Patience Cooper

Patience Cooper
Patience Cooper
	Cooper in a publicity portrait in 1930
Born	30 May 1905; Howrah, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died	April 5, 1993 (aged 87); Karachi, Pakistan
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1920–1946
Spouses	; M. A. Isapahani (m. 1926, divorced) ; Gul Hamid Khan (m. 1930; died 1936)

Patience Cooper was an Anglo-Indian actress, and one of the early superstars of Bollywood. She was the daughter of Phoebe Stella Gamble (born in Calcutta in 1881; daughter of John Frederick Gamble and Phoebe Stella Clement whose mother was Armenian and James Alfred Cooper. An Anglo-Indian^[2] born in Howrah, West Bengal, and baptised on 30 May 1905,^[3] Cooper had a successful career in both silent and sound films. She is credited with the first double roles of Indian cinema—as twin sisters in Patni Prataap and as mother and daughter in Kashmiri Sundari,^[4] even though earlier in 1917, actor Anna Salunke had played roles of both the male lead character Ram and the female lead character Seeta in the film Lanka Dahan.^[5]

Stage career

Cooper began her career as a dancer in Bandmann's Musical Comedy, a Eurasian troupe. She later joined Jamshedji Framji Madan's Corinithian Stage Company as an actress.

Film career

Cooper first made an impact with Nala Damayanti (1920). The film starred Keki Adajania as Nala and Cooper as Damayanti. The film was a big budget Madan Theatre production and was directed by Eugenio de Liguoro, known in Italy for his Orientalist spectacles like Fascino d'Oro (1919). Nala Damayanti was famous for its special effects at the time — Narada's ascent of Mount Meru to heaven, the transformations of four gods into impersonations of Nala, the transformation of Kali into a serpent among others.

Her next film was Vishnu Avtar, released in 1921. De Liguoro also directed Dhruva Chartitra (1921), a mythological based on the legend of Dhruva whose quest for eternal knowledge and salvation was rewarded when he became the brightest star in the heavens, the pole star also known as Dhruvatara. The film was made as a bid for an international breakthrough for Madan Theatres and featured many Europeans in the cast along with Cooper who played the female lead, Suniti.

One of Cooper's biggest successes was Pati Bhakti (1922). Cooper played Leelavati in the film, directed by the great JJ Madan himself, advocating that women should be devoted to their husband. The film is regarded as her greatest film and was also involved in a small controversy as in Madras, the censor demanded that a dance number be removed on the grounds of obscenity.

Cooper also played perhaps the first ever double roles in Hindi films — Patni Pratap (1923), where she played two sisters and Kashmiri Sundari (1924), where she played mother and daughter.

Cooper did films right through to the mid-1930s. One of her last major films was Zehari Saap (1933). The film was a typical Cooper vehicle about a medieval chieftain's revolt against the good Nawab Bakar Malik. The nawab's outlaw son vows revenge and finally all's well that ends well. The dramatic conflict in the film sees the chieftain wanting to marry the princess, whom he had raised as his own daughter.

Cooper acted in over 40 films until she retired in 1944, after performing in her last film, Iraada. Cooper was often cast in the role of a sexually troubled but innocent woman, always at the centre of moral dilemmas, often caused by the men in her lives.

A major aspect of Cooper's star image was the successful achievement of the 'Hollywood look' in spite of different light and technical conditions. Her distinctively Anglo-Indian features, like dark eyes, sharp features, ebony hair and light skin tone, allowed technicians to experiment with the imported technique of eye-level lighting and achieve an appearance similar to Hollywood stars of the silent era.

The low number of women, especially Hindus, in the film industry during the 1920s (due to conservative attitudes) meant Anglo-Indian actresses like Cooper, were in demand. Her appearance in a string of successful films has led her to being called the first ever female Indian film star.

Later life

It is generally supposed Cooper married Mirza Ahmad Ispahani Saheb (MAH Ispahani), a well-known Indian businessman. In 1947, they migrated to Pakistan.^[6] Actually she was married to MAH Ispahani at the age of 21 and divorced soon after. She then married Gul Hamid Khan, one of the first early silent movie actors. He died six years later from Hodgkin's Disease.^[7] She remained friends with MAH Ispahani until the end of her life. Cooper changed her name to Sabra Begum and lived the last of her days with her two adopted daughters Zeenat and Haleema in Karachi, Pakistan. Her foster daughter Syeda Nafees Rizvi lives in Houston, Texas, USA^{[citation needed]}. She fostered and/or adopted 17 children during her lifetime. Cooper died in 1993.^[8]

