Jackie Cooper appeared in all four of the Christopher Reeve led Superman movies as Perry White, the no-nonsense, tough-as-nails editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet and as a kid, he was somebody I wanted to work for. Or maybe it was his job I wanted (hey I'm the editor of a film website, not a bad compromise!). In any event, his Perry White was my first introduction to the iconic character and he defined it for me. - straight shooting & passionate;
"Now I tell ya boys and girls, whoever gets this story is going to wind up with the single most important interview since......God talked to Moses! What are you standin' around for? Move! GET ON THAT STORY!"
- opportunistic
"A good reporter doesn't get good stories, a good reporter makes them great"
- with an eye for talent, responsible for my favourite line in the whole film;
"Lois, Clark Kent may seem like just a mild-mannered reporter, but listen, not only does he know how to treat his editor-in-chief with the proper respect, not only does he have a snappy, punchy prose style, but he is, in my forty years in this business, the fastest typist I've ever seen."
The best on screen Perry White to date... and he only won the role because the originally cast Keenan Wynn had heart trouble and Cooper was the only actor on their radar who had a passport and could quickly turn up on set and just perform. Fate would determine that he would be the perfect fit for the character having initially auditioned and lost out for the role of Otis, Lex Luthor's sidekick. Having won a Best Actor Oscar nomination impossibly at just nine years old (!) for his title performance in the kid's drama Skippy, he remains the youngest ever actor to be nominated for a leading man Oscar and it's a record I can't imagine will be broken. With that kind of pressure, it's a miracle he had as successful a t.v. and supporting film career as he had. Cooper died from an undisclosed illness on Tuesday at a L.A. hospital, aged 88. I'm not familiar with Cooper's other work but The Daily Mail have a good obituary today. Right now director Zack Snyder is trying to nail down a Perry White to feature in his own Superman reboot 'Man of Steel'. He will do well to find somebody as fitting for the role as White. Though if he was to consider Hugh Laurie, he might be onto something.