Ben Cooper
Encyclopedia
Ben Cooper is a retired American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot
award in 2005 for his work in westerns
.
, then on NBC
, in the two episodes"The Commandant's Clock" and "Changing Dream." Thereafter, he appeared in numerous films: Thunderbirds (1952) as Calvin Jones, Women They Almost Lynched (1953) as Jesse James Dingus, A Perilous Journey (1953) as Sam, Flight Nurse (1953) as Private First Class Marvin Judd, Sea of Lost Ships (1954) as a crewman, Johnny Guitar
(1954) as Turkey Ralston, The Outcast (1954) as The Kid, The Rose Tattoo as Seaman Jack Hunter, Duel at Apache Wells (1957) as Johnny Shattuck (or the Durango Kid), and Outlaw's Son as Jeff Blaine. In 1959, he guest starred on CBS's The Millionaire fantasy drama
as William Williams in the episode "Millionaire Alicia Osante."
as Matthew Land in the episode "Home Town," on Wichita Town
as Tom Warren in the episode "Passage to the Enemy," and on Ward Bond
's Wagon Train
as the principal guest star of two episodes, "The Steve Campden Story" and "The Tom Tuckett Story." In 1960, he starred on Don Durant
's CBS series Johnny Ringo
, a spinoff of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
, on which Cooper appeared five times between 1956 and 1960. The Zane Grey episodes were "Vengeance Canyon" (1956) as Clint Harding, "The Sunrise Gun" (1959) as Sam Duskin, Jr., and three 1960 segments, "Miss Jenny" with Vera Miles
in the title role and Cooper as Darryl Thompson, "The Sunrise Gun," again as Sam Duskin, Jr., and "Desert Flight" as Sandy. Cooper appeared on another Zane Grey spinoff, Stagecoach West
, starring Wayne Rogers
and Robert Bray
; he portrayed the title guest role in the 1960 episode "The Saga of Jeremy Boone."
Other westerns followed: NBC's The Westerner
as Cal in "Hand on the Gun" (1960) and ABC
's The Rifleman
as Simon Lee in the 1961 episode "Face of Yesterday," NBC's Bonanza
as Sam Kirby in "Showdown" (1960) and as Johnny Lightly in "The Horse Breaker" (1961). In 1962, Cooper appeared in two episodes of NBC's Laramie
as Sandy Catlin in "The Runt" and as Johnny Hartley in "Gun Duel."
Cooper appeared three times on CBS's Gunsmoke: as Breck Taylor in the two 1965 episodes "Breckinridge" and "Two Tall Men" and as Pitt Campbell in "Apprentice Doc" in 1961. He appeared on CBS's Rawhide
as Clell Miller in the episode "The Photographer" (1964). In 1967, Cooper appeared as Lieutenant Drake in the film Red Tomahawk. In 1969, he starred in the syndicated
series Death Valley Days
as Jason Tugwell in the episode "Biscuits and Billy the Kid
."
In 1970, Cooper appeared as another "Jason" in the episode "With Love, Bullets, and Valentines" of the long-running NBC series The Virginian
starring James Drury
and Doug McClure
. In 1971, Cooper appeared in the role of "Colorado" in the James Garner
film Support Your Local Gunfighter. In 1974, Cooper guest starred as Goodnight in the episode "The Cenotaph: Part 2" of ABC's Kung Fu
starring David Carradine
. Twenty-one years later in 1995, Cooper appeared as Sheriff
Dowd in the episode "The Promise" of another Kung Fu series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
.
episode, Still Valley
, of CBS's The Twilight Zone
created by Rod Serling
. In 1965, he appeared as Sam Grayson in the episode "Won't It Ever Be Morning?" of NBC"s Kraft Suspense Theatre
. He guest starred in five episodes of CBS' s legal drama
Perry Mason
starring Raymond Burr
: as Frank Wells in "The Case of the Impatient Partner," as Davis Crane in "The Case of the Promoter's Pillbox" (1962), as James Grove in "The Case of the Polka-dot Pony" (1962), as Jasper in "The Case of the Mischievous Doll" (1965), and as Lowell Rupert in "The Case of the Baffling Bug" (also 1965).
