| Ben Cooper | |
|---|---|
in Bonanza (1960) |
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| Born | September 30, 1933 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Spouse | Pamela R. Cooper |
| Children | Two daughters |
Ben Cooper (born September 30, 1933)[1] is a retired American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot award in 2005 for his work in westerns.[2]
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Cooper's earliest credited screen appearance was as an eighteen-year-old in 1952–1953 on the Armstrong Circle Theatre, 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."[3]
Starting in 1959, Cooper began appearing on dozens of television westerns; first, on NBC's Tales of Wells Fargo 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."[3]
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."[3]
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."[3]
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.[3]
Cooper also made many appearances in television drama. In 1961, he appeared as Dauger in the American Civil War 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).[3]
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.[3]'
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."[3]
From 1981 to 1983, appeared as the stunt scene director in seven episodes of ABC's The Fall Guy 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.[3]
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.[4]