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Cooper's Women
Gary Cooper embodied the American hero: tall in the saddle, incredibly sexy, strong, selfless, and soft-spoken. Women found him irresistible. His melting good looks and bedroom prowess are legendary. During the Golden Age of Hollywood he lived the life of a film Adonis, bedding the screen's most stunning starlets: Carole Lombard, Tallulah Bankhead, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Merle Oberon, Clara Bow, Lupe Velez, and, of course, Patricia Neal.
'Coop' knew instinctively what women wanted -- emotionally and physically. Joan Crawford recalled that 'Gary made every woman feel as if she were the only woman in the world.' It was true. Tallulah Bankhead confided that she left the stage for a film career in Hollywood to 'get laid by Gary Cooper.' Reminded of her comment years later, she coolly remarked: 'Mission accomplished.'
From his tempestuous flings with the voluptuous and violent Lupe Velez to his involvement with Anderson Lawler, the fair-haired socialite, actor and acknowledged homosexual, Gary's life was the stuff of headlines. Screen siren Clara Bow, the famous 'It Girl,' declared, 'He was great in bed. The best.' It was Clara who gave him the nickname 'Studs.' But Gary ignored the gossip. As always, he took life and love in stride.
Brimming with inside stories, sizzling with gossip, and illustrated with rare photos, Cooper's women is the steamy bedroom biography of the life and many loves of one of Hollywood's biggest stars. It's a seductive page-turner -- from start to finish.
'Coop' knew instinctively what women wanted -- emotionally and physically. Joan Crawford recalled that 'Gary made every woman feel as if she were the only woman in the world.' It was true. Tallulah Bankhead confided that she left the stage for a film career in Hollywood to 'get laid by Gary Cooper.' Reminded of her comment years later, she coolly remarked: 'Mission accomplished.'
From his tempestuous flings with the voluptuous and violent Lupe Velez to his involvement with Anderson Lawler, the fair-haired socialite, actor and acknowledged homosexual, Gary's life was the stuff of headlines. Screen siren Clara Bow, the famous 'It Girl,' declared, 'He was great in bed. The best.' It was Clara who gave him the nickname 'Studs.' But Gary ignored the gossip. As always, he took life and love in stride.
Brimming with inside stories, sizzling with gossip, and illustrated with rare photos, Cooper's women is the steamy bedroom biography of the life and many loves of one of Hollywood's biggest stars. It's a seductive page-turner -- from start to finish.
- GenresNonfictionBiographyFilm
290 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 22, 2022
This book does not purport to be a biography but it certainly gives enough dish to get a sense of the real Gary Cooper. I had no idea he was such a womanizer, but I really don’t care as this was Hollywood in its heyday and everybody was doing everybody. So no harm, no foul.
Cooper was a taciturn man by nature who turned this into a style of acting that made whatever role he played seem real, because most of the time he was just being himself. No ‘method’ to this actor’s acting.
He may have had many faults – the man was human as well as an actor – so no surprise, but he left a multitude of excellent portrayals on film that have endured well into the 21st century.
Funnily, my favourite Cooper movies are “Love in the Afternoon” and “Ten North Fredrick” both of which made when the actor was nearing 60-yrs-old and both comes as close to his real life as a movie could be.
Gary Cooper & Ernest Hemmingway could not have been more different but they were BFF’s, so I highly recommend the documentary DVD “Cooper & Hemmingway: The True Gen” – you won’t be disappointed.
Cooper was a taciturn man by nature who turned this into a style of acting that made whatever role he played seem real, because most of the time he was just being himself. No ‘method’ to this actor’s acting.
He may have had many faults – the man was human as well as an actor – so no surprise, but he left a multitude of excellent portrayals on film that have endured well into the 21st century.
Funnily, my favourite Cooper movies are “Love in the Afternoon” and “Ten North Fredrick” both of which made when the actor was nearing 60-yrs-old and both comes as close to his real life as a movie could be.
Gary Cooper & Ernest Hemmingway could not have been more different but they were BFF’s, so I highly recommend the documentary DVD “Cooper & Hemmingway: The True Gen” – you won’t be disappointed.
