Customer Reviews

Gary Cooper Off Camera: A Daughter Remembers

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, let me start with what beautiful tribute this book is to her father. Maria Cooper's book is beautiful, but too many of the pictures look posed (Hollywood style). And the pictures that are actually not posed say more in body language about a family that clearly protects the Cooper family image. These people are beautiful, but they are too perfect: clothes, hair, makeup, you know it's all there. One picture I found fascinating, is of the three of them on a beach facing the ocean. Maria and her mom on the left, and further away is Gary Cooper and his body language is quite clear. Hmmm, that definitely was a candid shot. And if anyone is really looking, the beautiful Maria seems to be the glue that kept that family together. There is a gorgeous shot of the three of them in their ski clothes in an old house. Rocky with little makeup is quite beautiful, but Maria and her Dad are the ones in sync in this picture. I don't know, but these pictures show a definite strain in the family relationship far more than I ever realized. With friends, the pictures are happier. I am a fan of Gary Cooper's and always will be. And the fact, that he adored his beloved daughter and she adored him is clearly seen in this book. Maria Cooper shows us a Gary Cooper I have already seen in other pictures other people have taken of him. There really isn't a lot of hugging, and touching, and birthday parties, water fights, and family occasions, events, like most people and other stars have of their lives while children are growing up. I would love to have seen a picture of Mr. Cooper in his overalls in his garden (he was an avid gardener), teaching Maria to do things, showing her how to ride a horse, acting goofy.. Maria Cooper is quite lovely, and this book is wonderful to look at, but I don't really feel anything but a little sadness that she didn't show us more candid and "real" photographs about of her Dad and the family. There was a great deal more to this man than meets the eye. I didn't get too much of a glimpse into that.

Maria Cooper Janis's photographic valentine to her remarkable father, enduring screen icon Gary Cooper, does more than reveal the private family man behind the celebrity image. For it also reveals what a remarkable woman is his daughter, Maria Cooper Janis. Cooper and wife Rocky surely did something right as parents to have produced this warm and intelligent woman. She has put together a delightful photographic memoir. And this is being written by someone who usually steers miles from memoirs by the offspring of celebrities.

I'm 50 years old and only came to appreciating what a remarkable actor Gary Cooper was many years after his death. Maria Cooper Janis, Cooper's daughter, has compiled a fabulous photographic treasure for a Cooper fan such as myself. These photos, revealing a private side to the man which he never permitted while alive, are quite simply wonderful. I know three people whom I will be giving this as a Christmas gift.

Maria Cooper Janis has put together a wonderful photographic memoir of her father, the celebrated actor Gary Cooper. Some of these photographs are extraordinary. The life this man led and the people whom he knew! They're all here, from fellow actors like Jimmy Stewart to writer Ernest Hemingway to Picasso to Queen Elizabeth to a very youthful John F. Kennedy, while still in the Navy. I'll treasure this, not simply for the photos. Ms. Janis has also written a series of essays to accompany the various chapters, essays which are finally nothing less then a wonderful extended love letter to her father. A beautiful book.

In a day and age when the children of "the stars" write the most deplorable books about their parents, this book is a wonderfully tender tribute to a true hero. Absolutely refreshing.

This is a great book for initial insight into Gary Cooper by his daughter. It is very obvious she adored her father. The book is very informative about the personal life of "Coope" with many wonderful pictures, however, the book is more images than writing. The details are only touched on. If you are a Gary Cooper & you want many unseen pictures, this is the book for you...

Maria Cooper Janis's memoir is a truly loving tribute to her famous father, the actor Gary Cooper. Filled with photos and wonderful stories of growing up with a celebrity father during Hollywood's so-called Golden Age, Ms. Janis's picture of her father is an interesting antidote to more recent biographies of Gary Cooper. These bios accent Mr. Cooper's lifelong womanizing, before and during his marriage. This book adds a welcome balance to this picture. Cooper was clearly a more complex man than recent bios would indicate. And he was just as clearly a loving, deeply caring father. A very real family man! Thanks, Ms. Janis, for this beautiful book.

The cover photograph, of Gary Cooper spoon-feeding ice-cream to his daughter on the streets of "Hadleyville," is a poignant clue to what follows. Maria Cooper was a girl who lived a very rarified life, and she lets us take a delicious peek at it.

I'm only 24, but the first video I ever purchased for myself was a Gary Cooper film, PRIDE OF THE YANKEES. I was 12. I still have the video. I'm not that familiar with a lot of Cooper's films, but he is always cool how he takes bad stuff from villains for most of the film and then in the last 10 minutes, he really gets back. Now that I've seen this book and all the photos and the essays from his daughter, I'll start renting as many Cooper films as I can. His daughter really loved him, you can tell. That is amazing in itself, since I have grown up reading and hearing from the children of celebrities how awful their parents were.

This warm and loving tribute from Maria Cooper Janis to her father, screen legend Gary Cooper, is a delicious book. Filled with fabulous photographs of "Coop" off camera, out of the public eye, Maria Janis reveals the man behind the legend. For all Cooper's well-documented affairs with women throughout his life, this book reveals that he was nonetheless a devoted and caring family man. Some of the photos of Cooper, wife Rocky and daughter Maria are quite moving. As is the written memoir from Maria herself. It is indeed refreshing to see a daughter extolling her celebrity parent rather thna trashing.