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Dame Gladys Cooper

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Actress

The Resume

    (December 18, 1888-November 17, 1971)
    Born in London, United Kingdom
    Acted in 'Kitty Foyle,' 'Rebecca,' 'Now Voyager,' 'Song of Bernadette,' 'Love Letters,' 'Valley of Decision,' 'The Bishop's Wife,' 'Madame Bovary,' 'The Secret Garden,' 'Separate Tables,' and 'My Fair Lady'
    Acted in stage versions of 'Our Miss Gibbs,' 'The Dollar Princess,' 'Home and Beauty,' 'Peter Pan,' 'Romeo and Juliet,' 'The Importance of Being Earnest,' 'The Letter,' and 'A Passage to India'

Why she might be annoying:

    She was one of the most beautiful women to grace the West End, but she began her film career well into middle age, meaning that most people remember her in unglamorous maternal roles.
    She began her career as a six-year old model (back when modeling was equated with prostitution).
    She was married three times and divorced twice.
    Aldous Huxleycriticized her 1919 performance in Somerset Maugham's 'Home and Beauty' as 'too impassive, too statuesque, playing all the time as if she were Galatea, newly unpetrified and still unused to the ways of the living world.'
    Later in her career, she became typecast as the mother of Prof. Henry Higgins in 'Pygmalion'/'My Fair Lady.'
    She was nominated twice for a Tony, but never won.
    Despite over sixty years' work on the West End, Broadway, and Film, she is almost exclusively remembered as Bette Davis' domineering mother in 'Now Voyager.'
    She acted in the schmaltzy Cary Grant-Christmas-vehicle, 'The Bishop's Wife,' which was Grant's least favorite film.

Why she might not be annoying:

    After over forty years of stage work, she made an almost seamless transition to film, working steadily for the next twenty years.
    She received Oscar Nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her work in 'Now Voyager,' 'Song of Bernadette,' and 'My Fair Lady.'
    She had to share a nomination with Anne Revere for 'Song of Bernadette,' which may have cost her the 1943 Oscar as a result.
    She was a Pin-up girl for British troops during WWI (before the term was even invented).
    She acted in Alfred Hitchcock 's American debut, 'Rebecca.'
    She acted in several early Jennifer Jones films.
    Bette Davis, during a 1971 appearance on 'The Dick Cavett Show,' said of her; 'Without a doubt the most beautiful person as well as actress. And a professional... never was she late one minute, never didn't she know every line' (Cooper had died the night before the interview).
    She received a 1964 Primetime Emmy Nomination for her work on 'The Rogues.'
    She attained resonance with 'Twilight Zone' fanatics for her portrayal of an old recluse terrified of death in the episode, 'Nothing in the Dark.'
    Her appearance in the same 'Twilight Zone' episode also marked one of the first appearances of Robert Redford on television.
    She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen for her services to drama (1967).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 18 Votes: 5.56% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 62 Votes: 53.23% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 73 Votes: 60.27% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 15 Votes: 13.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 57.89% Annoying