It took a special child actor to get Oscar nominated for playing someone named Skippy, but back in the 30s Cooper’s stardom rivaled that of his co-star in The Champ, Wallace Beery (above). Later he became a pretty decent grownup actor (TV’s Studio One in the 50s, Superman as Perry White) and a respected director.
Always A Pleasure Dept: A sly comedienne, Marian Mercer was from Akron, Ohio, and won a Tony Award for her bit as a loopy barfly in the original production of Promises, Promises. TV fame followed on shows like It’s a Living. Above, with co-star Sammy Davis Jr. in Stop the World I Want to Get Off (she played all the women).
A mainstay on Broadway for over 60 years, Laurents directed the last revival of Gypsy with Patti LuPone (actually he did them all except the one with Bernadette Peters). His turbulent reputation (as all-purpose mean guy, but also as an artist who, admirably, was never in the closet) didn’t get in the way of his work, which ranged from theater to the movies. In the hearts of women and softies everywhere, he’ll be forever enshrined for penning the bittersweet The Way We Were–his original screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award.