William C. Cooper (1853 – 13 June 1918) was a British-born stage and film actor who made a career in

silent-film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

in the United States. Born as William C. Cowper in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in England in 1853, he was educated in his home city. On moving to the USA he appeared with

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

William Gillette William Hooker Gillette (July 24, 1853 – April 29, 1937) was an American actor-manager, playwright, and stage-manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a 1916 ...

and

Lawrence Barrett Lawrence Barrett (April 4, 1838 – March 20, 1891) was an American stage actor. Biography A native of Paterson, New Jersey, Barrett was born in 1838 to Mary Agnes (née Read) Barrett and tailor Thomas Barrett, Irish immigrants who had settle ...

among others, and later acted in his own plays of which he wrote 28 and produced nine. He later became a naturalised American citizen.David Bowers
William C. Cooper - Thanhouser Company Biographies: Volume 3

Thanhouser Company The Thanhouser Company (later the Thanhouser Film Corporation) was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser, his wife Gertrude and his brother-in-law Lloyd Lonergan. It operated in New York City until 1920, ...

website (1995) In about 1910 he moved into films, acting for such companied as

Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...

Famous Players Famous Players Limited Partnership, DBA Famous Players, is a Canadian-based subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment. As an independent company, it existed as a film exhibitor and cable television service provider. Famous Players operated numerous m ...

, the

and

Metro Pictures Metro Pictures Corporation was a Film, motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at leas ...

. For Thanhouser he was Horace Holly in the 1911 film ''

She She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

'' (as William C. Cooper) and for Metro in 1916 he was the Father in ''

Dimples A dimple, also called a gelasin (, ) is a small natural indentation in the flesh on a part of the human body, most notably in the cheek. Numerous cultures believe that cheek dimples are a good luck charm that entices people who perceive them as ...

'' (as William Cowper).Cast
for ''

'' (1916) - Silent Era database Also as William Cowper he played The Artist in ''

Gold Is Not All ''Gold Is Not All'' is a 1913 Canadian short drama silent black and white film directed by Wilfred Lucas and produced by Carl Laemmle. Cast * King Baggot as Karl - the Composer * Jane Gail as The Girl * Bess Meredyth as The Slavey * William Cav ...

'' (1913) and, in 1915, Si Stork in ''

Emmy of Stork's Nest ''Emmy of Stork's Nest'' is a 1915 silent film directed by William Nigh and starring Mary Miles Minter. The film is based on the novel ''Stork's Nest'' by J. Breckenridge Ellis and was shot on location in the Pocono Mountains. Plot As describe ...

'', Tobias Rader in ''

A Yellow Streak ''A Yellow Streak'' is a 1915 American silent Western film directed by William Nigh and starring Lionel Barrymore, Irene Howley and Niles Welch.Nevins & Keller, p. 130. Plot After a Wall Street broker is ruined by his wife's lover, a busines ...

'' and Wulf Axtell in '' An Enemy to Society''. For

Mutual Film Mutual Film Corporation was an early American film conglomerate that produced some of Charlie Chaplin's greatest comedies. Founded in 1912, it was absorbed by Film Booking Offices of America, which evolved into RKO Pictures. Founding Mutual's ...

he acted in ''

Our Mutual Girl ''Our Mutual Girl'' is a 1914 American film serial shown in weekly installments, starring Norma Phillips. It was created by Mutual Film to be an alternative to "stunt-driven, wild-animal wrestling" serials such as ''The Perils of Pauline''. ''O ...

'' (1914), while for Famous Players he was Elder Sprague in ''

The Redemption of David Corson ''The Redemption of David Corson'' is a lost 1914 silent film drama directed by Frederick A. Thomson and starring William Farnum. It was produced by Daniel Frohman and Adolph Zukor. This story was based on a novel ''The Redemption of David Corson ...

'' (1914). Cooper also appeared in '' Mother's Darling Little Boy'' 914), ''Blown Upon'' (1915) and ''A Domestic Revolution">Blown_Upon.html" ;"title="914), ''Blown Upon">914), ''Blown Upon'' (1915) and ''A Domestic Revolution'' (1915). In directories for 1916-1918 Cooper was recorded as living at 987 Tinton Avenue in the Bronx in New York and listed his hobbies as horseback riding, swimming and boxing. Will C. Cooper died in June 1918 and was buried in Cemetery of the Evergreens, Evergreen Cemetery in

Brooklyn 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 ...

, New York.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, William C. 1853 births 1918 deaths Male actors from Manchester English male silent film actors English male film actors American male silent film actors American male film actors 19th-century English male actors English male stage actors 20th-century American male actors