Edna Mae Cooper (July 19, 1900 – June 27, 1986),Cooper's birth year is inconsistently reported in sources; for example, her age is 13 in the 1910 census, but 35 in the 1940 census, neither of which would correspond to the 1900 birth year on her gravestone. also seen as Edna May Cooper, was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in dozens of films between 1911 and 1929. She was also involved in aviation, setting an endurance record in 1931 with fellow pilot Bobbi Trout.

Early life Cooper was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Long Beach, California, the daughter of Mary Mae Cooper.1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 United States censuses, via Ancestry. She earned a pilot's license at Parks Air College in St. Louis in 1930.

Career

Film Producer-director Cecil B. DeMille discovered Cooper in the casting office of the Famous Players–Lasky studio. She was "jobless and weeping" and he invited her to his office and nicknamed her "The Girl With The Tragic Eyes". DeMille then gave her a part in his 1917 silent film The Woman God Forgot, and she also had roles in his silent-era biblical epics, The Ten Commandments (1923) and The King of Kings (1927). Her other films include Men, Women, and Money (1919) and Grounds for Divorce (1925). The King of Kings inspired her to write The Life of Christ, which became the basis for the dramatic lectures she gave at church clubs and hospitals around the world.

Cooper played a lady of the pharaoh's court in DeMille's 1956 remake of The Ten Commandments. She and Julia Faye appeared in both versions. Cooper said, "Before I start my Bible talks over in Korea and Formosa, I wanted to work again for this man whom I regard as the world's greatest preacher. The Ten Commandments will be an inspiring motion picture, as was the first, in 1923, of which I was a part. That's why I'm back once more as an actress."

Aviation Cooper announced that she was leaving films for aviation in 1930. In 1931, co-pilots Cooper and Bobbi Trout set the world's refueling endurance record, with a flight over the airport in Los Angeles. They first attempted the flight on January 1, 1931, but due to technical problems they had to abort the flight. At their next attempt, they were successful in flying straight for 122 hours and 50 minutes, despite windy and rainy conditions. They ended the run on January 9, 1931, in difficult weather, with engine problems. Trout and Cooper appeared together at the Sacramento Auto Show in February 1931, with the plane they used to set the record, the Lady Rolph.

In March 1931, Cooper went missing from Santa Monica, and was discovered a week later in a hotel in Monterey, registered under an alias, injured and confused. She had bruises and a head injury. The doctor on her case linked her condition to her aviation stunt, telling newspapers that it was probably "a cumulative exhaustion" that "sapped her nervous strength".

Trout and Cooper's 1931 record earned them decorations from several governments, and still stood in 1949. Cooper was a friend to Amelia Earhart. In 1937, she and her son drove from Los Angeles to New York in under four days, seeking another record.

Later activities In 1934, Cooper's leg was injured when a lighting fixture fell on her while she was shopping for shoes. In 1935, she was in the news for a property dispute over an apartment she owned. In 1936, she told a reporter that she was writing about show business. Cooper was injured in a serious car accident in December 1940, and spent much of the next five years recovering. After 1945, she visited churches and hospitals to tell inspirational stories of her recovery, with a presentation titled "The Life of Christ", involving religious music and imagery. She sold Christmas cards, and sought investor funding to bring her production to military hospitals in Hawaii, Japan, Korea, and Germany in 1950. She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary.

Filmography 1917: The Woman God Forgot 1918: Rimrock Jones - Hazel Hardesty 1918: The Whispering Chorus - Good Face 1918: Old Wives for New - Bertha 1918: Sauce for the Goose - Mrs. Edith Darch 1919: You Never Saw Such a Girl - Mrs. McKenzie 1919: Putting It Over 1919: Men, Women, and Money - Miss Cote 1919: The Third Kiss - Gwendolin Finn 1919: Male and Female - Fisher 1919: Peg o' My Heart 1920: Why Change Your Wife? - Gordon's Maid 1923: The Ten Commandments - Israelite Woman 1924: The Folly of Vanity - Russian Vamp (modern sequence) 1925: Beauty and the Bad Man - Mayme 1925: Grounds for Divorce - Marie 1925: Sally, Irene and Mary - Maggie 1926: Scotty of the Scouts - Effie Middleton 1927: The King of Kings - (uncredited) 1928: The Swim Princess (Short) - Swimming Coach 1928: The Blue Danube 1928: Speedy - Minor Role (uncredited) 1928: Say It with Sables - Maid 1928: Code of the Air 1928: The Apache - Minor Role (uncredited) 1928: George Washington Cohen 1929: Foolish Husbands (Short) - Committee Woman 1929: Don't Get Jealous (Short) - Mrs. Blake 1956: The Ten Commandments - Woman of the Court (final film role)

Personal life Copper's husband was Karl Brown, a cinematographer, screenwriter, and director. They had a son, Karl, and later divorced. Cooper died in 1986, probably in her eighties, in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

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