On September 16, 1966, he appeared, along with Larry Ward
, James T. Callahan
, and Warren Stevens
, in the ABC science fiction
series The Time Tunnel
in the role of Nazarro, an astronaut
, in the episode "One Way To The Moon." In 1969, he portrayed "Pete" in the episode "The Playground" of Mike Connors
's CBS detective
series Mannix
. The next year, he appeared again as Pete in the Mannix episode "To Cage a Seagull" and also as Officer Brinkman in the episode "Log 95: Purse Snatcher" of Jack Webb
's NBC police drama Adam-12
, starring Martin Milner
and Kent McCord
, and as Larry Adams in "Sea of Security" on Robert Young
's ABC medical drama
Marcus Welby, M.D.
In 1974, Cooper appeared as Ben Steward in the episode "Cheers" of David Hartman
's NBC drama Lucas Tanner
. In 1975, he appeared as Hank in the two-parter "The Sky's the Limit" on NBC's Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. In 1979, he appeared as Waverly in NBC"s B.J. and the Bear
starring Greg Evigan
. He continued in the role of Waverly in 1979–1980, when NBC revamped the series as The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo
, with Claude Akins
in the title role. Cooper appeared in episodes "Perkins Bombs Out," "Treasure of Nature Beach," "Police Escort," "The Boom Boom Lady," and "Dean Martin and the Moonshiners."
starring Lee Majors
, including "The Molly Sue," "The Further Adventures of Ozzie and Harold," "Manhunter," and "License to Kill: Part 1," "No Way Out."
Among Cooper's last television roles were as Mr. Parrish in two 1985 episodes, "Dead Ends" and "Terms of Estrangement," of CBS's prime time
soap opera
Dallas
and as a bureaucrat in the Dallas spinoff, Knots Landing
in the 1986 episode "His Brother's Keeper." He appeared too in 1986 as J. Howard Tucker in the episode "Gibbon Take" of the NBC legal drama
L.A. Law
. Cooper's last film roles were as in Lightning Jack (1994) and in the 1996 television production, Joan Crawford
: Always the Star.
Cooper, a native of Hartford
, Connecticut
, and his wife, Pamela R. Cooper, reside in the Greater Los Angeles Area
. They have two daughters. He attended Columbia University
in New York City
.
Golden Boot Awards
The Golden Boot Awards honor actors, actresses, and crew members who have made significant contributions to the genre of Western television and movies. The award is sponsored and presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund...
award in 2005 for his work in westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
.
Early films
Cooper's earliest credited screen appearance was as an eighteen-year-old in 1952–1953 on the Armstrong Circle TheatreArmstrong Circle Theatre
Armstrong Circle Theatre is an American anthology drama television series which ran from 1950 to 1957 on NBC, and then until 1963 on CBS. It alternated weekly with The U.S. Steel Hour.-Synopsis:...
, then on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, in the two episodes"The Commandant's Clock" and "Changing Dream." Thereafter, he appeared in numerous films: Thunderbirds (1952) as Calvin Jones, Women They Almost Lynched (1953) as Jesse James Dingus, A Perilous Journey (1953) as Sam, Flight Nurse (1953) as Private First Class Marvin Judd, Sea of Lost Ships (1954) as a crewman, Johnny Guitar
Johnny Guitar
Johnny Guitar is a 1954 Republic Pictures Western film starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, and Scott Brady.The screenplay was based upon a novel by Roy Chanslor. Though credited to Philip Yordan, he was merely a front for the actual screenwriter, blacklistee Ben Maddow. ...
