Peter Cookson

Peter Cookson
Peter Cookson
Born	May 8, 1913; Milwaukie, Oregon, U.S.
Died	January 6, 1990 (aged 76); Southfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater	Pasadena Playhouse
Occupation(s)	Actor, director, writer
Organization	Actors Studio
Spouses	; Maureen Gray (m. 1937; div. 1948) ; Beatrice Straight; (m. 1949)
Children	4, including Peter W. Cookson Jr.

Peter Cookson (May 8, 1913 – January 6, 1990) was an American stage and film actor of the 1940s and 1950s. He was known for his collaborations with his wife, Beatrice Straight, an actress and member of the Whitney family.

Early life

Cookson was born on May 8, 1913, on a houseboat on the Willamette River in Milwaukie, Oregon, to Gerald Cookson, a career British Army officer, and Helen Willis, a nurse.^{[citation needed]} Cookson attended the Pasadena Playhouse on a scholarship.^[1]

Career

Cookson appeared in the play The Heiress on Broadway in 1947,^[2] where he met his wife to-be, Beatrice Straight.^[1]^[3] He was also a producer and produced the play The Innocents on Broadway in 1950, starring his wife.^[3] Cookson's most famous stage role was of the love struck judge in Cole Porter's 1953 musical Can-Can^[4] in which he introduced the song "It's All Right With Me."^[3] His New York Times obituary noted that "[i]n interviews at the time, he said he was astonished at being given the part, as he had not sung for an audience since high school."^[1]

Cookson starred in several feature films during the 1940s, including G. I. Honeymoon (1945) and Fear (1946), before moving exclusively to television during the following decade.

He was a founding member of The Actors Studio, as was his second wife Beatrice Straight.^[5]

Personal life

In 1937, Peter married Maureen Gray.^{[citation needed]} Before their divorce in 1948, they had:^[6]

Peter Cookson Jr.
Jane Copland (née Cookson)

Peter and Maureen separated in Spring 1947. They attempted a reconciliation in the Summer of 1947, renting a house in Denver. At that time, Cookson had an affair with actress Patricia Neal. His wife found out and left him.^[6]

In 1948, while starring in the Broadway production of The Heiress,^[7] an adaptation of Henry James's Washington Square, Cookson met Beatrice Straight, who he was acting opposite. Straight was the daughter of Dorothy Payne Whitney, of the Whitney family, and Willard Dickerman Straight, an investment banker and diplomat. Straight's step-father was Leonard Knight Elmhirst. Cookson and Straight married in 1949, and had two children:^[1]^[8]

Gary Cookson, an actor.^[9]
Tony Cookson, writer and director of And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird (1991)^[9]

Cookson died in 1990 of bone cancer at his home in Southfield, Massachusetts.^[1] Beatrice died in 2001 from pneumonia in Northridge, Los Angeles at the age of eighty-six.^[10]

Published works

Henderson's Head (1973),^[11] a novel described as "sexually whiffy psychotic stuff" by Kirkus Reviews.^[12]
Pigeons, a comedy play^[13] later turned into a script in 1986.^[14]
Million Rosebuds (1978), a play written with the New Dramatists^{[citation needed]}
Unique Species (1984), a play.^[15]

