Ben Cooper - Westerns

Westerns

Starting in 1959, Cooper began appearing on dozens of television westerns; first, on NBC's Tales of Wells Fargo as Matthew Land in the episode "Home Town", on Wichita Town as Tom Warren in the episode "Passage to the Enemy", and on Ward Bond's Wagon Train as the principal guest star of two episodes, "The Steve Campden Story" and "The Tom Tuckett Story". In 1960, he starred on Don Durant's CBS series Johnny Ringo, a spinoff of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, on which Cooper appeared five times between 1956 and 1960. The Zane Grey episodes were "Vengeance Canyon" (1956) as Clint Harding, "The Sunrise Gun" (1959) as Sam Duskin, Jr., and three 1960 segments, "Miss Jenny" with Vera Miles in the title role and Cooper as Darryl Thompson, "The Sunrise Gun," again as Sam Duskin, Jr., and "Desert Flight" as Sandy.

Cooper appeared in the title guest-starring role in Stagecoach West, starring Wayne Rogers and Robert Bray. In "The Saga of Jeremy Boone" (November 29, 1960), Cooper is cast as a wealthy young Texan seeking to establish his own ranch in the Midwest and who claims descent from frontiersman Daniel Boone. He is smitten by Felicia Sparks, a beautiful conwoman some ten years his senior, played by Marti Stevens. Steve Brodie plays Deuce Stone, Felicia's estranged partner, who tries to kill Jeremy for the $40,000 he has announced exists in his money belt. Wayne Rogers as Luke Perry races to keep Deuce from killing Jeremy, who survives a shot in the back.

Other westerns followed: NBC's The Westerner as Cal in "Hand on the Gun" (1960) and ABC's The Rifleman as Simon Lee in the 1961 episode "Face of Yesterday," NBC's Bonanza as Sam Kirby in "Showdown" (1960) and as Johnny Lightly in "The Horse Breaker" (1961). In 1962, Cooper appeared in two episodes of NBC's Laramie as Sandy Catlin in "The Runt" and as Johnny Hartley, the nephew of Sheriff Mort Corey, played by series character Stuart Randall, in the episode entitled "Gun Duel."

Cooper appeared three times on CBS's Gunsmoke: as Breck Taylor in the two 1965 episodes "Breckinridge" and "Two Tall Men" and as Pitt Campbell in "Apprentice Doc" in 1961. He appeared on CBS's Rawhide as Clell Miller in the episode "The Photographer" (1964). In 1967, Cooper appeared as Lieutenant Drake in the film Red Tomahawk. In 1969, he starred in the syndicated series Death Valley Days as Jason Tugwell in the episode "Biscuits and Billy the Kid."

In 1970, Cooper appeared as another "Jason" in the episode "With Love, Bullets, and Valentines" of the long-running NBC series The Virginian starring James Drury and Doug McClure. In 1971, Cooper appeared in the role of "Colorado" in the James Garner film Support Your Local Gunfighter. In 1974, Cooper guest starred as Goodnight in the episode "The Cenotaph: Part 2" of ABC's Kung Fu starring David Carradine. Twenty-one years later in 1995, Cooper appeared as Sheriff Dowd in the episode "The Promise" of another Kung Fu series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.