Dame Gladys Cooper
(1888-1971), ActressSitter in 174 portraits
A great British figure of twentieth-century theatre, Cooper started her career as a chorus girl in The Girls of Gottenberg (1907) with George Edwardes's company at the Gaiety theatre in London, returning the following year as a 'travelling newspaper beauty' in Havana. She was the most popular picture-postcard beauty of the First World War. In 1916, she began to act at the Playhouse, later becoming its manager - one of few women before the Second World War to manage a West End theatre. In 1940, a small role in Hitchcock's Rebecca led to a thirty-year Hollywood career. Notable film successes include Now, Voyager (1942), The Song of Bernadette (1943) and My Fair Lady (1964). She was created a Dame in 1967.
Dame Gladys Cooper; Sally Pearson (née Cooper) as a 'Coster boy'; Sir Gerald Du Maurier
by Bassano Ltd
bromide print, January 1934
NPG x85761
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate glass negative, 16 January 1934
NPG x26772
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate glass negative, 16 January 1934
NPG x26773
Sally Pearson (née Cooper); Dame Gladys Cooper; Sir Gerald Du Maurier
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate glass negative, 16 January 1934
NPG x26774
Sally Pearson (née Cooper); Sir Gerald Du Maurier; Dame Gladys Cooper
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate glass negative, 16 January 1934
NPG x26775
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print, November 1940
NPG x29935
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print, November 1940
NPG x6384
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print, November 1940
NPG x6386
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print, November 1940
NPG x6385
Philip Merivale; Dame Gladys Cooper
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print, November 1940
NPG x6387
Philip Merivale and Dame Gladys Cooper
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print, November 1940
NPG x6388
Dame Gladys Cooper with her daughter Sally Pearson (née Cooper)
by Dorothy Wilding
chlorobromide print, 1942
NPG x6389
by Anthony Buckley
modern bromide print from original negative, 1950
NPG x75976
by Anthony Buckley
modern bromide print from original negative, 1950
NPG x75978
by Cecil Beaton
bromide print on white card mount, 1950
NPG x14051
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print, circa 1952
NPG x29936
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print on tissue and card mount, 1955
NPG x29937
by Dorothy Wilding
half-plate film negative, 22 November 1955
NPG x34770
by Dorothy Wilding
half-plate film negative, 22 November 1955
NPG x34771
by Dorothy Wilding
half-plate film negative, 22 November 1955
NPG x34773
by Dorothy Wilding
half-plate film negative, 22 November 1955
NPG x34775
by Dorothy Wilding
half-plate film negative, 22 November 1955
NPG x34776
by Dorothy Wilding
half-plate film negative, 22 November 1955
NPG x34777
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print on tissue and card mount, 22 November 1955
NPG x6380
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide print, 22 November 1955
NPG x6381
by Dorothy Wilding
chlorobromide print on tissue and card mount, 22 November 1955
NPG x6382
by Dorothy Wilding
chlorobromide print on tissue and card mount, 22 November 1955
NPG x6383
by Angus McBean
modern bromide print from original negative, 1960s
NPG x135805
Dame Gladys Cooper as Mrs Higgins in 'My Fair Lady'
by Cecil Beaton
bromide contact print from 10 x 8 inch negative, 13 November 1963
NPG x40066
Dame Gladys Cooper as Mrs Higgins in 'My Fair Lady'
by Cecil Beaton
bromide contact print from 10 x 8 inch negative, 13 November 1963
NPG x40067
Dame Gladys Cooper as Mrs Higgins in 'My Fair Lady'
by Cecil Beaton
bromide contact print from 10 x 8 inch negative, 13 November 1963
NPG x40068
Dame Gladys Cooper as Mrs Higgin's in 'My Fair Lady'
by Cecil Beaton
bromide print, 1963
NPG x40071
Dame Gladys Cooper; Dinah Sheridan
by Anthony Buckley
modern bromide print from original negative, 1967
NPG x76250
by Anthony Buckley
modern bromide print from original negative, 1969
NPG x76261
by Godfrey Argent
bromide print, 26 September 1970
NPG x165647
by Godfrey Argent
bromide print, 26 September 1970
NPG x165648
after Charles Buchel (Karl August Büchel), and after John Hassall
lithograph, early 20th century
NPG D34108
by Robert Stewart Sherriffs
pen and ink and wash, 1938
NPG D52
Related People
- John Rodney Buckmaster (son)
- Philip Merivale (husband)
- Joan Morley (née Buckmaster) (daughter)
- Sheridan Morley (grandson)
- Sir Neville Arthur Pearson, 2nd Bt (husband)
- Sally Pearson (née Cooper) (daughter)
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.