Bigelow Cooper

Jackson Bigelow Cooper was born on December 21, 1867, in Springfield, Ohio, and went on to become an American stage and screen character actor with a career spanning several decades. He died in 1953.

Cooper's early professional experience was rooted in stock theater, where he performed with the first stock company at the Murray Hill Theater in New York City. That foundation in repertory work preceded his appearances on Broadway, where he was active from 1904 to 1911. His Broadway credits included the musical The Street Singer and Confession.

In 1911, Cooper transitioned into film work, aligning himself with prominent production companies of the silent era, including Edison and Vitagraph. His screen career extended well into the 1920s and encompassed a wide range of titles. Among his film appearances were What Happened to Mary and The Land Beyond the Sunset, both from 1912, followed by On the Broad Stairway in 1914 and Vanity Fair and Eugene Aram in 1915. He continued working steadily through the latter half of the decade in films such as When Love Is King, The Heart of the Hills, The Light in Darkness, and The Bottom of the Well. His output in 1918 and 1919 included Revelation, Wild Primrose, The Make-Believe Wife, The Test of Honor, The Country Cousin, and Shadows of Suspicion. Cooper's later silent film credits included The Prophet's Paradise, The Exciters, Another Scandal, Bad Company, White Mice, and The Broadway Drifter in 1927.

In 1915, Cooper and a companion were involved in a road accident in which their automobile overturned and pinned them beneath it, though neither sustained serious injuries.