(1954) as Turkey Ralston, The Outcast (1954) as The Kid, The Rose Tattoo as Seaman Jack Hunter, Duel at Apache Wells (1957) as Johnny Shattuck (or the Durango Kid), and Outlaw's Son as Jeff Blaine. In 1959, he guest starred on CBS's The Millionaire fantasy drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
as William Williams in the episode "Millionaire Alicia Osante."
Westerns
Starting in 1959, Cooper began appearing on dozens of television westerns; first, on NBC's Tales of Wells FargoTales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
as Matthew Land in the episode "Home Town," on Wichita Town
Wichita Town
Wichita Town is a half-hour western television series starring Joel McCrea, Jody McCrea, Carlos Romero, and George Neise that aired on NBC from September 30, 1959, until April 6, 1960....
as Tom Warren in the episode "Passage to the Enemy," and on Ward Bond
Ward Bond
Wardell Edwin "Ward" Bond was an American film actor whose rugged appearance and easygoing charm were featured in over 200 movies and the television series Wagon Train.-Early life:...
's Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
as the principal guest star of two episodes, "The Steve Campden Story" and "The Tom Tuckett Story." In 1960, he starred on Don Durant
Don Durant
Don Durant was an American actor and singer, best known for his role as the gunslinger-turned- sheriff in the CBS Western series Johnny Ringo, which ran on Thursdays from October 1, 1959 - June 30, 1960....
's CBS series Johnny Ringo
Johnny Ringo (TV series)
Johnny Ringo is a Western television series starring Don Durant that aired on CBS from October 1, 1959, until June 30, 1960. It was loosely based on the life of the notorious gunfighter Johnny Ringo, who tangled with Wyatt Earp, John "Doc" Holliday, and "Buckskin" Franklin Leslie.This fictional...
, a spinoff of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...
, on which Cooper appeared five times between 1956 and 1960. The Zane Grey episodes were "Vengeance Canyon" (1956) as Clint Harding, "The Sunrise Gun" (1959) as Sam Duskin, Jr., and three 1960 segments, "Miss Jenny" with Vera Miles
Vera Miles
Vera Miles is an American film actress who gained popularity for starring in films such as The Searchers, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psycho and Psycho II.-Early life:...
in the title role and Cooper as Darryl Thompson, "The Sunrise Gun," again as Sam Duskin, Jr., and "Desert Flight" as Sandy. Cooper appeared on another Zane Grey spinoff, Stagecoach West
Stagecoach West (TV series)
Stagecoach West is a highly-acclaimed Western drama television series which ran for thirty-eight episodes on the ABC network from October 4, 1960, until June 27, 1961. Characters Luke Perry and Simon Kane operate the Timberland Stage Line from Missouri to San Francisco...
, starring Wayne Rogers
Wayne Rogers
William Wayne McMillan Rogers III is an American film and television actor, best known for playing the role of 'Trapper John' McIntyre in the U.S...
and Robert Bray
Robert Bray
Robert E. Bray was an American film and television actor probably best remembered for his role as the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the long-running CBS series Lassie.-Life and career:...
; he portrayed the title guest role in the 1960 episode "The Saga of Jeremy Boone."
Other westerns followed: NBC's The Westerner
The Westerner (TV series)
The Westerner is a 1960 Four Star Television Western series on NBC created by Sam Peckinpah. The series stars Brian Keith as Dave Blassingame and features John Dehner as semi-regular Burgundy Smith...
as Cal in "Hand on the Gun" (1960) and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
as Simon Lee in the 1961 episode "Face of Yesterday," NBC's Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
as Sam Kirby in "Showdown" (1960) and as Johnny Lightly in "The Horse Breaker" (1961). In 1962, Cooper appeared in two episodes of NBC's Laramie
Laramie (TV series)
Laramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. Laramie was a Revue Studios production which originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy and Robert Crawford, Jr...
as Sandy Catlin in "The Runt" and as Johnny Hartley in "Gun Duel."
