{"id":500450,"date":"2026-03-28T17:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/500450\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T17:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:30:13","slug":"i-should-have-done-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/500450\/","title":{"rendered":"I should have done that"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gary<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Whitey Schafer \/ Public Domain)<\/p>\n

Sat 28 March 2026 5:30, UK <\/p>\n

While he isn\u2019t really spoken about today anywhere near as often as the silver screen\u2019s other consensus picks for the greatest of all time, Gary Cooper remains in with a strong shout at being named as your favourite actor\u2019s favourite actor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was one of the biggest stars of \u2018Golden Age\u2019 Hollywood, and he also happened to be one of its most talented thespians. Still, whenever the conversation turns to the best of the best, his name usually won\u2019t come up anywhere near as often as Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Katharine Hepburn, James Cagney, or the rest.<\/p>\n

And yet, his influence was massive. If it weren\u2019t for Cagney, then Cooper would comfortably be the biggest inspiration<\/a> for Clint Eastwood\u2019s on-camera career, Al Pacino summarised him as a \u201cphenomenon,\u201d and even John Wayne, who abhorred High Noon with every fibre of his being, wasn\u2019t stupid enough to even suggest for a moment that \u2018Coop\u2019 wasn\u2019t better at his job than most of his peers.<\/p>\n

The two-time Academy Award winner and six-time nominee shone in films like Mr Deeds Goes to Town, Sergeant York, Friendly Persuasion, Morocco, and many more, and he spent more than 20 consecutive years as one of the most bankable leading men in the business, meaning audiences were as enthralled by his performances as his contemporaries were.<\/p>\n

As much as Wayne would have loved to be remembered as the embodiment of onscreen Americana, Charlton Heston, who admittedly had a lower opinion of \u2018The Duke\u2019<\/a>, would disagree, since he described Cooper as \u201cthe kind of man Americans would like to be, probably more than any actor that\u2019s ever lived.\u201d<\/p>\n

He left behind an impressive body of work, but even the greats can be left to rue the one that got away. In Cooper\u2019s case, it would have been a pinch-me moment for the picture\u2019s director, since Alfred Hitchcock had repeatedly named him as the one star he desired to work with<\/a> above all others.<\/p>\n

When the perfect opportunity arose, the \u2018Master of Suspense\u2019 offered \u2018Coop\u2019 the leading role in 1940\u2019s Foreign Correspondent, which he promptly turned down. With the benefit of hindsight, he wished he\u2019d accepted the part of American reporter John Jones, or at least that\u2019s how Hitchcock told the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfterward, Cooper said, \u2018Well, I should have done that, shouldn\u2019t I?’\u201d the filmmaker recalled. \u201cOf course, I don\u2019t think it was Cooper himself; I think the people around him advised him against it.\u201d That was the only time they entered each other\u2019s orbit, and it was a rejection both of them would come to regret.<\/p>\n

For Hitchcock, he missed out on the chance to collaborate with the name at the very top of his wish-list<\/a>, and for Cooper, he could only watch from afar with jealous eyes as Joel McCrea was cast in Foreign Correspondent, a movie he desperately wished he\u2019d headlined instead.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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