Gary Cooper was a two-time Oscar winner who starred in dozens of movies before his death in 1961, but how many of those titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1901, Cooper got his start in silent movies, most notably the aerial drama “Wings” (1927), which won the very first Academy Award as Best Picture. He would collect his own statuette as Best Actor for another WWI film: the biographical drama “Sergeant York” (1941). Directed by Howard Hawks, it helped create Cooper’s screen persona of an ordinary man capable of extraordinary courage in the face of adversity.
He won a second Best Actor trophy for playing a similar character in Fred Zinnemann‘s western “High Noon” (1952), which cast him as a retired marshal who must stand up to a gang of killers arriving on the noon train. Cooper earned additional nominations for similarly idealistic, heroic roles in “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936), “The Pride of the Yankees” (1942) — in which he played baseball legend Lou Gehrig — and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (1943). He received an Honorary Academy Award in 1961.
In addition to his Oscar success, Cooper won a Golden Globe for “High Noon,” competing once again for “Friendly Persuasion” (1956).
Tour our photo gallery of Cooper’s greatest films, including the titles mentioned above, as well as “Morocco” (1930), “Ball of Fire” (1941), “Meet John Doe” (1941) and more.
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15. THE FOUNTAINHEAD (1949)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by King Vidor. Screenplay by Ayn Rand, based on her novel. Starring Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith, Robert Douglas.
King Vidor’s cinematic adaptation of “The Fountainhead” remains one of the strangest films Hollywood ever produced. In bringing Ayn Rand’s bestseller to the screen, the director leans into phallic imagery and camp while downplaying the author’s haranguing and didacticism, making it far more bearable than the novel. Cooper stars as Howard Roark, an individualistic and idealistic architect who refuses to compromise his ideals and conform to industry standards, which makes him unemployable. He falls in love with an heiress (Patricia Neal), but leaves her when he’s finally able to design buildings to his liking.
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14. WINGS (1927)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by William A. Wellman. Screenplay by Hope Loring and Louis D. Lighton, story by John Monk Saunders, titles by Julian Johnson. Starring Clara Bow, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Richard Arlen, Gary Cooper.
Cooper got his start in silent movies, the most famous of which is this 1927 arial epic that won the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Set during WWI, “Wings” centers on two small town men (Charles “Buddy” Rogers and Richard Arlen) who are both in love with the same woman (Clara Bow). They put their affections on hold to enlist in the Air Force as combat pilots, where they meet the doomed Cadet White (Cooper). Though the love story is melodramatic and trite, the drama in the air is spectacular, with aerial dogfights that remain technically astounding to this day (it won an additional Oscar in the now defunct Best Engineering Effects category).
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13. FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS (1943)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Sam Wood. Screenplay by Dudley Nichols, based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. Starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Katina Paxinou, Joseph Calleia.
Legend has it Ernest Hemingway had Cooper in mind when he created the character of Robert Jordan in “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” so it’s fortunate he was available to play the role in this lumbering screen adaptation (apparently the same was true of Ingrid Bergman, who costars as Maria). This romantic drama about an American International Brigades volunteer (Cooper) who falls in love with a young guerrilla fighter (Bergman) contains strong performances, vibrant cinematography, and a lush score, but its pacing is uneven and — at 170 minutes — slow. The film earned nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, plus acting bids for Cooper, Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, and Katina Paxinou, who won the Best Supporting Actress prize.
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12. THE WESTERNER (1940)
Image Credit: Goldwyn/United Artists/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by Jo Swerling and Niven Busch, story by Stuart N. Lake. Starring Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Fred Stone, Doris Davenport, Dana Andrews.
William Wyler’s “The Westerner” casts Cooper as a drifter who runs afoul of the eccentric Judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan) after he’s accused of stealing a horse. Knowing he’s facing certain death from the self-appointed hanging judge, Cooper saves his neck by pretending to be romantically involved with actress Lily Langtry, who Bean is infatuated with, and promising to deliver a lock of her hair. Though Cooper is the headliner, Brennan steals the show in a juicy turn that brought him his third Oscar as Best Supporting Actor. The film earned additional nominations for Stuart N. Lake’s original story and its black-and-white art direction.
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11. MAN OF THE WEST (1958)
Image Credit: United Artists/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Anthony Mann. Screenplay by Reginald Rose, based on the novel ‘The Border Jumpers’ by Will C. Brown. Starring Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur O’Connell, Jack Lord.
