Film and television work

Cooper began her acting career in the 1950s, performing initially as a supporting player in films with stars like Maureen O'Hara, Glenn Ford, Tony Curtis, and Henry Fonda.^[2] Her first film role was as Myra in the 1953 western film, The Redhead from Wyoming. She later appeared in small roles in The Man from the Alamo, Over-Exposed, 5 Steps to Danger, Rock All Night, House of Women, 13 West Street, The Intruder, Black Zoo, The Glory Guys, Tony Rome, The Boston Strangler and Kansas City Bomber.

Cooper was a fixture on episodic television throughout the 1950s and 1960s.^[6] In 1956, she was cast as Mrs. Hinton in "The Rabbi Davis Story" of the religious anthology series, Crossroads. That same year, she portrayed Louise Douglas in "Girl Bandit" of Broderick Crawford's syndicated crime drama, Highway Patrol. She also appeared in the Wagon Train episode titled "The Whipping" and as Marie Conover in the 1957 Cheyenne episode titled "Top Hand" starring Clint Walker.

Cooper played Ann Dix in the 1955 episode "I Am Joaquin" of the syndicated western anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the storyline, Ann searches with ultimate success for eight years for the return of her young daughter whom the Mexican bandit Joaquin Murrieta (Cliff Fields) left at a Roman Catholic church after he boarded a ship and stabbed to death the girl's father, Capt. Stephen Dix, played by John Damler.

In 1957, she starred in one of the early episodes of two different western series, NBC's Tales of Wells Fargo starring Dale Robertson, in the role of the woman bandit Belle Starr, and two episodes on ABC’s Maverick; in 1959, she portrayed Duchess in a second Tales of Wells Fargo episode, "Clay Allison". In 1958, she was cast in the episode "Wheel of Fortune" of the NBC western series, Jefferson Drum, starring Jeff Richards as a newspaper publisher. Also in 1958, Cooper appeared as Lucy in the "Sundown at Bitter Creek" episode of the CBS western anthology series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. She guest starred as love interest Myra in Wanted Dead or Alive starring Steve McQueen in S2 E14 "Man on Horseback", which aired 12/3/1959.

In 1960, she again played Belle Starr in the "Shadow of Jesse James" episode of the TV series Bronco starring Ty Hardin. Cooper made five guest appearances during the nine-year run of CBS's Perry Mason starring Raymond Burr, beginning with the role of Laura Beaumont in the 1958 episode, "The Case of the Corresponding Corpse." In the final season of the show, she made her fifth and final appearance as defendant Miriam Fielding in the 1966 episode, "The Case of the Vanishing Victim". In 1962, Cooper earned her first Emmy nomination for her performance in Ben Casey. She appeared as a regular on NBC's Bracken's World series about the movie business.^[6] She also appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, Mannix, Ironside, Storefront Lawyers, The Silent Force, Touched by an Angel, Gunsmoke, The Untouchables, among numerous other series.

In 1965, she appeared in the ABC network's Western television series The Big Valley as Elaine Baxter Jason, a mercantile store owner and an old friend of series character Victoria Barkley (Barbara Stanwyck). In another episode she appears as the money-hungry aunt of Heath (Lee Majors). Her husband was portrayed in the episode by John Anderson, who years later became known as MacGyver's grandfather, Harry Jackson.

The Young and the Restless

Cooper is best known for her role as Katherine Chancellor on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. Her character broke ground in the daytime medium; Katherine endured several bouts with alcoholism, ischemic stroke, and the loss of many men in her life (four late husbands, and a child surrendered for adoption).^[6]

In 1984, Katherine (and Cooper) also had a facelift on national television (Cooper had pitched the idea of having a live facelift to CBS executives, who agreed to write the facelift into the show). ^[2][7][8]

For many years, the story of Katherine's bitter rivalry with character Jill Foster Abbott (originally portrayed by Brenda Dickson, and more recently by Jess Walton) was a mainstay of the show. A 2003 storyline suggested Jill was Katherine's daughter born out of wedlock,^[9] but further story developments in 2009 cast doubt on that assertion, and the long-bitter enemies were found not to be mother and daughter after all.

Cooper received ten Daytime Emmy nominations, nine for Outstanding Lead Actress and one for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and two Primetime Emmy nominations. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Daytime Emmys in 2004.^[2] For her contributions to television, Cooper received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is located at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. She won the 2008 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. This was her first competitive win; she had first been nominated in 1989.

Cooper's character, Katherine, was thought to have died in a November 2008 episode. It was, however, her look-alike, Marge, who died, and Katherine had experienced memory issues due to the car accident that took Marge's life.

Cooper had to take a medical leave in October 2011 and her part on the soap was temporarily recast with veteran actress Michael Learned. However, the next month, Cooper confirmed she was returning to the set. She returned as part of the show on December 23, 2011. She taped her last scene on the show in March 2013 on the same day as the Young and the Restless 40th anniversary and this scene aired on May 3, 2013, five days before her death.

A tribute episode of The Young and the Restless in honor of Jeanne Cooper, made up of clips, cast memories and interviews, was shown on May 28, 2013, on CBS. Her character, Katherine, died offscreen a few months later after a trip around the world.

Film

Selected television works