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Olive Cooper

{{short description|American screenwriter}}

{{use mdy dates|date=May 2023}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Olive Cooper

| image= Olive Cooper 1925.png

| birth_date = July 31, 1892

| birth_place = San Francisco, California, USA

| death_date = June 12, 1987 (aged 94)

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, USA

| occupation = Screenwriter, actress

| relatives = George Stevens (nephew)

}}

Olivette "Olive" Cooper (1892–1987) was a prolific American screenwriter known for movies like Cocoanut Grove, Bandit King of Texas and Three Little Sisters. She wrote many of the screenplays for Roy Rogers and Gene Autry vehicles.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/148128321/?terms=%22olive+cooper%22|title=CURTAIN CALLS: WOMEN WRITE ADVENTURE PLAYS |date=January 30, 1942| page=25 |work=Oakland Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2018-12-22 |url-access=subscription}}

Biography

Cooper was born in San Francisco on July 31, 1892,{{cite book |last=Doyle |first=Billy H. |title=The Ultimate Directory of Film Technicians |date=1999 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham, Maryland |isbn=978-0-8108-3546-7 |page=54 |url=https://archive.org/details/ultimatedirector0000doyl/page/54/mode/2up |via=Internet Archive}}{{cite web |website=California Death Index, 1940-1997, database |via=FamilySearch |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPMC-NGL |title=26 November 2014, Olive Cooper Curtis, 12 Jun 1987 |publisher=Department of Public Health Services |location=Sacramento |url-access=subscription}} to a well-known theatrical family. Her mother, Georgia Woodthorpe, was an actress, as was her sister, Georgie Cooper. Her nephew, George Stevens, went on to become a celebrated Hollywood director.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380404376/?terms=%22olive+cooper%22|title=RECALLS OLD DAYS |date=August 28, 1927 |page=47 |work=The Los Angeles Times |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2018-12-22 |url-access=subscription}} Her brother Harry was a cinematographer.

She first appeared on stage at age 5, under the name Ollie Cooper,{{cite news|title=Was So Funny in Emotional Roles that She Made a Success of Comedy|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=September 27, 1925|author=G. C. W.|page=D1}} and performed in Bay Area theater productions before moving to Hollywood.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/457740022/?terms=%22olive+cooper%22|title="ABIE'S IRISH ROSE" OPENS CAPITOL RUN ON SUNDAY |date=May 10, 1927 |page=15 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |via=Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-12-22 |url-access=subscription}} She appeared chiefly in character roles and comedic parts. Her film debut was The Brass Check (1918).{{cite magazine|magazine=The Moving Picture World|date=February 16, 1918|page= 988|title=Ollie Cooper Making Screen Debut|url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor351movi/page/988/mode/2up |via=Internet Archive}} After appearing in a few short films in the early 1930s, she decided to pursue a career as a screenwriter. She wrote dozens of scripts over the course of her career, many of which were Westerns. She often collaborated with the directors Joseph Kane, Lew Landers and Joseph Santley. She was married to the stage director Edwin H. Curtis, and died in Los Angeles aged 94.

Screenwriting credits

References

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External links

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Category:1892 births

Category:1987 deaths

Category:Screenwriters from San Francisco

Category:American women screenwriters

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:20th-century American screenwriters