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The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong
Villard
August 2005
Featuring: Merian C. Cooper
496 pages
ISBN: 1400062764
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
Explorer, war hero, filmmaker, and cinema pioneer Merian C.
Cooper--the adventurer who created King Kong--was truly
larger than life. "Pictures cannot be made from an
executive’s desk," "Coop" declared, and he did more than
talk the talk--he walked the walk to the far corners of the
globe, with a motion picture camera in tow, in an era when
those corners were truly unknown, untamed, and unforgiving. Cooper’s place in history is assured, thanks not only to
the monstrous gorilla from Skull Island but because the
story of Kong’s creator is even bigger and bolder than the
beast he made into a cultural icon. Spellbound since
boyhood by tales of life-threatening adventure and exotic
locales, Cooper plunged again and again into harrowing
expeditions that took him to places not yet civilized by
modern man. Cooper was one of the first bomber pilots in World War I.
After the war, he helped form the famous Kosciuszko
Squadron in battle-torn Poland. He then turned his
attention to producing documentary films that chronicled
his hair-raising encounters with savage warriors, man-
eating tigers, nomadic tribes, and elephant stampedes. In addition to producing King Kong, he was the first to
team Fred Astaire with Ginger Rogers, arranged Katharine
Hepburn’s screen test, collaborated with John Ford on
Hollywood’s greatest Westerns, and then changed the face of
film forever with Cinerama, the original "virtual reality."
He returned to military service during World War II,
serving with General Claire Chennault in China, flying
missions into the heart of enemy territory. This book is a stunning tribute to a two-fisted visionary
who packed a multitude of lifetimes into eighty remarkable
years. The first comprehensive biography of this unique man
and his amazing time, it’s the tale of someone whose
greatest desire was always to be living dangerously.
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