The Last Hero: A Biography of Gary Cooper. This item is unavailable.The Last Hero: A Biography of Gary Cooper

Exploring both the public person and the private person, Swindell suggests that the real Gary Cooper was the antithesis of his good-guy screen image, hinting at extramarital affairs and bisexuality

Larry Nolan Swindell is formatively a Californian and UCLA graduate but is a native Texan who, in 2014, was inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. His five published biographies, all focused on leading stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, are deeply rooted in the history of American movies, his consuming passion. Now retired, logged 45 years as a newspaper journalist and editor. He was literary editor and critic-at-large for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from 1980 to 2000. Concurrent with his journalistic odyssey, he was an instructor in literature and composition at five universities, including a 20-year stretch at Texas Christian University. In 1974 he founded the "Bookshelf" column, which was syndicated nationally by The New York Times and the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain for a decade. He also reviewed Broadway productions for dailies throughout New York's Westchester County. Larry is father to three daughters and two sons, and he has eleven grandchildren. He was married to Broadway actress Eleanor Eby until her death in 1983. He is now living California with his second wife (and childhood sweetheart), Patricia Volder.