A Hollywood Colossus

The groundbreaking movie King Kong premiered on this day, 93 years ago. That remarkable film stamped a deep impression on Western cinema and broader culture that still endures. But I don’t want to talk about that.

I want to draw your attention to Merian C. Cooper, the film's director and producer, who pulled off the project during a lifetime filled with adventure and risk. Aside from acting, directing, and producing, he was an experienced military aviator, prisoner of war, traveler and businessman.

Cooper was born in Florida in 1893. Early on he was interested in exploration. He received an appointment to the US Naval Academy, but was expelled during his senior year. He did a stint as a newspaper reporter and joined the National Guard in 1916, hoping to pursue Pancho Villa. With World War I looming, he was offered a commission. He refused and instead went to the Military Aeronautics School in Atlanta, where he learned to fly and graduated at the top of his class.

He went to France, where he was trained as a bomber pilot. In September 1918 he was shot down and presumed dead, but he survived, suffering serious burns, and ended the war as a prisoner of the Germans.

Afterward he remained in the Air Service working with the US Food Administration, providing aid to Poland. The Polish-Soviet war began in 1919, and Cooper soon organized a squadron of American volunteers to fly against the Soviets. In 1920 he was shot down again, but he and a fellow crewman managed to escape on foot.

In July of 1920 Cooper was shot down a third time and captured by the Soviets. After a failed escape attempt, he was sent to a prison camp near Moscow. He killed a guard and with two Polish POWs escaped again, walking 700 kilometers to Latvia. Poland won the war, and Cooper was awarded the Virtuti Militari medal, the highest military decoration, by the Polish Chief of State Józef Piłsudski.

By now he had real-world experience not only of combat, but also of logistics and organization. These skills would be an asset in future ventures.

On his return to the states he worked in journalism. He traveled to Abyssinia and Persia, and documented the things he saw in print and on film. He became a member of the Explorers Club of New York in 1925, where he was in demand to speak about his adventures.

He got involved in filmmaking and preferred to shoot on-location, striving for realism. He teamed up with cameraman Ernest Schoedsack, who had also flown in combat. The pair of them liked subject matter that was “distant, difficult, and dangerous.” Chang (1927) was about the daily struggle for survival in the jungle of Siam. Cooper and Schoedsack spent 18 months on site and were almost run down by an elephant stampede — which they managed to capture on film. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1929.

The two men collaborated on The Four Feathers (1929), one of the last silent films. It was partially filmed on location among “Two Fighting Tribes of Sudan,” which became the name of a National Geographic article Cooper authored, using material from that expedition.

Cooper took a break from filmmaking to help form Pan America Airways. He was a member of the board, but he wasn’t there long. He soon began developing King Kong (1933), and overlapping with that project, Cooper and Schoedsack started making The Most Dangerous Game (1932). I have nothing to add to the story of King Kong, except to say the aviators Cooper and Schoedsack were flying the plane (on the sound stage) that finished off the giant ape. See this post by @Eustace C. Scrubb for more about the classic movie.

Cooper went on to produce many more movies, including She (1935), based on the novel by H. Rider Haggard, although Cooper’s immortal queen rules an exotic kingdom concealed in northern Siberia. Supporting actor Nigel Bruce played Nigel Bruce.

When World War II arrived Cooper returned to uniform as a colonel and put his logistical experience to good use, airlifting supplies “over the hump” into China. He served as chief of staff to General Claire Chennault, of “Flying Tiger” fame, and led a successful bombing mission against the Japanese docks in the port of Hong Kong. He provided logistical support to the Doolittle Raid and eventually became chief of staff for the Fifth Air Force's Bomber Command. He was promoted to Brigadier General and was aboard the USS Missouri to witness Japan's surrender.

After the war he returned to movie making, reuniting with Schoedsack to produce Mighty Joe Young (1949), which won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. He co-produced several John Wayne westerns as well as The Quiet Man (1952), taking home two Academy Awards. He was involved in the development of the Cinerama process, the ultra-wide screen, multi-projector system, probably best known from How the West Was Won (1962). He supported Senator Joseph McCarthy in his campaign to root out communism in Hollywood; no surprise for a former Soviet POW.

Cooper died in 1973, after a life well and fully lived. When we compare modern Hollywood personalities, I can’t think of anyone who measures up to the breadth of experience of Merian C. Cooper. He gave us some of the best Hollywood could offer.