Cooper gives one of his best performances in this western from Anthony Mann, one of the last films he made before his death in 1961. He plays Link Jones, a reformed outlaw traveling to Fort Worth to hire a new schoolteacher. While aboard a train he encounters a con man (Arthur O’Connell) who plans to hustle him, but instead they’re robbed by a gang of thieves. Stranded with a saloon singer (Julie London), the three find shelter with the aging bandit (Lee J. Cobb) who trained Cooper, and he agrees to help his mentor pull off one last bank heist. Filled with themes of redemption and aging, “Man of the West” is also an epic, thrilling adventure.
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10. MEET JOHN DOE (1941)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Frank Capra. Screenplay by Robert Riskin, story by Robert Presnell, Sr., based on the story ‘A Reputation’ in ‘Century Magazine’ by Richard Connell. Starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, Spring Byington, James Gleason.
Although he dominated the box office in the 1930s with his upbeat visions of Americana (coined as “Capra-corn”), Frank Capra stumbled in the 1940s when he tried to set out on his own as an independent producer. That’s not to say that the quality in filmmaking dipped, and indeed, “Meet John Doe” looks better with age. Barbara Stanwyck stars as a fired newspaper reporter who publishes a letter from a nonexistent person — the “John Doe” of the title — threatening to jump off City Hall on Christmas Eve in protest of social injustices. When the letter causes a sensation, she hires a homeless man (Cooper) to impersonate Doe, and his made-up philosophy starts a political movement.
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9. DESIGN FOR LIVING (1933)
Image Credit: Snap/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Screenplay by Ben Hecht, based on the play by Noel Coward. Starring Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton, Franklin Pangborn, Isabel Jewell, Jane Darwell.
In the days before the Production Code, Hollywood filmmakers were able to deal in more controversial, sexually-risqué subjects. That’s certainly the case with “Design for Living,” a sparkling adaptation of Noel Coward’s play about a sophisticated trio of Americans — a commercial artist (Miriam Hopkins), a painter (Cooper), and a playwright (Fredric March) — who enter into a friendly ménage-à-trois after meeting on a train bound to Paris. Yet this is far from a dirty movie. Instead, director Ernst Lubitsch and screenwriter Ben Hecht create sensuality through dialogue and wit.
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8. LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON (1957)
Image Credit: Allied Artists/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, based on the play ‘Ariane, jeune fille russe’ by Claude Anet. Starring Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, John McGiver.
Billy Wilder’s sparkling romantic comedy casts Cooper as an aging playboy who’s being investigated by a widowed private detective (Maurice Chevalier) hoping to entrap him with the wife of a client. But the swinging bachelor soon becomes infatuated with the P.I.’s daughter (Audrey Hepburn). Sure, the age difference between 56-year-old Cooper and his 28-year-old costar is a bit jarring, but that doesn’t distract from the fun of this pitch-perfect bauble that’s a tribute to Wilder’s mentor, Ernst Lubitsch (right down to the casting of Chevalier). Both Chevalier and Hepburn earned Golden Globe nominations, though Cooper was overlooked.
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7. MOROCCO (1930)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Joseph von Sternberg. Screenplay by Jules Furthman, based on the novel ‘Amy Jolly’ by Benno Vigny. Starring Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Adolphe Menjou.
“Morocco” introduced Marlene Dietrich to American audiences, and it was also her first pairing with expressionistic director Josef von Sternberg, with whom she would make six movies. She plays Amy Jolly, a melancholy cabaret singer who falls in love with a dashing Legionnaire (Cooper) stationed in North Africa (the movie was shot just outside of Los Angeles). Yet his constant womanizing and the romantic advances of a rich man (Adolph Menjou) threaten to tear them apart. The film is perhaps best known for a sultry dance sequence in which Dietrich, dressed as a man, seduces and kisses a female audience member in front of her beau. It earned Oscar nominations for it helmer and lead actress, though Cooper was overlooked.
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6. BALL OF FIRE (1941)
Image Credit: Rko/Samuel Goldwyn/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, based on a story by Wilder and Thomas Monroe. Starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oskar Homolka, Henry Travers.
Cooper wasn’t exactly known for his comedies, but “Ball of Fire” proves he could make us laugh with the best of them playing a straight man in the middle of chaos. Directed by Howard Hawks, this screwball farce casts him as a young professor working with a group of academics to create a dictionary of slang. He comes across a motormouthed nightclub singer (Barbara Stanwyck) on the run from her gangster boyfriend, and as he uses her for research, he finds himself falling for the street-wise dame. The film earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Stanwyck and Best Original Story for Billy Wilder and Thomas Monroe. That same year, Cooper won the Best Actor prize for Hawks’s war drama “Sergeant York.”