Cooper appeared three times on CBS's Gunsmoke: as Breck Taylor in the two 1965 episodes "Breckinridge" and "Two Tall Men" and as Pitt Campbell in "Apprentice Doc" in 1961. He appeared on CBS's Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
as Clell Miller in the episode "The Photographer" (1964). In 1967, Cooper appeared as Lieutenant Drake in the film Red Tomahawk. In 1969, he starred in the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
series Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
as Jason Tugwell in the episode "Biscuits and Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid
William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...
."
In 1970, Cooper appeared as another "Jason" in the episode "With Love, Bullets, and Valentines" of the long-running NBC series The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
starring James Drury
James Drury
James Child Drury, Jr. is an American actor probably best known for his success in playing the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series The Virginian, broadcast on NBC from 1962-1971...
and Doug McClure
Doug McClure
Douglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...
. In 1971, Cooper appeared in the role of "Colorado" in the James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
film Support Your Local Gunfighter. In 1974, Cooper guest starred as Goodnight in the episode "The Cenotaph: Part 2" of ABC's Kung Fu
Kung Fu (TV series)
Kung Fu is an American television series that starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller, who was also a writer for, and co-producer of, the series...
starring David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
. Twenty-one years later in 1995, Cooper appeared as Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
Dowd in the episode "The Promise" of another Kung Fu series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues is a spin-off of the 1972-1975 television series Kung Fu. David Carradine and Chris Potter starred as a father and son trained in kung fu - Carradine playing a Shaolin monk, Potter a police detective. This series aired in syndication for four seasons, from January 27,...
.
Drama
Cooper also made many appearances in television drama. In 1961, he appeared as Dauger in the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
episode, Still Valley
Still Valley
"Still Valley" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:Set during the American Civil War, the episode opens with two Confederate soldiers. They have been assigned to scout on the Union army that is marching into the valley below. Sergeant Joseph...
, of CBS's The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
created by Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
. In 1965, he appeared as Sam Grayson in the episode "Won't It Ever Be Morning?" of NBC"s Kraft Suspense Theatre
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Kraft Suspense Theatre, an anthology series, was telecast from 1963 to 1965 on NBC. Sponsored by Kraft Foods, it was seen three weeks out of every four and was pre-empted for Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall specials once monthly...
. He guest starred in five episodes of CBS' s legal drama
Legal drama
A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...
Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
starring Raymond Burr
Raymond Burr
Raymond William Stacey Burr was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain...
: as Frank Wells in "The Case of the Impatient Partner," as Davis Crane in "The Case of the Promoter's Pillbox" (1962), as James Grove in "The Case of the Polka-dot Pony" (1962), as Jasper in "The Case of the Mischievous Doll" (1965), and as Lowell Rupert in "The Case of the Baffling Bug" (also 1965).
On September 16, 1966, he appeared, along with Larry Ward
Larry Ward (actor)
Larry Ward was an American actor who appeared in many films and television series. He was sometimes credited under the name Ward Gaynor....
, James T. Callahan
James T. Callahan
James Thomas Callahan was an American film and television actor who appeared in more than 120 films and television shows between 1959 and 2007...
, and Warren Stevens
Warren Stevens
Warren Stevens is an American stage, screen, and television actor.Born in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, Stevens began his acting career after serving in the U.S. Army Air Force as a pilot during World War II. He trained at The Actor's Studio in New York, received notice on Broadway, and thereafter...
, in the ABC science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran...
in the role of Nazarro, an astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
, in the episode "One Way To The Moon." In 1969, he portrayed "Pete" in the episode "The Playground" of Mike Connors
Mike Connors
Mike Connors is an American actor best known for playing detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series, Mannix. Before that, he had played a crime-fighting investigator, wielding a .38 handgun hidden in his back, in another CBS series, Tightrope.-Early life:Connors was born Krekor Ohanian in...
