Born in and spent early childhood living in Montana

Moved to England with his mother and older brother

Returned to the USA

During the summers while in college, worked as a guide in Yellowstone National Park

Submitted many delightful cartoons and caricatures to the Helena (Montana) INDEPENDENT

Joined his parents in Los Angeles, hoping to interest local newspapers in his artistic abilities

Worked as stunt rider and extra in Westerns before making acting debut

Screen acting debut in "The Thundering Herd"

First came to attention as second lead in "The Winning of Barbara Worth"

Had walk-on as a reporter in "It", starring Clara Bow; first of four films in which both Bow and Cooper acted

Had first starring role in the silent "Arizona Bound" (locations shot in Bryce Canyon, Utah); did his own stunt work

Played a key role in William Wellman's "Wings", having one scene ("When your time comes, you're going to get it") before dying; audiences remembered him, and fan mail poured in

Reteamed with Wellman for second "flyboy" movie, "Legion of the Condemned"; first film with Fay Wray

First feature film with speaking part, "The Shopworn Angel"

Portrayed sardonic, independent soldier, too taciturn to spell out his love for Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg's "Morocco"

Starred opposite Claudette Colbert in "His Woman"

Essayed his first Hemingway character (Frederick Henry) opposite Helen Hayes in Frank Borzage's "A Farewell to Arms"

Played the White Knight in "Alice in Wonderland"

Fifth and last performance opposite Fay Wray in "One Sunday Afternoon"

Made stage debut at NYC's Paramount Theatre in skit directed by Ernst Lubitsch

First of seven features with director Henry Hathaway, "Now and Forever", co-starring Shirley Temple and Carole Lombard; association with Hathaway actually went back to several films directed by Victor Fleming on which Hathaway assisted

Reunited with Dietrich and Borzage for "Desire"

Received first of five Academy Award nominations as Best Actor for "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", directed by Frank Capra and co-starring Jean Arthur

Starred opposite Arthur in "The Plainsman", the first of four films with director Cecil B. DeMille

Reteamed with Colbert for "Bluebeard's Eighth Wife"

US Treasury Department reported that Cooper was the nation's top wage earner at $482,819

Turned down the leading role in Alfred Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent" (Joel McCrea undertook the part)

Starred in William Wyler's "The Westerner", one of seven Cooper films in which Walter Brennan played a supporting role

Reunited with Capra for "Meet John Doe", starring opposite Barbara Stanwyck

Earned first Best Actor Oscar for Howard Hawks' "Sergeant York", the biopic of the WWI hero

Portrayed baseball great Lou Gehrig in "The Pride of the Yankees"; nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor

Second time as Hemingway hero (Robert Jordan) in Sam Wood's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", opposite Ingrid Bergman; received fourth Best Actor Oscar nomination

Formed production company Cinema Artists for making of "Along Came Jones"; also producer

Romanced Bergman a second time in Wood's "Saratoga Trunk"

Offered credible turn as a nuclear scientist caught up in espionage in Fritz Lang's "Cloak and Dagger"

Played opposite Paulette Goddard in "Unconquered", the last of his over 50 films for Paramount; also marked final collaboration with DeMille

Testified as a "friendly witness" before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), investing Communism in Hollywood

His undaunted naturalism contributed strongly to the success of King Vidor's "The Fountainhead", co-starring Patricia Neal; Ayn Rand scripted from her 1943 best-selling novel

Reteamed with Neal for "Bright Leaf"; only film with Lauren Bacall

Collected second Best Actor Oscar for his dignified, lone sheriff in "High Noon", a suspense Western revolving around the sheriff's crisis of conscience; written by Carl Foreman, it also operated as an allegory for the writer's difficulties with HUAC (he was an uncooperative witness) that led to his blacklisting; Cooper took a cut in salary for a percentage of the profits, marking the beginning of big star participation in movie-making; produced by Stanley Kramer

Reteamed with Stanwyck for offbeat "Blowing Wild"

Last of seven films directed by Henry Hathaway, "Garden of Evil", co-starring Susan Hayward and Richard Widmark

Suffered for his foresight as the title character of Otto Preminger's "The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell"

Made TV debut as guest on "The Steve Allen Show"

Played a Quaker drawn reluctantly into Civil War in Wyler's "Friendly Persuasion"

"Told" his memoirs to SATURDAY EVENING POST writer George Scullins, and they appeared in eight installments, entitled "Well, It Was This Way"

Romanced younger woman Audrey Hepburn in sparkling comedy "Love in the Afternoon", director Billy Wilder's first film co-written with I.A.L. Diamond

Formed Baroda Productions; first film "The Hanging Tree" (1959)

Converted to Roman Catholicism, the religion of his wife and daughter

Underwent treatment for an ulcer and had minor facial surgery

Acted in four films, including "The Wreck of the Mary Deare", directed by Michael Anderson

Had two major abdominal operations for stomach cancer

Narrated and appeared in the excellent documentary "The Real West", produced as part of NBC-TV's "Project 20" series; aired on March 26

Presented with honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement on April 17; accepted by longtime friend Jimmy Stewart because Cooper was too ill to attend

Last film, "The Naked Edge" (for Baroda), helmed by Michael Anderson; released posthumously

A nationwide televison popularity poll conducted by VARIETY still included Cooper and Clark Gable, though both had departed the scene nearly a decade before