page_title: Miriam Cooper
section_title: D. W. Griffith years
hierarchical_section_title: Miriam Cooper / D. W. Griffith years
caption_attribution_description: English: From left to right, Monte Blue, Miriam Cooper, and Hobart Bosworth pose in costume for a publicity still for the 1917 silent drama Betrayed.
context_page_description: Miriam Cooper was a silent film actress who is best known for her work in early film including The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance for D. W. Griffith and The Honor System and Evangeline for her husband Raoul Walsh. She retired from acting in 1924 but was rediscovered by the film community in the 1960s, and toured colleges lecturing about silent films.
context_section_description: After returning to New York, Cooper decided once again to try D. W. Griffith.  She went to the Biograph offices every day for a week but no one took notice of her.  While leaving school one day, she ran again into Christy Cabanne, who had helped her on her first day as an extra.  He was excited to have found her as Griffith had been looking for her but since she did not have a telephone number they had been unable to find her.  Her first day back at Biograph, Griffith called her into his office five times, but sent her away each time.  The final time he asked her to rehearse a scene with Bobby Harron, telling her Bobby was playing her sweetheart, a confederate soldier going off to war.  Pleased with what he'd seen, Griffith told her they would leave for California, where he would make a picture about the Civil War.  She would make $35 a week.
  Cooper began work on several pictures for Reliance Majestic, which were made under Griffith's supervision, and began preparations for Birth of a Nation.  She stated she didn't remember being in several films as she was never told which scenes she played ended up in which picture.  During this time she acted in one of Griffith's first attempts at a feature, Home, Sweet Home  (1914), although she also didn't remember anything about that film.
  After working several months for the company, Cooper's star was rising and she was given a star dressing room with Mae Marsh.  She couldn't recall the start of Birth of a Nation other than Griffith announced he was making his Civil War picture, and they still did not use scripts.  Cooper was given one of the leading roles as the eldest Southern daughter Margaret Cameron.  As was standard at the time, Cooper did her own makeup and hair.
  Cooper lived the role and found her only truly difficult scene came acting opposite Henry B. Walthall, whom she found cold and difficult.  After having troubles in rehearsal with the scene, she also had trouble while filming.  To get her to act upset in the scene Griffith took her aside and told her that her mother had died.  Despite the trick, Cooper was never angry with him for it.  Cooper's sister Lenore visited her while filming and ended up as an extra playing Lillian Gish's maid in blackface.  While having trouble funding the film, Griffith offered Cooper a chance to invest in it, but Cooper had no money.  Had she invested, Cooper would have made thousands back.
  Cooper was too ill to see the picture when it premiered in Los Angeles.  She finally was able to see it in April 1915, in New York.  On the advice of Norma Talmadge, she asked to get her family in for free, which the theater allowed.  Although she acknowledged the picture's racist tones, Cooper never denounced it.  She attended several revival screenings of it in her later years and stated that she was very glad her legacy would be that of a young girl on screen in the film.
  Cooper was then given the role of 'The Friendless One' in Intolerance.  Cooper noted she played 'a fallen woman' not a 'prostitute', as some sources claimed.  During the filming of the scene where 'The Friendless One' is conflicted with inner torment, a photographer from The New York Times took pictures while Cooper acted.  Stills were usually taken after scenes had been filmed.  This was the first time they were taken during the actual filming.  While Griffith finished Intolerance, Cooper worked on a handful of shorts under other directors for Reliance Majestic.  These were her final shorts.
  In late 1915 Cooper began traveling between New York and California to spend more time with Raoul Walsh.  The couple secretly married in February 1916, before Cooper returned to California.
  Cooper noted Griffith seemed to treat her differently from other actresses by continually giving her bigger parts (Griffith was known for casting an actress as a lead one day and a bit role the next to keep egos in check).  After returning to California, Griffith called Cooper into his office and gave her a leather bound copy of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam telling her it was his next picture and he wanted her
caption: Film still (left to right) of Monte Blue, Cooper, and Hobart Bosworth in costume for Betrayed (1917)
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