Elizabeth Cooper

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Elizabeth Cooper (1910- June 29, 1960) was a Filipino film actress. In addition to her movie career, she was also known for her relationship with General Douglas MacArthur.

Contents 1 Film career 2 Relationship with Macarthur 3 Filmography 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Film career

She was born Isabel Rosario Cooper to a Scottish father and Chinese-Filipina mother. As a teenager she travelled around Southeast Asia as a torch singer-entertainer. She broke into films by 1925. Her most prominent films were Miracles of Love (1925) and Ang Tatlong Hambog (1926). In the latter film, Cooper made Filipino film history with Luis Tuason when they performed the very first kissing scene in Philippine film history.

Cooper made her last movie, Ikaw Pala, in 1941 under LVN Pictures.

[edit] Relationship with Macarthur

Cooper caught the eye of the American General Douglas MacArthur, then commander of all U.S. troops in the Philippines.

She subsequently became his secret mistress in Manila, a fact the fifty-something MacArthur vigorously hid from his 80 year old mother, "Pinky" MacArthur.

Isabel, or "Dimples," eventually ended up ensconsed in an apartment in Washington, DC when General MacArthur was appointed Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and was transferred there, a situation which did not best suit Cooper's lively personality. According to one biographer of MacArthur, William Manchester , MacArthur "showered [Cooper] with presents and bought her many lacy tea gowns, but no raincoat. She didn't need one, he told her; her duty lay in bed."

When the secret affair threatened to become public, MacArthur brought it to an end and gave Cooper a ticket back to the Philippines which she did not use[1]. Instead, she opened a hairdressing salon in the Midwest, before moving to Los Angeles some years later. As a result of the break-up with MacArthur, Cooper began a downward slide into the depression which led to her eventual suicide from an overdose of barbiturates in 1960.

[edit] Filmography

• 1925 Miracles of Love
• 1926 Ang Tatlong Hambog
• 1927 Fate or Consequence
• 1941 Ikaw Pala

[edit] External links

• Elizabeth Cooper at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] References

• American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur: 1880-1964. ISBN 0-440-30424-5. 
• Garcia, Jessie B. (2004). A Movie Album Quizbook. Iloilo City, Philippines: Erehwon Books & Magazine, p. 78-80, 127. ISBN 971-93297-0-X. 

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