George Melville Cooper was born on October 15, 1896, in Birmingham, England, to non-professional parents W.C.J. and Frances (Brennan) Cooper. He attended various English public schools, including King Edward's School in Birmingham.
Attracted to the stage at a young age, Cooper made his debut at Stratford-on-Avon at 18, but his career was interrupted by World War I. He served in a Scottish regiment on the Western Front and was captured and made prisoner of war by the Germans.
After the war, Cooper returned to the theatre and earned good reviews in the play "The Farmer's Wife" in 1921. He made his official London debut with a production of "Back to Methuselah" in 1924 and furthered his career on stage with roles in "The Third Finger" (1927) and "Journey's End" (1929).
Cooper turned to films in middle age with the English entry "Black Coffee" (1931) and, after supporting roles in the popular costumers "The Private Life of Don Juan" (1934) and "The Scarlet Pimpernel" (1934),decided to cross the waters to seek work in America.
Taking his first Broadway curtain call with "Laburnum Grove" (1935),he also appeared in "Jubilee" (1935) and "Tovarich" (1937) and subsequently became a sometime stage director, as in the case of the 1947 production of "We Love a Lassie".
In Hollywood, Cooper was effectively cast as ineffectual types and played in a number of "A" pictures. He made a most reliable and disdainful butler, chauffeur or doorman in such films as "The Bishop Misbehaves" (1935),"Four's a Crowd" (1938),"Too Many Husbands" (1940),"And Baby Makes Three" (1949),and "The Petty Girl" (1950).
Cooper made an active jaunt into TV roles in the 1950s but returned strongly to the stage after bidding farewell to films in 1958. In the 1960s, he enjoyed such scene-stealing theatrical roles as Colonel Pickering in "My Fair Lady", Pellinore in "Camelot", and Reverend Chasuble in "The Importance of Being Earnest".
He made one last return to Broadway playing a valet in a short-run revival of the farcical comedy "Charley's Aunt" in 1970, which co-starred Rex Thompson, Louis Nye, and Maureen O'Sullivan.
Cooper was married three times, his first being to London-born actress Rita Page, who had a bit part in one of his films, "This Above All" (1942),and died in 1954. They had one daughter, Valerie. The 76-year-old Cooper died in Los Angeles of cancer in 1973, and was survived by his third wife, Elizabeth.
