Pat Cooper (born Pasquale Caputo;
July 31, 1929) is an American actor and comedian.
Life and career
His father Michael Caputo was a bricklayer
from
Mola di Bari
Cathedral.
Mola di Bari, commonly referred to simply as Mola ( Barese: ), is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Bari, in the region of Apulia, in Southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea.
In recent times, the town was best known for ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
and his mother, Louise Gargiulo was born in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, where Cooper was also born and raised. Cooper often makes reference to his
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
heritage in his
stand up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...
routines.
Cooper started performing in the 1950s, originally for primarily Italian-American audiences.
His big break came in 1963 on ''
The Jackie Gleason Show
''The Jackie Gleason Show'' is the name of a series of American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970, in various forms.
''Cavalcade of Stars''
Gleason's first variety series, which aired on the DuMon ...
''. Afterwards, he played top nightclubs such as the
Copacabana (nightclub)
The Copacabana is a New York City nightclub that has existed in several locations. In earlier locations, many entertainers, such as Danny Thomas, Pat Cooper and the comedy team of Martin and Lewis, made their New York debuts at the Copacabana. T ...
,
500 Club
The 500 Club, popularly known as The Five, was a nightclub and supper club at 6 Missouri Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. It was owned by racketeer Paul "Skinny" D'Amato, and operated from the 1930s until the building burned ...
,
Latin Casino
The Latin Casino was a Philadelphia-area nightclub that first opened in 1944 at 1309 Walnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Many top entertainers performed at the Latin including Harry Belafonte, Jimmy Durante, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, ...
,
Palumbo's
Palumbo's was a popular 20th century restaurant with nightclub entertainment located near the Italian Market section of South Philadelphia, Palumbo's included a banquet hall and Nostalgia's Restaurant.
The format basically was an adaption of ...
, Atlantic City and Las Vegas Hotels and casinos. Cooper appeared on the same shows as
Frank Sinatra,
Jimmy Durante,
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
,
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...
,
Sergio Franchi
Sergio Franchi (born Sergio Franci Galli; April 6, 1926 – May 1, 1990) was an Italian-American tenor and actor who enjoyed success in the United States and internationally after gaining notice in Britain in the early 1960s. In 1962, RCA Vict ...
,
Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
,
Connie Francis
Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937),
known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...
,
Bobby Vinton
Stanley Robert "Bobby" Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is a American former singer and occasional actor, who also hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid trib ...
,
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American musician and actor. He performed jazz, pop, rock and roll, folk, swing, and country music.
He started his career as a songwriter for Connie ...
,
Tony Martin,
Liza Minnelli and many others.
On May 2, 1969, Cooper and singer
Jimmy Roselli
Michael John "Jimmy" Roselli (December 26, 1925 – June 30, 2011) was one of the most significant Italian-American pop singers of his time, during an era of competition from such performers as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Perry Co ...
premiered in their two-man show at Broadway's Palace Theatre in New York.
He has performed at many
celebrity roasts at the
New York Friars Club
The Friars Club is a private club in New York City. Famous for its risqué roasts, the club's membership is composed mostly of comedians and other celebrities. Founded in 1904, it is located at 57 East 55th Street, between Park Avenue and Madi ...
which he also played in an episode of ''
Seinfeld'' titled "
The Friar's Club" and was also a frequent guest on many radio shows, most notably ''
The Howard Stern Show
''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...
'' (where he had an open invitation to drop in whenever he wanted, and he eventually got so loud and angry he walked out of the studio), ''
Imus in the Morning
''Imus in the Morning'' was a long-running radio show hosted by Don Imus. The show originated on June 2, 1968, on various stations in the Western United States and Cleveland, Ohio before settling on WNBC radio in New York City in 1971. In Octobe ...
'' and ''
Opie and Anthony
''Opie and Anthony'' was an American radio show hosted by Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia that aired from March 1995 to July 2014, with comedian Jim Norton serving as third mic from 2001. The show originated in 1994 when Cumia took part in ...
