Frank Achilles Cooper Jr.

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Frank Cooper played by Frank Dicopoulos

Frank Achilles Cooper Jr. is a fictional character on the American soap Guiding Light, who is coincidently played by Greek-American actor Frank Dicopoulos.

He grew up on Springfield's 5th Street and raised his younger sister, Harley Davidson Cooper, ever since the death of their father and their wanna-be starlet mother, Nadine Kouperakis, left the kids to be raised by her uncle Stavros Kouperakis, the owner of the Greek diner. Stavros died in a fire that was purposely set in the diner. Nadine returned home, became a good parent and then died. their dad, Buzz, everyone thought he had died in Vietnam. In truth, Buzz was alive but did not want to return to his family. This storyline twist was suggested by actor Frank Dicopoulos, who has played the character of Frank from the beginning.

Since they had no parents (only their grandfather, Pops, who had immigrated from Greece to America and opened the Diner), they were forced to depend on each other. When Harley became pregnant, it was Frank who took care of her and made sure she was comfortable and safe. Frank first worked as a car mechanic in order to raise his sister. Though an honorable man, he was poor, so he let himself be convinced by George Stewart to chop cars for him in order to get some extra cash. George would steal the cars, once even stealing Henry Chamberlain's Bentley, and Frank would chop them in his workshop. Frank decided to stop chopping cars. Later he worked himself up to becoming Chief of Police in Springfield.