Rare photo from Gary Cooper's screen test for Universal's DRACULA!

[yanceycravat]

The role, of course went to Bela Lugosi and Cooper went on to star in A FAREWELL TO ARMS... Ahhh... what might have been!

[hamradio]

Lameula. 

[laffite]

It would have been terrible. Of course they probably had screen tests for many of the reigning stars at the time, probably a number of which they knew had no chance. Gary Cooper as the Count?. What a hoot.

[hamradio]

Bela Lugosi was born to fill that role, talk about perfect timing of actor and film.

If Gary Cooper starred in it, not only would patrons demand their money back but want the management take the reels of 35mm film, stack it and drive a sharpen telephone pole through it.

[TikiSoo]

[spence]

Sadly it's becoming more and more evident that people today barely if at all remember the 2 time legendary *Gary Cooper-(l90l-6l) nobody-(except here & a few other Golden Age sites) never even mention him & if you ask a young so called moviebuffs about him, you get the patented noawadays reply "O, That Was Before My Time" unquote  So damn frustrating when I hear that & it's getting worse daily   Same goes for W.C. Fields-(l879-l946)& yet *Bogey, *The King: Gable & many others still immensely known & popular are still recalled?

When I first fell in love with THE MOVIES around age 13 to 14 in 1979 I immediately wanted first to know why the likes of a Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas in particular would talk about say Citizen Kane, *GWTW, *Casablanca, *The Great: Spencer Tracy-(a phrase Mike kinda started on his tv show)  before seeing the new stuff, Apocalypse Now though really out the hook in me  as far as going to new cinema  I figured you start from the beginning & work your way up

I loath when people say that about "Before My Time" & then cite things like "O Did You See Friday the 13th" that was the best ever???  How shortsighted can one be Had a girlfriend that onl loved blood & guts in movies & loaned her a legit & can occur thriller 1997's The Edge" & The Grey she was bored, but then again she believed the late Anna Nicole Smith was amazing?

Anyway, *Coop has been falling behind now about a decade when they mention the heayweights of that glorious era-(TRIVIA: He was also Hemingway's idea of the perfect male star, for what that matters) I even write a pc ion here a few yrs about it. ****, his grave is far from where any fans would think  Sacred Heart, cem in L.I.  His fmr house gone,etc)  I know somebody who will never forget him *Eastwood. Natter of fact *Clint's top heroes are (*Coop, *Jimmy Stewart & *James Cagney with *John "The Duke" Wayne a 4th hero

 

It's weird to see *Cooper or any other actor in earliest stages of sound with all the make-up, lipstsrick,etc *Tracy wouldn't have it though  He hated make-up, but gave in a couple times  Check out earliest still of *Gable, make-up, lipstick,etc when they first saw him in a1920's screen test the producer said "Oh My God, He Looks Like a Damn Ape" unquote

 

THANK YOU

[scsu1975]

[hamradio]

1 hour ago, spence said:

Sadly it's becoming more and more evident that people today barely if at all remember the 2 time legendary *Gary Cooper-(l90l-6l) nobody-(except here & a few other Golden Age sites) never even mention him & if you ask a young so called moviebuffs about him, you get the patented noawadays reply "O, That Was Before My Time" unquote  So damn frustrating when I hear that & it's getting worse daily   Same goes for W.C. Fields-(l879-l946)& yet *Bogey, *The King: Gable & many others still immensely known & popular are still recalled?

When I first fell in love with THE MOVIES around age 13 to 14 in 1979 I immediately wanted first to know why the likes of a Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas in particular would talk about say Citizen Kane, *GWTW, *Casablanca, *The Great: Spencer Tracy-(a phrase Mike kinda started on his tv show)  before seeing the new stuff, Apocalypse Now though really out the hook in me  as far as going to new cinema  I figured you start from the beginning & work your way up

I loath when people say that about "Before My Time" & then cite things like "O Did You See Friday the 13th" that was the best ever???  How shortsighted can one be Had a girlfriend that onl loved blood & guts in movies & loaned her a legit & can occur thriller 1997's The Edge" & The Grey she was bored, but then again she believed the late Anna Nicole Smith was amazing?

Anyway, *Coop has been falling behind now about a decade when they mention the heayweights of that glorious era-(TRIVIA: He was also Hemingway's idea of the perfect male star, for what that matters) I even write a pc ion here a few yrs about it. ****, his grave is far from where any fans would think  Sacred Heart, cem in L.I.  His fmr house gone,etc)  I know somebody who will never forget him *Eastwood. Natter of fact *Clint's top heroes are (*Coop, *Jimmy Stewart & *James Cagney with *John "The Duke" Wayne a 4th hero

 

It's weird to see *Cooper or any other actor in earliest stages of sound with all the make-up, lipstsrick,etc *Tracy wouldn't have it though  He hated make-up, but gave in a couple times  Check out earliest still of *Gable, make-up, lipstick,etc when they first saw him in a1920's screen test the producer said "Oh My God, He Looks Like a Damn Ape" unquote

 

THANK YOU

 

Take your hands off me you damn dirty ape!

[Sepiatone]

I wonder if Coop could have said "A-yup." in a Hungarian accent, and what that might sound like? 

Sepiatone

[Ray Faiola]

[Defenestrator]

Sepatione, you beat me to it. All I can add is the vampire would have been racing against those hands of the clock pointing straight up at high midnight, all while getting his best advice from Lon Chaney Jr.

Coop did have just a single degree of separation from one other classic movie monster though, since it was actually Mrs. Gary Cooper (Sandra Shaw) who looked out the NYC hotel window in 1933 and screamed upon seeing King Kong, the Eighth Wonder then climbing that building and picking up a different, sleeping woman (Gertrude Sutton) before dropping her to the pavement, although there is debate over whether Fay Wray's stuntwoman, Judy Malcolm, may have done the actual falling shot. I had thought Sandra was the one being dropped until someone corrected the specific roles at imdb, with Gertrude now simply listed as "Hotel Victim." Among Sandra's very few other credits, she later appeared as herself alongside her husband in the Jack Benny Program episode "Gary Cooper Show" in 1958.

[hamradio]

26 minutes ago, Ray Faiola said:

 

He looks like a butler. 

You rang?

[yanceycravat]

2 hours ago, Ray Faiola said:

With Walter Brennan as Renfield! - Photoshop that one please!!!

[TomJH]

"Sure, I wouldn't mind eating a few thousand spiders."

[Ray Faiola]

3 hours ago, yanceycravat said:

With Walter Brennan as Renfield! - Photoshop that one please!!!

[Dargo]

Okay, I'll bite...so to speak.

Who ya got instead playing Van Helsing?

(...and let me warn ya RIGHT now, mention the names Van Heflin or Van Johnson and I'm outta here)

[yanceycravat]

Basil Rathbone as Van Helsing!

Interesting to cast against type but he has the strength and endurance to duel the Count with a wooden cross.

[Dargo]

50 minutes ago, yanceycravat said:

Basil Rathbone as Van Helsing!

Interesting to cast against type but he has the strength and endurance to duel the Count with a wooden cross.

Well sure, Basil would've made a great Van Helsing. I agree.

However, the thought of him playing that part isn't nearly as absurdly funny as Coop playing Dracula and perhaps even more so Walter Brennen playing Renfield.

(...and I thought we were goin' for the laughs here)

[yanceycravat]

You are absolutely right. So by those standards maybe we should see S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall as Van Helsing!

Just imagine his reaction when Dracula walks in!

[Sepiatone]

As Van Helsing is supposed to be a doctor, I imagined LIONEL BARRYMORE rolling into the scene in full Gillespie regalia.

Sepiatone