Born May 12, 1924, in Chicago to Richard Cooper, a General Electric distributor, and his wife, Gladys. While at Bennington College in Vermont, Cooper became interested in theater and finished her dramatic training at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Daughter of Richard Cooper, a General Electric distributor, and his wife, Gladys.
Has three children: son Chris; two daughters, Katherine and Marsha; and five grandchildren.
In 1946, Cooper went to Europe to perform in shows for soldiers. She stayed for five years, appearing in BBC-TV and theatrical productions. Upon returning to Los Angeles, she appeared mainly on TV throughout the 1950s in such shows as "Dragnet," "Perry Mason" and "The Twilight Zone. Best known for playing the secretary, Velda, in the 1955 film noir classic "Kiss Me Deadly,".
She also marshaled the entertainment community to participate in protests against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons.
Social activist.
While at Bennington College in Vermont, she became interested in theater and finished her dramatic training at the Pasadena Playhouse.
With her husband, she helped organize actors, writers and executives to march in the 1960s with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Ala. She also marshaled the entertainment community to participate in protests against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons, among other national and local causes. Later in life, she developed an interest in photography. When her photographs illustrated the Howard Fast book "The Art of Zen Meditation," The Los Angeles Times' 1977 review called the book "beautiful.".