Maxine Cooper was a talented actress who made a significant mark in the film noir classic "Kiss Me Deadly" (1955) directed by Robert Aldrich. Born on May 12, 1924, in Chicago, Illinois, she was the daughter of Richard, a General Electric distributor, and Gladys Cooper. Maxine took college studies at Bennington College in Vermont, where she became drawn to the theater. She moved to the West Coast in the mid-1940s and furthered her training at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.
In 1946, Maxine went to Europe to entertain the soldiers and decided to settle in England, appearing on the BBC-TV and in a number of London theater productions for nearly five years. She eventually returned to Los Angeles and broke into TV with featured roles in popular shows such as "Dragnet," "Perry Mason," and "The Twilight Zone." Maxine's performance as Velda, faithful gal Friday to cynical private eye Mike Hammer (played by Ralph Meeker),in "Kiss Me Deadly" marked the film debut of both Maxine and Cloris Leachman.
Maxine never again made the same kind of impression in films. Within a couple of years, she would retire from acting. However, she did appear in two more films for Aldrich, including "Autumn Leaves" (1956) and "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962). She also appeared in the TV-movie "High Ice" (1980),written by her husband.
In her personal life, Maxine married Oscar-nominated writer Sy Gomberg near Reno, Nevada, in 1957. She became a strong supporter of civil rights, helping to organize and represent the Hollywood film and TV contingency during the 1960s march on Montgomery, Alabama, alongside Martin Luther King. She also became an active protester of the Vietnam War and nuclear armament.
In her later years, Maxine pursued photography as a hobby. Some of her photographs were used as illustrations in the popular book "The Art of Zen Meditation" by Howard Fast. Her husband, who contributed to Collier's Weekly and the Saturday Evening Post and taught screenwriting at the University of Southern California for over ten years, preceded her in death in 2001. Maxine passed away of natural causes on April 4, 2009, at her Los Angeles home.
