Wyatt Cooper

Wyatt Emory Cooper (September 1, 1927 – January 5, 1978) was an American actor, screenwriter, and author born in Mississippi. He grew up in Pleasant Grove, Mississippi, in a family with deep Southern roots and limited financial means, before relocating to New Orleans, Louisiana, as a young child. Cooper later pursued formal training in theater arts at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he earned his degree and began building a career as a performer.

His acting work brought him to Broadway in 1953, where he appeared in The Strong Are Lonely. During his thirties, Cooper divided his time between Los Angeles and the Bay Area, attending both UCLA and UC Berkeley while transitioning into screenwriting. He lived in West Hollywood during this period, in proximity to writer Dorothy Parker and her husband Alan Campbell, and the two developed a close friendship. Following Parker's death in 1967, Cooper contributed a widely read profile of her to Esquire magazine under the title "Whatever You Think Dorothy Parker Was Like, She Wasn't."

As a screenwriter, Cooper's credits include the 1962 film The Chapman Report and the 1972 film The Glass House. He also worked as an author, publishing Families: A Memoir and a Celebration through Harper and Row in 1975, in which he reflected on family, love, and his personal life.

On December 24, 1963, Cooper married Gloria Vanderbilt, heiress to the Vanderbilt family fortune, becoming her fourth husband. The couple had two sons together: Carter Vanderbilt Cooper, born in 1965, and Anderson Hays Cooper, born in 1967, who later became an anchor for CNN. Cooper and Vanderbilt were frequently named to national best-dressed lists. Cooper died in Manhattan on January 5, 1978, at the age of 50, following open heart surgery after suffering a heart attack the previous December.