Filmography

Year	Film	Director	Notes
1920	Nala Damayanti	Eugenio de Liguoro
1921	Bishu Abatar	Jyotish Bandyopadhyay
	Dhruba Charitra	Jyotish Bannerji
	Nal Damayanti	Jyotish Bandyopadhyay
	Dhruva Charitra	Eugenio De Liguoro
	Behula	C. Legrand	^[9]
	Vishnu Avatar	C. Legrand
1922	Sati
	Ratnavali	Jyotish Bannerji
	Pati Bhakti	J. J. Madan
	Kamale Kamini	Sisir Kumar Bhaduri
	Ramayan	Jyotish Bandyopadhyay	Serial
	Ramayan	Eugenio De Liguoro	Serial
	Nartaki Tara	Jyotish Bandyopadhyay
	Ratnavali (1922 film)	C. Legrand
	Raja Bhoj
	Mohini (1922 film)	Sisir Kumar Bhaduri
	Bhagirathi Ganga
	Rajkumari Budur	J. J. Madan
	Laila Majnu (1922 film)	J. J. Madan
1923	Matri Sneha	Jyotish Bannerji
1923	Noorjehan (1923 film)	J. J. Madan
1924	Patni Pratap	J. J. Madan	Serial
1924	Turki Hoor	J. J. Madan
1925	Sati Lakshmi	Jyotish Bannerji
	Adoorat Chheley	J. J. Madan
	Sansar Chakra
	Kashmiri Sundari
1926	Prafulla	Jyotish Bannerji
	Joydev	Jyotish Bannerji
	Dharmapatni	Jyotish Bannerji
1927	Jana	Priyanath Ganguly
	Krishnakanter Will	Priyanath Ganguly
	Durgesh Nandini	Priyanath Ganguly
	Chandidas	Jyotish Bannerji
1928	Aankh Ka Nasha
	Hoor-E-Arab	Ratansha Sinore
	Bhranti	Jyotish Bannerji
1929	Giribala	Modhu Bose
1929	Kapal Kundala	Priyanath Ganguly
1930	Bharat Ramani	Jyotish Bannerji
	Vaman Avatar
	Rajsingha	Jyotish Bannerji
	Kal Parinaya	Priyanath Ganguly
	Ganesh Janma	Jal Ariah
1931	Bibaha Bibhrat	Jyotish Bannerji
	Alladin And The Wonderful Lamp	Jal Ariah
	Samaj Ka Shikar
	Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra	J. J. Madan
	Bharati Balak	Aga Hashr Kashmiri
1932	Pati Bhakti
	Chatra Bakavali	J. J. Madan	Fantasy
	Bilwamangal	Fram Madan
	Alibaba And Forty Thieves	J. J. Madan
	Educated Wife
	Hathili Dulhan	J. J. Madan
1933	Madhur Murali
	Naqli Doctor	J. J. Madan
	Zehari Saap	J. J. Madan
1934	Kismet Ka Shikar
	Bhakta-Ke-Bhagwan	V. M. Gunjal
	Garib Ki Duniya	Sorabji Kerawala
	Anokha Prem	F. R. Irani
	Kanya Vikraya	Mohammad Hussain
	Sakhi Lutera	Sorabji Kerawala
1935	Dil Ki Pyaas	J. J. Madan
	Asmat Ka Moti	Fram Sethna
	Khudadad
	Prem Ki Ragini
	Sulagto Sansar	G. R. Sethi
	Mera Pyara	Ezra Mir
1936	Noor-E-Wahadat	G. R. Sethi
	Baghi Sipahi	A.R. Kardar
	Khyber Pass	Gul Hamid
1937	Fakhr-E-Islam	Nanubhai Vakil
1943	Rani	P. C. Barua
1944	Chandar Kalanka	Pramathesh Chandra Barua
1944	Iraada	S. Shamsuddin
1946	Khan Saheb	Prem Sethna

References

^ "Patience Cooper". Cinemaazi. 4 May 2024.
^ p 163, Parama Roy, Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Postcolonial India, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-20487-5
^ Ancestry.com. India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947 [database on-line].UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: India, Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947. Salt lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
^ "Personalities of Indian Cinema - Silent screen stars". indiaheritage.org. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
^ "Dadasaheb Phalke Father of Indian Cinema". Dadasaheb Phalke Academy. Archived from the original on 18 December 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
^ Article from Economic & Political Weekly^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Gul Hamid: The silent star who was heard". The Express Tribune. 17 May 2014.
^ "Bollywood Divas". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
^ "1921 film starring Patience Cooper, India's 1st Anglo-Indian actress, restored in Paris lab". Times of India. 30 November 2022.