GARY COOPER - DOCUMENT SIGNED 01/11/1951 CO-SIGNED BY: LELAND HAYWARD, PAUL V. SHIELDS - HFSID 292784

GARY COOPER
Document modifying the terms of his option to produce a film version of the novel The Girl on the Via Flaminia, also signed by producer Leland Hayward and by Cooper's stepfather, Paul V. Shields. The film was never made, but Cooper broke even by selling the rights back to Hayward's company.
Document signed: "Gary Cooper", "Paul V. Shields", "Leland Hayward", 2 pages, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1951 January 11. Agreement modifying the terms of a previous contract dated November 30, 1949, whereby Cooper purchased from Leland Hayward and Anatole Litvak Productions the exclusive right to produce a film version of the novel The Girl on the Via Flaminia. These amendments to the original contract postpone to 1953 the deadline for commencing production, and reaffirm the use of Alfred Hayes, author of the novel, to write the screenplay. The acting career of GARY COOPER (1901-1961), which began with bit parts in 1925, was firmly established with his role in The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926). He steadily rose to superstar status with his screen persona of a strong, silent man of action and few words. Nominated for Academy Awards five times, Cooper won the 1942 Academy Award for Best Actor for the title role in Sergeant York, and he won the Best Actor Oscar in 1953 for the role of Marshal Will Kane in High Noon. He was also nominated for his title role in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, as Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees and for For Whom the Bell Tolls. Cooper was awarded a Special Academy Award in 1961 "For his many memorable screen performances and the international recognition he, as an individual, has gained for the motion picture industry." Cooper was too ill to accept the Oscar in person and his close friend, a tearful Jimmy Stewart, accepted it in his name. A month later, Cooper died of cancer at the age of 60. Cooper had organized his own production company, and planned to star in The Girl on the Via Flaminia himself, along with Montgomery Clift. Cooper was unable to arrange financing for the project, but broke even on his investment by selling the rights back to Hayward and Litvak. The film was never made. The Broadway productions of LELAND HAYWARD (1902-1971) included the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals South Pacific (1949) and The Sound of Music (1959). Among his film productions were The Old Man and the Sea (1958) and Gypsy (1959). He produced both the stage and film versions of Mr. Roberts. His success as a Hollywood agent was no less. His clients included Fred Astaire, Jimmy Stewart, Ernest Hemingway, Boris Karloff, Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda, William Wyler, Greta Garbo and Katherine Hepburn! Two of his five marriages (to Margaret Sullivan, ex-wife of Henry Fonda; and Slim Hawks, ex-wife of Howard Hawks) were tabloid stuff. His last marriage (1960-1971) was to socialite Pamela Churchill (later Harriman). PAUL V. SHIELDS, a wealthy New Yorker broker and investor (later an owner of Chris Craft) was also Cooper's stepfather. Filing holes and staple holes at top edge. Lightly creased. Fine condition.

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