''.
''
Billboard'' gave his album ''Our Hero'' (1965) a special merit review and said that it "does for the Italian-American community what
Jackie Mason did for the Jewish-American community"
The following year it stated that his ''Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights'' (1966), an album which consists of one side of spoken comedy and one side of parody songs, was stronger than ''Our Hero''.
Cooper had a legendary appearance on the Tom Snyder "Tomorrow - Coast To Coast" Show on March 6, 1981, in which he decried "headliners" in the club circuit who often worked with comics as their second act.
Cooper played fictional mobster Salvatore Masiello in the film ''
Analyze This
''Analyze This'' is a 1999 American mafia comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the screenplay with playwright Kenneth Lonergan, and Peter Tolan. The plot follows a crisis-stricken mafioso (Robert De Niro) who solicits the assi ...
''
and in the sequel ''
Analyze That
''Analyze That'' is a 2002 American mafia comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and produced by Paula Weinstein and Jane Rosenthal. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film '' Analyze This''. The film starred Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal who ...
'', as well as playing lawyer, John Bruno in the 2003 film ''
This Thing of Ours''. He has also guest-starred on television series such as ''
Vega$
''Vegas'' (stylized as ''Vega$'') is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 20, 1978, to June 3, 1981, with the pilot episode airing April 25, 1978. ''Vegas'' was produced by Aaron Spelling and created by Mic ...
'' (episode: "Deadly Blessings"), ''
Charlie's Angels'' (episode: "Stuntwomen Angels"), ''
It's a Living
''It's a Living'' (renamed for season two as ''Making a Living'') is an American sitcom television series set in a restaurant at the top of the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. The show aired on ABC from October 30, 1980, until June 11, 1982. ...
'' (episodes: "You're Not Old, You're Fired" and "Horsing Around") and ''
L.A. Law
''L.A. Law'' is an American legal drama television series that ran for eight seasons on NBC, from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994.
Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it centers on the partners, associates and staff of a Los ...
'' (episode: "Foreign Co-respondent").
He was an occasional contributor to
Colin Quinn
Colin Edward Quinn (born June 6, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Quinn first gained widespread attention for his work as a cast member and writer for the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2 ...
's late-night show on Comedy Central, ''
Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn
''Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn'' is a comedic talk show which aired on Comedy Central from 2002 to 2004. The show featured host Colin Quinn and a panel of comedian guests, discussing politics, current events, and social issues.
Show history an ...
''. In 2005, he released a DVD called ''You're Always Yelling''
and in 2010, he co-authored with
Steve Garrin
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve ...
and
Rich Herschlag his autobiography called ''How Dare You Say How Dare Me!''.
Personal life
Pat Cooper has been married three times. He has two biological children (Michael and Louise Caputo) from his first marriage to Dolores Nola and one adopted daughter (Patti Jo Cooper) from his second marriage to singer Patti Prince.
Pat Cooper has five grandchildren: two grandsons and three granddaughters. In 2018, he married his third wife,
Emily Conner, who he met at the
New York Friars Club
The Friars Club is a private club in New York City. Famous for its risqué roasts, the club's membership is composed mostly of comedians and other celebrities. Founded in 1904, it is located at 57 East 55th Street, between Park Avenue and Madi ...
in 2010. She was a theater producer and the daughter of
Diane Decker, one of the original members of
The Serendipity Singers. Pat Cooper is retired and is now living in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has publicly feuded with his children on his radio appearances and is estranged from all members of his adopted and biological families.
Filmography
References
External links
Pat Cooper's Autobiography*
ttp://classicshowbiz.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-with-pat-cooper-part-two.html Kliph Nesteroff interviews Pat Cooper, February 16, 2011 - Part Two
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Pat
1929 births
Living people
American stand-up comedians
American male film actors
American male television actors
American radio personalities
People from Brooklyn
American people of Italian descent
Comedians from New York (state)