Film and television work Cooper began her screen acting career in the 1950s after signing a contract with
Universal Studios, performing initially as a supporting player in films with stars like
Maureen O'Hara,
Glenn Ford,
Tony Curtis, and
Henry Fonda. Her first film role was as Myra in the 1953
western film,
The Redhead from Wyoming. She later appeared in small roles in
The Man from the Alamo,
Over-Exposed,
5 Steps to Danger,
Rock All Night,
House of Women,
13 West Street,
The Intruder,
Black Zoo,
The Glory Guys,
Tony Rome,
The Boston Strangler and
Kansas City Bomber. Cooper was a fixture on episodic television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1956, she was cast as Mrs. Hinton in "The Rabbi Davis Story" of the religious
anthology series,
Crossroads. That same year, she portrayed Louise Douglas in "Girl Bandit" of
Broderick Crawford's
syndicated crime drama,
Highway Patrol. She also appeared in the
Wagon Train episode titled "The Whipping" and as Marie Conover in the 1957
Cheyenne episode titled "Top Hand" starring
Clint Walker. Cooper played Ann Dix in the 1955 episode "I Am Joaquin" of the
syndicated western anthology series,
Death Valley Days, hosted by
Stanley Andrews. In the storyline, Ann searches with ultimate success for eight years for the return of her young daughter whom the Mexican bandit
Joaquin Murrieta (Cliff Fields) left at a
Roman Catholic church after he boarded a ship and stabbed to death the girl's father, Capt. Stephen Dix, played by John Damler. In 1957, she starred in one of the early episodes of two different western series,
NBC's
Tales of Wells Fargo starring
Dale Robertson, in the role of the woman bandit
Belle Starr, and two episodes on
ABC’s
Maverick; in 1959, she portrayed Duchess in a second
Tales of Wells Fargo episode, "
Clay Allison". In 1958, she was cast in the episode "Wheel of Fortune" of the NBC western series,
Jefferson Drum, starring
Jeff Richards as a newspaper publisher. Also in 1958, Cooper appeared as Lucy in the "Sundown at Bitter Creek" episode of the
CBS western anthology series, ''
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. She guest starred as love interest Myra in Wanted Dead or Alive'' starring
Steve McQueen in S2 E14 "Man on Horseback", which aired 12/3/1959. and Jeanne Cooper in
The Intruder (1962) In 1960, she again played Belle Starr in the "Shadow of Jesse James" episode of the TV series
Bronco starring
Ty Hardin. Cooper made five guest appearances during the nine-year run of CBS's
Perry Mason starring
Raymond Burr, beginning with the role of Laura Beaumont in the 1958 episode, "The Case of the Corresponding Corpse." In the final season of the show, she made her fifth and final appearance as defendant Miriam Fielding in the 1966 episode, "The Case of the Vanishing Victim". In 1962, Cooper earned her first Emmy nomination for her performance in
Ben Casey. She appeared as a regular on NBC's ''
Bracken's World'' series about the movie business. For many years, the story of Katherine's bitter rivalry with character
Jill Foster Abbott (originally portrayed by Brenda Dickson, and more recently by
Jess Walton) was a mainstay of the show. A 2003 storyline suggested Jill was Katherine's daughter born out of wedlock, but further story developments in 2009 cast doubt on that assertion, and the long-bitter enemies were found not to be mother and daughter after all. Cooper received ten
Daytime Emmy nominations, nine for Outstanding Lead Actress and one for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and two
Primetime Emmy nominations. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Daytime Emmys in 2004. For her contributions to television, Cooper received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is located at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. She won the 2008
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. This was her first competitive win; she had first been nominated in 1989. Cooper's character, Katherine, was thought to have died in a November 2008 episode. It was, however, her look-alike,
Marge, who died, and Katherine had experienced memory issues due to the car accident that took Marge's life. Cooper had to take a medical leave in October 2011 and her part on the soap was temporarily recast with veteran actress
Michael Learned. However, the next month, Cooper confirmed she was returning to the set. She returned as part of the show on December 23, 2011. She taped her last scene on the show in March 2013 on the same day as the
Young and the Restless 40th anniversary and this scene aired on May 3, 2013, five days before her death. A tribute episode of
The Young and the Restless in honor of Jeanne Cooper, made up of clips, cast memories and interviews, was shown on May 28, 2013, on CBS. Her character, Katherine, died offscreen a few months later after a trip around the world. ==Personal life==