Veronica Cooper

{{Infobox person

| image = File:Gary Cooper and Veronica Balfe 1933.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Veronica and Gary Cooper, 1933

| birth_name = Veronica Balfe

| birth_date = {{birth date|1913|5|27|mf=y}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|2|16|1913|5|27}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| othername = Sandra Shaw, Rocky Cooper

| occupation = Actress

| yearsactive = 1933

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Gary Cooper|1933|1961|end=his death}}
{{marriage|John Converse|1964|1981|end=died}}

}}

| children = 1

| relatives = Cedric Gibbons (maternal uncle)

}}

Veronica "Rocky" Cooper (née Balfe; May 27, 1913 – February 16, 2000) was an American debutante and actress who appeared in The Gay Nighties and other films under the name Sandra Shaw. She was the wife of the actor Gary Cooper and mother of painter Maria Cooper Janis.

Early life

Veronica May Balfe{{Citation needed |date=February 2021}}{{Cite web |title=New York City Marriage Records (via Family Search) |website=FamilySearch |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24D2-8H6}} was born in Brooklyn to Veronica Gibbons and Harry Balfe, Jr. Following her parents' divorce, she lived in Paris with her mother. Balfe did not see her father for many years, but kept in touch with her grandfather, who owned a ranch in California. Balfe saw her father a few years before his death in the 1950s. Her mother married Paul Shields, a successful Wall Street financier.

She graduated from the Todhunter School and the Bennett School in Millbrook, New York. While she was in school, she studied dramatics and participated in some amateur productions.{{cite news |title=Cooper, film star, to wed debutante |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/100824573 |access-date=February 25, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=November 29, 1933 |page=23|id={{ProQuest|100824573}} }} An avid sportswoman, she was known to her friends by the nickname "Rocky."Thomson, David (2010). Gary Cooper. New York: Faber and Faber. p. 35. {{ISBN|9780865479326}}.

Career

In 1933, she went to see her uncle, Cedric Gibbons, in Hollywood.{{Citation needed |date=February 2021}} She received a long-term contract with RKO after a screen test. She played parts in King Kong, Blood Money, and No Other Woman, as well as the sleepwalking countess in the Clark & McCullough comedy short The Gay Nighties (1933). She also played herself in Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 3 (1942), and appeared in a few television shows and documentaries.

Personal life

Balfe married actor Gary Cooper on December 15, 1933, at her mother's home at 778 Park Avenue, New York; the wedding had been planned for the Waldorf Astoria hotel, but the location was probably changed to avoid public attention.{{Cite news|url = http://nyti.ms/18MguF7|title = Gary Cooper Weds in Quiet Ceremony|date = December 16, 1933|access-date = March 3, 2015|page = 18|newspaper = The New York Times}} In 1937,{{cite news |title=Daughter to Gary Coopers |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/102146490 |access-date=February 25, 2021 |work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |date=September 16, 1937 |page=29|id={{ProQuest|102146490}} }} she gave birth to their daughter, Maria Veronica Cooper.{{cite news |title=Gary Cooper's Daughter Wed To Byron Janis, the Pianist |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/117137255 |access-date=February 25, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=April 12, 1966 |page=33|id={{ProQuest|117137255}} }} They separated in 1951,{{cite news |title=Actor Gary Cooper And Wife Separate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72002343/the-berkshire-eagle/ |access-date=February 25, 2021 |work=The Berkshire Eagle |agency=Associated Press |date=May 17, 1951 |location=Massachusetts, Pittsfield |page=3|via = Newspapers.com}} and reconciled in 1953, remaining married until his death in 1961.Meyers, Jeffrey (1998). Gary Cooper: American Hero. New York: William Morrow. {{ISBN|978-0-688-15494-3}} p. 269.

On June 27, 1964, she married plastic surgeon John Marquis Converse in Westport, Connecticut.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Cooper, Widow Of Actor, Is Rewed |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/115847800 |access-date=February 25, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=June 30, 1964 |page=38|id={{ProQuest|115847800}} }} She was an enthusiastic sportswoman and was the female California skeet champion in the 1930s. She also enjoyed golf, swimming, tennis, and scuba-diving.

She and her daughter were both devout Catholics.

Death

Balfe died in her home in Manhattan on February 16, 2000, aged 86.{{cite news |title=Veronica Cooper Converse |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/91747256 |access-date=February 25, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=March 7, 2000 |page=C 29|id={{ProQuest|91747256}} }}

Filmography

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;"

! Year

! Film

! Role

! Notes

rowspan="4"| 1933

| No Other Woman

| Uncredited

King Kong

| Woman looking down, and screaming from hotel room window

| Uncredited{{cite book |last1=Goldner |first1=Orville |last2=Turner |first2=George E. |title=The Making of King Kong – The Story Behind a Film Classic |year=1975 |publisher=Ballantine Books, a division of Random House |location=New York |isbn=0-8109-4535-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hollywoodhorrorf0000viei/page/165 165] |url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodhorrorf0000viei/page/165 }}

The Gay Nighties

| The Sleepwalking Countess

Blood Money

| Girl at Racetrack

| Uncredited

1942

| Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No.3

| Herself