's CBS detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
series Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
. The next year, he appeared again as Pete in the Mannix episode "To Cage a Seagull" and also as Officer Brinkman in the episode "Log 95: Purse Snatcher" of Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
's NBC police drama Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
, starring Martin Milner
Martin Milner
Martin Sam Milner is an American actor best known for his performances in two popular television series, Adam-12 and Route 66....
and Kent McCord
Kent McCord
Kent McCord is an American actor best known for his role as Officer Jim Reed on the television series Adam-12.- Biography :...
, and as Larry Adams in "Sea of Security" on Robert Young
Robert Young (actor)
Robert George Young was an American television, film, and radio actor, best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. .-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father...
's ABC medical drama
Medical drama
A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...
In 1974, Cooper appeared as Ben Steward in the episode "Cheers" of David Hartman
David Hartman (TV personality)
David Downs Hartman is an American journalist and media host who began his media career as an actor. He currently anchors and hosts documentary programs on cable TV's History and on PBS. Hartman is best known as the first host of ABC's Good Morning America, from 1975 to 1987. As an actor, he...
's NBC drama Lucas Tanner
Lucas Tanner
Lucas Tanner is an NBC television drama that aired during the 1974-75 season. The title character, played by David Hartman, was a former baseball player and sportswriter who became an english teacher at the fictional Harry S. Truman High School in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis...
. In 1975, he appeared as Hank in the two-parter "The Sky's the Limit" on NBC's Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. In 1979, he appeared as Waverly in NBC"s B.J. and the Bear
B.J. and the Bear
B.J. and the Bear is an American comedy series which aired on NBC from 1979 to 1981. Created by Christopher Crowe and Glen A. Larson, the series stars Greg Evigan and Claude Akins.-Plot:Greg Evigan stars as B.J...
starring Greg Evigan
Greg Evigan
Gregory Ralph "Greg" Evigan is an American actor best known for the TV series B.J. and the Bear, My Two Dads, P.S. I Luv U and TekWar.-Personal life:...
. He continued in the role of Waverly in 1979–1980, when NBC revamped the series as The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo
The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo
The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo is an American action/adventure sitcom that ran on NBC from 1979 to 1981. For its second season the show was renamed Lobo. The program aired Tuesday nights, at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The lead character, Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo, played by Claude Akins, was a spin-off...
, with Claude Akins
Claude Akins
Claude Marion Akins was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen and television.Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series...
in the title role. Cooper appeared in episodes "Perkins Bombs Out," "Treasure of Nature Beach," "Police Escort," "The Boom Boom Lady," and "Dean Martin and the Moonshiners."
Later career
From 1981 to 1983, appeared as the stunt scene director in seven episodes of ABC's The Fall GuyThe Fall Guy
The Fall Guy is an American action/adventure television program produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981 to May 2, 1986. It starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas. Majors and Barr are the only two actors to appear in all 112 episodes of the series...
starring Lee Majors
Lee Majors
Lee Majors is an American television, film and voice actor, best known for his starring role as Colonel Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man and as Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy ....
, including "The Molly Sue," "The Further Adventures of Ozzie and Harold," "Manhunter," and "License to Kill: Part 1," "No Way Out."
Among Cooper's last television roles were as Mr. Parrish in two 1985 episodes, "Dead Ends" and "Terms of Estrangement," of CBS's prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
and as a bureaucrat in the Dallas spinoff, Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
in the 1986 episode "His Brother's Keeper." He appeared too in 1986 as J. Howard Tucker in the episode "Gibbon Take" of the NBC legal drama
Legal drama
A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...
L.A. Law
L.A. Law
L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
. Cooper's last film roles were as in Lightning Jack (1994) and in the 1996 television production, Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
: Always the Star.
Cooper, a native of Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, and his wife, Pamela R. Cooper, reside in the Greater Los Angeles Area
Greater Los Angeles Area
The Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is a term used for the Combined Statistical Area sprawled over five counties in the southern part of California, namely Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County and Ventura County...
. They have two daughters. He attended Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
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