Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Merian C. Cooper
Merian Caldwell Cooper (October 24, 1893, Jacksonville, Florida, USA — April 21, 1973, San Diego, California, USA, died of cancer) was an American movie actor, director, screenwriter and producer. His most famous work was the 1933 movie King Kong. He was married to Dorothy Jordan.
Merian Caldwell Cooper entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1915 but left in his senior year. In 1916 he joined the Georgia National Guard to help chase Pancho Villa in Mexico.
From late 1919 until the 1921 Treaty of Riga he was a member of a volunteer American flight squadron, the Kosciuszko Squadron, which supported the Polish Army in the Polish-Soviet War. On July 26, 1920, his plane was shot down, and he spent nearly 9 months in a Soviet prisoner of war camp. He escaped just before the war was over and made it to Latvia. For valor he was decorated by Polish commander-in-chief Józef Piłsudski with the highest Polish military decoration, the Virtuti Militari.
Cooper has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (his name is misspelled "Meriam C. Cooper").
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