Gary Cooper Off Camera

In a day and age when the children of "the stars" write the most deplorable books about their parents, this book is a wonderfully tender tribute to a true hero. Absolutely refreshing.

Maria Cooper Janis's photographic valentine to her remarkable father, enduring screen icon Gary Cooper, does more than reveal the private family man behind the celebrity image. For it also reveals what a remarkable woman is his daughter, Maria Cooper Janis. Cooper and wife Rocky surely did something right as parents to have produced this warm and intelligent woman. She has put together a delightful photographic memoir. And this is being written by someone who usually steers miles from memoirs by the offspring of celebrities.

I'm 50 years old and only came to appreciating what a remarkable actor Gary Cooper was many years after his death. Maria Cooper Janis, Cooper's daughter, has compiled a fabulous photographic treasure for a Cooper fan such as myself. These photos, revealing a private side to the man which he never permitted while alive, are quite simply wonderful. I know three people whom I will be giving this as a Christmas gift.

Maria Cooper Janis's memoir is a truly loving tribute to her famous father, the actor Gary Cooper. Filled with photos and wonderful stories of growing up with a celebrity father during Hollywood's so-called Golden Age, Ms. Janis's picture of her father is an interesting antidote to more recent biographies of Gary Cooper. These bios accent Mr. Cooper's lifelong womanizing, before and during his marriage. This book adds a welcome balance to this picture. Cooper was clearly a more complex man than recent bios would indicate. And he was just as clearly a loving, deeply caring father. A very real family man! Thanks, Ms. Janis, for this beautiful book.