975) of famed actor Gary Cooper by internationally renowned PhotographerSherman Weisburd. This Vintage photograph was developed from the original negative and is the last portrait photo taken before his death. This photo was selected as a possible cover for Good Housekeeping Magazine. It is hand signed in marker, lower right by Sherman Weisburd.
Sherman Weisburd, known for his album cover photos of the 1960s and '70s and advertising work of the early '70s. Photographer for Playboy Magazine, TV Guide (Sonny & Cher), and Viva Magazine. Grammy nominated for his photo of Charles Aznavour, He shot Arlo Guthrie for the cover of Alice's Restaurant, Betty Ford for Ingenue magazine, Marilyn Monroe for Modern Screen magazine. He also shot Ashford & Simpson and was a cinematographer for Universal and Paramount pictures.

Gary Cooper was an Oscar winning American actor. A major movie star from the end of the silent film era through to the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. Throughout his career, he sustained a screen persona that represented the ideal American hero. In the early 1930s, he expanded his heroic image to include more cautious characters in adventure films and dramas such as A Farewell to Arms (1932) and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935). During the height of his career, Cooper portrayed a new type of hero—a champion of the common man—in films such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Meet John Doe (1941), Sergeant York (1941), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). In the postwar years, he portrayed more mature characters at odds with the world in films such as The Fountainhead (1949) and High Noon (1952). In his final films, Cooper played non-violent characters searching for redemption in films such as Friendly Persuasion (1956) and Man of the West (1958).
Cooper had a series of romantic relationships with leading actresses, beginning in 1927 with Clara Bow, who advanced his career by helping him get one of his first leading roles in Children of Divorce In 1929, while filming The Wolf Song, Cooper began an intense affair with Lupe Vélez, which was the most important romance of his early life. During their two years together, Cooper also had brief affairs with Marlene Dietrich while filming Morocco in 1930 and with Carole Lombard while making I Take This Woman in 1931. During his year abroad in 1931–32, Cooper had an affair with the married Countess Dorothy di Frasso, while staying at her Villa Madama in Rome.
After he was married in December 1933, Cooper remained faithful to his wife until the summer of 1942, when he began an affair with Ingrid Bergman during the production of For Whom the Bell Tolls. In 1948, after finishing work on The Fountainhead, Cooper began an affair with actress Patricia Neal, his co-star. During his three-year separation from his wife, Cooper was rumored to have had affairs with Grace Kelly, Lorraine Chanel, and Gisele Pascal. Charlton Heston once observed, "He projected the kind of man Americans would like to be, probably more than any actor that's ever lived." See less