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5. FRIENDLY PERSUASION (1956)
Image Credit: Snap/REX/Shutterstock Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by Michael Wilson, based on the novel by Jessamyn West. Starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton, Phyllis Love, Peter Mark Richman, Marjorie Main, John Smith.
On the surface, William Wyler’s “Friendly Persuasion” is a warmhearted drama about a Quaker family struggling to remain pacifists during the Civil War. Yet lurking underneath is an allegory about the effects of the Hollywood Blacklist, of which screenwriter Michael Wilson was a victim (the film was originally released with no screenwriting credit; Wilson’s credit was restored in 1996). Cooper stars as the patriarch of the Birdwell family, who preaches love and nonresistance above all else. Anthony Perkins costars as his eldest son, who’s torn between his desire to protect his family and his hatred of violence. The film earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (Perkins). Cooper competed at the Golden Globes as Best Actor, yet was snubbed at the Academy.
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4. THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942)
Image Credit: Goldwyn/RKO/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Sam Wood. Screenplay by Jo Swerling and Herman J. Mankiewicz, story by Paul Gallico. Starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Walter Brennan, Dan Duryea.
Of the many heroes Cooper played in his lifetime, perhaps none is more beloved than Lou Gehrig, the famous New York Yankees first baseman who died at the age of 37 from a rare neurological disorder (ALS) that was later named for him. While it works perfectly fine as a sports drama, the film is at its heart a love story, with Teresa Wright costarring as Gehrig’s devoted wife. It would take a heart of stone to watch the final scene, in which the ailing ballplayer addresses his fans at Yankee Stadium and calls himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth,” without shedding a tear. “The Pride of the Yankees” earned 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and lead acting bids for Cooper and Wright, winning for its film editing.
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3. MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Frank Capra. Screenplay by Robert Riskin, based on the short story ‘Opera Hat’ by Clarence Budington Kelland. Starring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander, Douglass Dumbrille, H.B. Warner.
There was always something rather idealistic about Cooper’s screen persona, which made him a perfect match for that most idealistic of filmmakers, Frank Capra. “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” is “Capra-corn” at its very best, a winning comedy about a small town man (Cooper) who inherits a vast fortune. When he moves to New York, a cynical newspaper reporter (Jean Arthur) decides to get the scoop on this guy, only to be won over by his awe-shucks authenticity. She’s especially shocked when Deeds decides he wants to give all his money away to the needy. While the Adam Sandler remake relied on pratfalls and gross-out humor, the original succeeds through its heart and sentimentality. The film brought Capra his second Oscar for Best Director and earned Cooper his first nomination as Best Actor.
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2. SERGEANT YORK (1941)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Abem Finkel, Harry Chandlee, Howard Koch, and John Huston, based on the book by Tom Skeyhill and Alvin York. Starring Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias.
Cooper won the first of two Best Actor Oscars for Howard Hawks’s engrossing and exhilarating biographical drama. He plays Alvin York, a deeply religious Tennessee farmer who objects to violence of all kinds. When he’s drafted into the Army during WWI, he soon finds a morally justifiable reason to fight, becoming a skilled marksman and saving the lives of many. Hawks never leans into cliches, allowing York’s transformation from pacifist to decorated war hero to unfold naturally while presenting a nice contrast between scenes of battle and scenes of rural peace. Cooper is particularly good in a role that would serve him well over the course of his career: a good man capable of rising to the occasion when duty calls.
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1. HIGH NOON (1952)
Image Credit: Stanley Kramer/United Artists/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Screenplay by Carl Foreman, based on ‘The Tin Star’ by John W. Cunningham. Starring Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Grace Kelly, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney Jr., Henry Morgan.
The clock is ticking for Will Kane (Cooper), a retired marshal who must face down a posse of gunmen arriving on the noon train despite the protestations of his newlywed Quaker wife (Grace Kelly). Though he seeks the help of the townspeople, he soon realizes he’s on his own. Director Fred Zinnemann and screenwriter Carl Forman keep the tension tight, with the action apparently unfolding in real time (as evidenced by the many clocks referenced throughout). Made at the height of McCarthyism (Forman was blacklisted during production), this is a tough little western about doing the right thing no matter how daunting it might be. Cooper won his second Oscar as Best Actor for his performance, which perfectly encapsulates the kind of characters he became famous for playing: ordinary men who show courage in extraordinary circumstances.
