Cooper, Merian C
Entry updated 29 March 2023. Tagged: Film, People.
(1893-1973) US screenwriter, film director and producer best known for directing and producing (with Ernest B Schoedsack) the original King Kong (1933), based on a story by himself and Edgar Wallace. Both Cooper and Wallace are given title credit in the resulting novel Tie: King Kong: Conceived by Edgar Wallace and Merian C Cooper: Novelization by Delos W Lovelace (1932) by Delos W Lovelace.
Again with Schoedsack he co-directed The Most Dangerous Game (1932; vt Hounds of Zaroff), produced simultaneously and on the same film lot as King Kong. Cooper also has story credits for the King Kong lookalike Mighty Joe Young (1949; vt Mr Joseph Young of Africa) directed by Ernest B Schoedsack, and for the remake King Kong (2005). He co-produced Dr Cyclops (1940) directed by Schoedsack.
Cooper received an honorary Academy Award (Oscar) for lifetime achievement in 1952. [DRL]
Merian Caldwell Cooper
born Jacksonville, Florida: 24 October 1893
died San Diego, California: 21 April 1973
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