Researching Charles Cooper

Charles Darwin Cooper (August 11, 1926 – November 29, 2013) was an American actor who played a wide variety of television and film roles from 1950 to 2001. On Broadway, Cooper appeared in The Winner (1954) and All You Need Is One Good Break (1950).

In 1958 he played outlaw Cando in Season 3 Episode 36 of "Gunsmoke" titled "Chester's Hanging." Also in 1958, Cooper played the outlaw Tate Masters in the episode "Twelve Guns" of NBC's Western television series Cimarron City with George Montgomery and John Smith. In 1959, he played a gunfighter, Jack Rollins, in the episode "The Visitor" of Lawman, an ABC/Warner Bros. Television Western series. He was cast as Matt Yordy in the 1961 episode "Honest Abe" of Chuck Connors' The Rifleman.

Cooper made four guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of murderer Philip Strague in the 1958 episode, "The Case of the Buried Clock". His final appearance in 1962 was as Ben Willoughby in "The Case of the Poison Pen-Pal".

Cooper is perhaps best remembered for his appearances in Star Trek-related roles. He played the Klingon chancellor K'mpec in Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Sins of the Father" and "Reunion" and the Klingon General Korrd in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

His other film roles included appearances in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Wrong Man (1956), A Dog's Best Friend (1959), the comedy Valet Girls (1987), and the action film Blind Fury (1989) starring Rutger Hauer.

With his son John Cooper he founded the Cooper Car Company, which produced a string of successful racing cars through the 1950s and '60s. While John provided the enthusiasm and vigour that drove the Cooper company forward, it was Charles' shrewd business brain that provided the stability – and profitability – that laid the foundation for their sporting success. Regular works driver Jack Brabham won the World Drivers' Championship in both the and 1960 Formula One seasons driving the Coopers' revolutionary mid-engined cars, and the Cooper team itself took the World Constructors' Championships. Although they never again achieved the heights of a World Championship, the Coopers' innovative vehicles left a lasting influence on racing car design. Before 1959 all Formula One World Champions had driven front-engined cars; since 1959 no front-engined car has won the World Championship again.

Cooper was born at Plaistow in what was then Essex in 1868, the son of the owner of a wool warehouse. The family moved to Beckenham in Kent during the 1880s and Cooper attended Dulwich College where he played in the Cricket XI in 1885 and 1886. He appeared for the Gentlemen of Kent in 1892 before making his first-class cricket debut for Kent against Somerset in 1894 at Taunton. Cooper played in 10 matches for the county between 1894 and 1896.

Wisden described Cooper as "a steady bat, medium-paced bowler, and good slip fieldsman" in his obituary. He played club cricket for Beckenham Cricket Club, enjoying success with the bat into the 1900s. He married Maud Simpson, the sister of Kent cricketer Ernest Simpson, in 1905; the couple had two children. Professionally, Cooper was a leading suppliers of artist's materials, having trained as a painter himself. He died at Southborough, Kent in 1943 aged 75.