Leading actor Gary Cooper, who died on 13 May, 1961, was one of those Hollywood actors you wanted to trust: tall, handsome and honourable.

He was the stoic hero who kept his head when all others were losing theirs.

Mr Cooper, who was nominated for an Oscar five times and won two, made more than 100 films. As the strong silent type, he was particularly suited to the good guy in westerns - none more so than his magnificent portrayal of Marshal Will Kane in High Noon .

In 1999, the American Film Institute named Mr Cooper among the greatest male stars of all time, ranking at number 11.

Frank James Cooper was born on May 7, 1901, in Helena, Montana, son of Charles and Alice Cooper. He was educated in England at Dunstable School 1910-13 and Iowa College, Grinnell, Iowa.

Aged 13, he was in a car accident and moved to his father's cattle ranch in Montana to recuperate; there he learned to ride and became friendly with 10-year-old Myrna Loy, who lived nearby.

His first stage experience was during high school and college. He moved to Los Angeles to become an artist in the advertising industry but when that didn’t work he became an extra for a year and then won a part in The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926).

He changed his name to Gary on the advice of an agent who said it had a much tougher image.

Mr Cooper became a big star with his first sound picture, The Virginian (1929), a powerful story of love and betrayal that ends in a shootout.

Early successes included A Farewell to Arms (1932), the tough story of a soldier’s life by Ernest Hemingway , with whom Mr Cooper became friends; The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) and The Plainsman (1936).

The same year, the Frank Capra comedy Mr Deeds Goes to Town caused a sensation and Mr Cooper shone as a small-town man who came into a fortune — and had to fight off gold-diggers.

In 1941, he won his first Oscar for best actor for the title role in Sergeant York , the story of a First World War hero. In 1952, he won his second Academy Award for his performance as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon .

High Noon is the classic tale of a man having to do what a man’s gotta do. Kane must take on the bad guys because all the other "good" men in town won't take up arms for a just cause. Many saw it as an allegory of the cowardice shown in America against McCarthyism; be that as it may, it was a superb western.

Mr Cooper married Veronica Balfe, a New York socialite who had been an actress.

In 1960 he had surgery for cancer of the colon and prostate. The next year, Mr Cooper’s friend James Stewart accepted an honorary Oscar on his behalf and announced the news of Cooper’s illness.

Hearing the news, the newly elected President John F Kennedy tried to call Mr Cooper - but the phone was so busy. Eventually he got through and chatted for some time. Mr Cooper died a month later.