Gary Cooper - Articles - Zimbio

Gary Cooper, Peter Fonda, Montana, and Me

Tue, 20 Feb 2008 17:42:27 GMT

posted by pennyronning

The Gary Cooper Spirit of Montana Award
by Penny Ronning, creator of award

Dreams are like a river. They start with a drop of inspiration, travel a long and winding path, and end up somewhere they could never have imagined their journey would take them. Dreamers are like the current that makes the river flow. They are the gravity pulling the river to a final destination, but every dreamer knows unseen forces can come into play to cause that river to shift, turn, overflow, or even dry up. Montanans know all about rivers. For the agriculture industry, rivers are a needed water supply for crops, animals, and the long-term health of the industry and our country.

Montanans also know all about dreams. Dreamers settled our state. They survived the harsh winters and traveled great lengths to reach their closest neighbors. Montanans are not loners; we just simply love our rivers, our neighbors, and our dreams.

I’m not sure, but I don’t think Frank Gary Cooper ever believed as a child growing up in Helena, Montana that one day he would become a Hollywood legend. I believe he had a dream in his heart and that dream took him places he could never have imagined he would be. I will ask Peter Fonda, but as a child growing up in Hollywood I can’t imagine that he ever believed he would one day settle full time in the mountains of Montana. I believe he had a dream in his heart that took him places he could never have imagined he would be.

The Gary Cooper Spirit of Montana Award is all about our dreams and those people that encourage the dreamers. For Montanans, Gary Cooper is the reflection of dreams manifested. He is the symbol of dreams achieved through hard work, compassion, determination, integrity, and a love for his craft. Gary Cooper had passion, but more importantly, he had compassion for his fellow man. When I created the Gary Cooper Spirit of Montana Award I was proud to honor a man of integrity and kindness, a man who loved the arts, and a man who loved the rivers and the dreamers of his home state, Montana.

I was also proud Jeff Bridges presented this one-time-only award to Mr. Peter Fonda. Like Gary Cooper, Peter is a man of compassion and kindness. He is a man in love with his craft and in love with the process from which it flows. He understands the drops of inspiration, the twists and turns dreams can take, and he understands the importance of encouraging young dreamers.

It is true: in Montana legends are earned. Peter has earned the respect of his peers and his fellow Montanans. Jeff Bridges so eloquently related Peter’s ability to visualize and fight for his vision for Easy Rider the night he presented the award. The significance of Easy Rider to the arts is difficult to capture with words. It must be seen and it can be. It can be seen in the young men and women Peter encourages through the classes he teaches at UCAL – San Diego. It can be seen in the young men and women he encourages at Montana State University-Bozeman. It can be seen in the young actors he directs on stage or in film. It can be seen in a young man named Titus Mischke. Ty entered Montana State University’s Media and Theatre Arts program specifically because of Easy Rider and Peter Fonda. Today, he is successfully working in the film and television industry in Los Angeles. Ty continues to credit Peter Fonda and Easy Rider as the encouragement of his dreams.

Dreams are like a river. They start with a drop of inspiration, travel a long and winding path, and end up somewhere they could never have imagined their journey would take them. Many dreamers came together to honor these two great, great men. When Peter looked around the room that evening of September 12, 2004, it was my desire that he saw and felt the realization of all of his dreams. Because it doesn’t matter if you are a young cowboy from Helena, Montana or the son of a Hollywood legend, drops of inspiration come to each one of us and like rivers, they are a life force.

Dreams are Like a River

Tue, 12 Dec 2007 01:36:00 GMT

posted by pennyronning

The Gary Cooper Spirit of Montana Award

by Penny Ronning, creator of award

The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Sun, 21 Jul 2008 05:42:00 GMT

posted by pppatty

This rather romaticized biopic of baseball legend Lou Gehrig has long been considered a template for sports movies and one of the best about baseball in general. Even if one is uninterested in the American sport of the 1930s, one can still enjoy this film for Gary Cooper's give-it-all performance in the lead.

The magic of cinema (or the appeal of Cooper's persona) allows the viewer to overlook the fact that the actor was 41 when the movie was made and is therefore a wee bit too old to play Gehrig as a Columbia University student of 20 or so. One forgives the moviemakers this conceit by the sincerity and simple charm of his acting. The backstory is that he is the child of poor immigrants who has always loved the sport but agrees to go to university to fulfil his mother's dream of his becoming an engineer like dear old Uncle Otto. He leaves to play ball and earn the necessary money for a good hospital when she becomes ill and for sometime is in cahoots with his dad to keep this deceit from her. How she finally comes 'round to his choice is part of the film's would-be cuteness.

We then watch his rise through over 2100 consecutive games before being struck with the neurolgical disease which now bears his name. In the meantime we meet his wife-to-be endearingly played by the late Teresa Wright, his sportswriter pal Walter Brennan, another originally skeptical writer played by Dan Duryea, plus the real Babe Ruth and other well-known players of the period. The film was nominated for 11 Oscars, but only received one for editing. From sixty-odd years' perspective, one can see that the movie is somewhat fatally padded out to reach its running length of well over two hours including a totally unnecessary night club scene featuring a pair of ballroom dancers which seems to go on forever. However, all this fades into a small quibble when one is moved by the grace of Cooper's final speech before leaving the ballfield forever; despite his iminent death, he deems himself the luckiest man in the world and one feels lucky as well to have known him.

Tags: The Pride of the Yankees, Gary Cooper, baseball movies

Welcome to our blog about Gary Cooper

Thu, 6 Apr 2007 04:34:33 GMT

posted by The_Zimbio_Team
This is our group blog, which is unique because any Zimbio member can post an entry to it. Some members blog about recent news and trends related to the portal topic, others recount relevant personal stories. You can also comment on and rate existing blog entries, to voice your opinion and to help the community identify which members and entries on the portal are must-reads. Got an interesting idea or story to share with other members of this portal? Well, then put on your journalist's cap and add your own blog entry!

Gary Cooper

Sun, 16 Jul 2007 17:31:55 GMT

posted by gunsock
Gary Cooper, (Coop), was one of Hollywood's most popular leading men during a career which spanned 5 decades. He received five Oscar nominations for Best Actor, winning twice. He also received an Honorary Award from the Academy in 1961. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Cooper among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at No. 11.