Filmography and credits

Title^[2]	Medium	Year	Role	Notes
Swingtime Johnny	Film	1943	Jonathan
A Guy Named Joe	Film	1943	Sgt. Hanson (uncredited)
Strange Confession	Film	1944	Soldier
Detective Kitty O'Day	Film	1944	Johnny Jones
The Girl Who Dared	Film	1944	Rufus Blair
Shadow of Suspicion	Film	1944	Jimmy Dale
Adventures of Kitty O'Day	Film	1945	Johnny Jones
G.I. Honeymoon	Film	1945	Lt. Robert 'Bob" Gordon
Behind City Lights	Film	1945	Lance Marlow
The Scarlet Horseman	Film	1946	Kirk Norris
Fear	Film	1946	Larry Crain
Strange Conquest	Film	1946	William Sommers
Don't Gamble with Strangers	Film	1946	Bob Randall
Message for Margaret	Theatre	1947	Robert Chalcot	Theatre World Award (winner)
The Heiress	Theatre	1947-48	Morris Townsend
The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse	Television	1949
Robert Montgomery Presents	Television	1950	Maxim de Winter
The Innocents	Theatre	1950		Producer (ft. Beatrice Straight)
The Billy Rose Show	Television	1951
The Little Blue Light	Theatre	1950	Ellis	Producer
Lights Out	Television	1951
The Web	Television	1951-52
Broadway Television Theatre	Television	1952	Nathaniel Dunham
Seagulls Over Sorrento	Theatre	1952		Producer
Justice	Television	1954
Suspense	Television	1952-54	Maj. de Spain / Jack Trent
Can-Can	Theatre	1953-5	Judge Aristide Forestier
Studio One in Hollywood	Television	1954
Appointment with Adventure	Television	1955	Jamison Wyatt
Star Tonight	Television	1955
The Millionaire	Television	1957	Alan Bruce
Telephone Time	Television	1957	Paul Wallace
Armstrong Circle Theatre	Television	1955-57
The United States Steel Hour	Television	1957
Four Winds	Theatre	1957	Garrett Scott
Matinee Theatre	Television	1958	James
The DuPont Show of the Month	Television	1958
Kraft Theatre	Television	1952-58	Bruis / Mr. Knightley
The Investigator	Television	1958	A Debonair Bachelor
Rashomon	Theatre	1959		Producer
The Right Honourable Gentleman	Theatre	1965-66		Producer, Tony Award for Best Play (Nominee)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Peter Cookson, 76, A Writer, Producer And Stage Actor" The New York Times, January 8, 1990
^ ^a ^b League, The Broadway. "Peter Cookson – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Peter Cookson Broadway" playbillvault.com, accessed September 16, 2015
^ Times, Special To The New York (29 June 1953). "Cookson Returning to 'Can-Can'". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
^ Garfield, David (1980). "Birth of The Actors Studio: 1947-1950". A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 52. ISBN 0-02-542650-8. Lewis' class included Herbert Berghof, Marlon Brando... Beatrice Straight, Eli Wallach, and David Wayne... Also Henry Barnard, Jay Barney, John Becher, Philip Bourneuf, Joan Chandler, Peter Cookson, Stephen Elliott, Robert Emhardt, Joy Geffen, William Hansen, Will Hare, Jane Hoffman, George Keane, Don Keefer, George Matthews, Peggy Meredith, Ty Perry, Margaret Phillips, David Pressman, William Prince, Elliot Reid, Frances Reid, Kurt Richards, Elizabeth Ross, Thelma Schnee, Joshua Shelley, Fed Stewart, John Straub, Michael Strong, John Sylvester, Julie Warren, Mary Welch, Lois Wheeler, and William Woodson.
^ ^a ^b Shearer, Stephen (2006). Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p. 301. ISBN 0813171369. Retrieved 20 September 2016. peter cookson first wife.
^ Fluker, Kit. "Beatrice Straight papers 1922-1987 [bulk 1968-1986]". nypl.org. Archives of the New York Public Library. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
^ "AIDES FURTHERING SCHOOLS' BENEFIT Committee Advances Sale of Tickets for 'Janus' to Help Two Scholarship Funds". The New York Times. October 2, 1955. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
^ ^a ^b Variety Staff (16 April 2001). "Beatrice Straight". Variety. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
^ Mel Gussow (April 11, 2001). "Beatrice Straight, Versatile Star, Dies at 86". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-01-21. Beatrice Straight, a graceful and versatile actress who won both an Oscar and a Tony Award, died on Saturday in North Ridge, Calif. She was 86 and lived in Beverly Hills, Calif., for most of the last 10 years. ...
^ Cookson, Peter (1973). Henderson's head : a novel. New York: Putnam. ISBN 0399111654.
^ Nov. 26th, 1973. "HENDERSON'S HEAD by Peter Cookson | Kirkus Reviews". kirkusreviews.com. Putnam. Retrieved 20 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ Magers, Donna. "Serial Report Chapter 73-Adrian Booth, Peter Cookson, Tom Mix, The Fatal Warning". www.westernclippings.com. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
^ "RMC: Beatrice Straight Papers". rmc.library.cornell.edu. Cornell University. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
^ "Peter Cookson; Actor and Writer". Los Angeles Times. 12 January 1990. Retrieved 20 September 2016.