Not Rated | 2 h 8 min | Drama, Biopic | 1943
One of Hollywood’s all-time greats, Gary Cooper, was born in 1901. One of America’s all-time baseball greats, Lou Gehrig, was born just two years later, in 1903.
Both loved the outdoors; Gehrig, hitting his heart out as first baseman for the Yankees, and Cooper, stunt-riding, and hunting and fishing. In photographs, as young men, they looked uncannily alike.
Lou Gehrig as a new New York Yankee. Pacific & Atlantic Photos, Inc. (Public Domain)
In reality, they couldn’t be more different, presenting producers with at least a few challenges when casting Cooper to star in their biopic on Gehrig. Gehrig stood about 5 feet 9 inches tall, Cooper 6 feet 2 inches. Gehrig was left-handed, Cooper right-handed. Yet, once Cooper stepped onto the screen, he simply became Gehrig….