March 17, 2011
This book is such a trashy, gossip-filled thing! I'm embarrassed to have read it, but at the same time I found it fascinating. It's not really a biography, and it doesn't go into lots of detail about Gary Cooper's films. Instead it focuses on Cooper's many romantic conquests and his legendary status as a ladies' man. It's written in an almost fanfiction-ish way, with long stretches of imagined dialog between, say, Carole Lombard and Coop, or Coop and Grace Kelly. It's crazy. Not rigorously footnoted, trustworthy non-fiction, that's for sure.
Still, it does give one a peek into the lusty goings-on of early Hollywood, and I must admit to a guilty enjoyment. Gary Cooper in his prime was one of the sexiest men around, so it's hard not to have at least a little bit of prurient interest in his affairs. One thing you can say about him -- he was a sweet, nice guy, in spite of the philandering. None of the women he was involved with really had a bad word to say about him, even those who were most hurt by him, like his wife Rocky and his most serious extramarital affair, Patricia Neal. In fact most of the women mentioned in the book still seemed a little bit (or maybe a lot) in love with him even years later.
Still, it does give one a peek into the lusty goings-on of early Hollywood, and I must admit to a guilty enjoyment. Gary Cooper in his prime was one of the sexiest men around, so it's hard not to have at least a little bit of prurient interest in his affairs. One thing you can say about him -- he was a sweet, nice guy, in spite of the philandering. None of the women he was involved with really had a bad word to say about him, even those who were most hurt by him, like his wife Rocky and his most serious extramarital affair, Patricia Neal. In fact most of the women mentioned in the book still seemed a little bit (or maybe a lot) in love with him even years later.
November 11, 2008
wherein i learned the sad story of lupe velez.
April 19, 2024
Gary Cooper is my favorite movie actor from the Golden Age of Movies. I have read several books about him over the decades, and recently learned of this 1988 book by Ms. Wayne. I enjoyed reading it, and appreciate the significant amount of research and face-to-face interviews she did in compiling the stories here. I was not always sure how much she was assuming in her frequent extended quotes of conversations in the book - but I enjoyed her writing in any case.
I would recommend this book to other Cooper fans - but first I'd make sure to read Patricia Neal's excellent, heart-felt memoir, "As I Am", written right around the same time as Ms. Wayne's book.
I would recommend this book to other Cooper fans - but first I'd make sure to read Patricia Neal's excellent, heart-felt memoir, "As I Am", written right around the same time as Ms. Wayne's book.
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July 5, 2025For what it is; a shlocky, gossipy celebrity memoir; its fully satisfactory
August 7, 2019
RATING: 3 STARS
(Review Not on Blog)
At about age 15 or 16 I fell in love with classic Hollywood. I loved the movies - plots, costumes, sets and actors. I started to become more fascinated with the different actors and learning more about them. I started to go to the library and started picking up various biographies/memoirs. Jane Ellen Wayne writes a few biographies with the focus being on the love lives (affairs, marriages, etc). I found them entertaining, and led me to more credible biographies.
**This is a series review**
(Review Not on Blog)
At about age 15 or 16 I fell in love with classic Hollywood. I loved the movies - plots, costumes, sets and actors. I started to become more fascinated with the different actors and learning more about them. I started to go to the library and started picking up various biographies/memoirs. Jane Ellen Wayne writes a few biographies with the focus being on the love lives (affairs, marriages, etc). I found them entertaining, and led me to more credible biographies.
**This is a series review**
March 31, 2015
I enjoyed the book...like I do all jane Ellen Wayne books. Alas this time the magic wore off as I read way to many conversations that no one could know word for word what was said . I don't even think coop remembered them verbatim like in the book :/
May 21, 2020
Read this from the library and I really enjoyed it. I have always liked Gary Cooper films and I found this an engrossing read about him the man, not just the movie star. As it states in the title it is about his personal life and his sexual relationships with women.
April 29, 2009
Just the title of this is one of the trashiest things ever. And yes, the same can be said for the book itself!
June 11, 2009
Interesting book about Gary Cooper and his many affairs, and all about old Hollywood, which I found fasinating.
January 15, 2011
I liked the gossip about old Hollywood. He was quite the womanizer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews