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Pat Cooper

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For the baseball player, see Pat Cooper (baseball).
Pat Cooper
Born
Pasquale Caputo

(1929-07-31) July 31, 1929 (age 95)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actor, comedian
Years active1953–present
Spouse(s)Dolores Nola DePaci
(m. 1952–?; divorced)
Patti Prince
​
​
(m. 1964; died 2005)​
Children3 (2 biological children: Michael & Louise Caputo) & (1 adopted daughter, Patti Jo Cooper)

Pat Cooper (born Pasquale Caputo;[1] July 31, 1929) is an American actor and comedian.

Life and career

His father Michael Caputo was a bricklayer[1] from Mola di Bari, Italy and his mother, Louise Gargiulo was born in Brooklyn, New York, where Cooper was also born and raised. Cooper often makes reference to his Italian heritage in his stand up comedy routines.[2]

Cooper started performing in the 1950s, originally for primarily Italian-American audiences.[2] His big break came in 1963 on The Jackie Gleason Show. Afterwards, he played the top nightclubs such as the 500 Club, Latin Casino, Palumbo's, Atlantic City and Las Vegas Hotels and casinos. Cooper would appear on the same shows as Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Sergio Franchi, Sammy Davis Jr., Connie Francis, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Darin, Tony Martin and many others.

On May 2, 1969, Cooper and singer Jimmy Roselli premiered in their two-man show at Broadway's Palace Theatre, New York. He has performed at celebrity roasts at the New York Friars Club[1] which he also played in an episode of Seinfeld titled "The Friar's Club" and was also a frequent guest on many radio shows, most notably The Howard Stern Show, Imus in the Morning and Opie and Anthony.

Billboard Magazine gave his album Our Hero (1965) a special merit review and said that it "does for the Italian-American community what Jackie Mason did for the Jewish-American community" [3] The following year it stated that his Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights (1966), an album which consists of one side of spoken comedy and one side of parody songs, was stronger than Our Hero.[4]

Cooper had a legendary appearance on the Tom Snyder "Tomorrow - Coast To Coast" Show on March 6, 1981, in which he decried "headliners" in the club circuit who often worked with comics as their second act.

Cooper played fictional mobster Salvatore Masiello in the film Analyze This[1] and in the sequel Analyze That, as well as playing lawyer, John Bruno in the 2003 film This Thing of Ours. He has also guest-starred on television series such as Vega$ (episode: "Deadly Blessings"), Charlie's Angels (episode: "Stuntwomen Angels"), It's a Living (episodes: "You're Not Old, You're Fired" and "Horsing Around") and L.A. Law (episode: "Foreign Co-respondent").

He was an occasional contributor to Colin Quinn's late-night show on Comedy Central, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. In 2005, he released a DVD called You're Always Yelling[5] and in 2010, he co-authored with Steve Garrin and Rich Herschlag his autobiography called How Dare You Say How Dare Me!.[1]

Personal life

Pat Cooper has been married three times; he has two biological children (Michael & Louise Caputo) from his first marriage to Dolores Nola and one adopted daughter (Patti Jo Cooper) from his second marriage to singer Patti Prince.[1] Pat Cooper has five grandchildren: 2 grandsons, and 3 granddaughters. He married his third wife, Emily Connor, in 2020. Pat Cooper has retired and is now living with his new wife in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has publicly feuded with his children on his radio appearances and is estranged from all members of his adopted and biological families.[1]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1981 Uncle Scam Agency Chief
1982 Fighting Back Harry Janelli
1997 Silent Prew Bartender
1998 Code of Ethics Mr. DeAngelo
1999 Analyze This Salvatore Masiello
2000 The Boys Behind the Desk
2001 Ankle Bracelet Milt Epstein
2002 Analyze That Salvatore Masiello
2003 This Thing of Ours John Bruno

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g COREY KILGANNON (September 28, 2010). "Playing the Alliterative Ponies With a Funny Fellow". New York Times. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  2. ^ a b LaGumina, Salvatore J.; Cavaioli, Frank J.; Primeggia, Salvatore; Joseph A. Varacalli (1999-10-01). Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 263–. ISBN 9781135583323. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Comedy Special Merit Review - Our Hero". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1965-09-04. pp. 32–. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Comedy Spotlight: Review-Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1966-12-17. pp. 1–. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  5. ^ ED KAZ (Jul 29, 2005). "Will the real Pat Cooper please stand up?". The Asbury Park Press NJ. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
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