Gladys Cooper British actress Date of Birth: 18.12.1888 Country: Great Britain

1. Early Life and Career
2. Hollywood Stardom
3. Television and Later Years
4. Personal Life

Early Life and Career

Born on December 18, 1888 in London, Gladys Cooper was the daughter of Charles William Frederick Cooper and Mabel Barnett. She made her stage debut in 1905 in the touring musical "The Belles of Mayfair." Throughout the following years, she actively participated in various English theater productions, including her film debut in "The Eleventh Commandment" in 1917.

Hollywood Stardom

In the early 1940s, Cooper began her Hollywood career, often playing stately aristocrats. She portrayed such characters in films like "Rebecca" (1940) and "Lady Hamilton" (1941). Cooper earned three Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in "Now, Voyager" (1942), "The Song of Bernadette" (1943), and "My Fair Lady" (1964).

Television and Later Years

From 1964 to 1965, Cooper starred as Margaret St. Clair in the television series "The Rogues," alongside David Niven and Charles Boyer. She also made notable appearances in television shows such as "Playhouse 90," "The Twilight Zone," and "Ben Casey." In 1968, at nearly 80 years old, Cooper was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Personal Life

Cooper was married three times. Her first husband, Captain Herbert Buckmaster (married in 1908), was the father of her two children, John and Joan (1910-2005). Joan married acclaimed British actor Robert Morley in 1939. From 1927 to 1936, Cooper was married to Baronet Sir Neville Pearson, with whom she had a daughter. In 1937, she married English actor Philip Merivale. Cooper lived in Santa Monica, California as a permanent alien resident with her third husband until his death from a heart attack in 1946. As an elderly woman, Cooper returned to the United Kingdom, where she passed away from pneumonia on November 17, 1971 in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.