John DiLeo Hosts Gary Cooper Film Festival

Film historian John DiLeo hosts the Gary Cooper Film Festival, April 20-22, at the Milford Theatre (Milford, PA), home of the Black Bear Film Festival. Special guest Maria Cooper Janis, Gary Cooper’s daughter, will be present for an interview with John DiLeo, as well as for a question and answer session and for a book signing. The festival will show four Gary Cooper films: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), A Farewell to Arms (1932) based on Ernest Hemingway’s novel, High Noon (1952), and The Pride of the Yankees (1942) based on the life of Yankees legend Lou Gehrig who succumbed to ALS at age 37. Also as a special treat to film enthusiasts, at least one of Gary Cooper’s Oscars will be on display in the lobby of the Milford Theatre.

Born in Helene, Montana in 1901, actor Gary Cooper’s film career spanned from 1925 until his death in 1961. He is a two-time Academy award winner for best actor for the films Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952).

Film historian John DiLeo wrote about Gary Cooper in his essay, “The Came to Cordura (1959): Heroic Icon Plays a Coward” which appeared in his book, Screen Savers: 40 Remarkable Movies Awaiting Rediscovery (2007). An abridged version of the essay is available at the official Gary Cooper web site run by his daughter Maria Cooper Janis. Both the essay and John DiLeo’s book Screen Savers are available electronically for the Kindle, the Nook and the iPad. John DiLeo’s latest book is Screen Savers II: My Grab Bag of Classic Movies (2012) from Hansen Publishing Group and is available as a paperback and as an ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the Apple iBookstore.