Dame Gladys Cooper

Dame Gladys Cooper (born Dec. 18, 1888, Lewisham, London, Eng.—died Nov. 17, 1971, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire) was a popular British actress-manager who started her 66-year theatrical career as a Gaiety Girl and ended it as a widely respected mistress of her craft.

She accepted her first role in a touring production of Bluebell in Fairyland at the age of 16 (1905). After her London debut in The Belle of Mayfair (1906), Cooper worked for George Edwardes, the impresario of the Gaiety Theatre, as a chorus girl and understudy.

Her pursuit of nonmusical roles led to her successful appearance as Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest (1911). After a tour entertaining the troops in France (1914), she was invited to join Frank Curzon as joint manager of London’s Playhouse Theatre (1917). Her appearance as Paula in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1922) made her a star, and her well-received portrayal of Leslie in the premiere of Somerset Maugham’s The Letter (1927) marked the beginning of her six-year tenure as sole lessee of the Playhouse.

Cooper made her American debut in The Shining Hour (1934). Her career as a film actress reached importance after her appearance in an American film, Kitty Foyle (1940). She received three Academy Award nominations as best supporting actress (1942, 1943, 1964). Of her other films, Now Voyager (1942), The Song of Bernadette (1943), Green Dolphin Street (1947), Separate Tables (1958), and The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) are of the greatest interest.

Her stage career was revived after the war with two particular successes: her portrayal of Felicity in the long-running London production of Relative Values, written and directed by Noël Coward (1951), and her characterization of Mrs. St. Maugham in the New York City world premiere of Enid Bagnold’s The Chalk Garden (1955).

Cooper wrote two volumes of memoirs, Gladys Cooper (1931) and Without Veils (1953). In 1967 she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and in 1968 she celebrated her 80th birthday while appearing in Ira Wallach’s Out of the Question.