Donald Cook (1930)

Donald Cook made his Broadway debut in 1926 as Donn Cook, and was billed as Donn Cook at Elitch during this season. During the 1930 engagement at Elitch, Cook met and fell in love with Frances Beranger, another member of the company. “We were in love, and she urged me to go to Hollywood,” Cook said. “I did, and we were married when she returned to the coast from Denver.” The marriage lasted six months. However, “the prestige of my Elitch engagement helped me get my first Hollywood contract – with Warner Brothers.” His break came in the film Public Enemy, the gangster film that made James Cagney a star. Film buffs will recall Cook’s role as the good brother, and the dramatic end of the film when Cook opens the door to the house and the wrapped body of the murdered Cagney topples on to the floor. He continued to appear in films from time to time playing leads and second leads in mostly B pictures, his last film appearance being in 1950 in Our Very Own.

Cook fared much better in theatrical performances, including memorable Broadway stage appearances. In 1939, he appeared in Skylark with Gertrude Lawrence. In 1940, he was invited to Elitch as the leading man. In 1941, he appeared on Broadway in the romantic comedy Claudia, which ran for three years and made a star of Dorothy McGuire. He played opposite Tallulah Bankhead in the 1948 revival of Private Lines. In 1951, he appeared with Barry Nelson and Barbara Bel Geddes in The Moon is Blue, which ran for three years. In 1954, he played the cartoonist Larry Larkin in the comedy King of Hearts.

In 1958, he returned to Elitch for a third time, appearing in lead roles.

Donald Cook was born in Portland, Oregon in 1900. The former bank clerk became a formidable actor. He died in 1961.

[Borrillo, Theodore A., (2012). Denver’s historic Elitch Theatre : a nostalgic journey (a history of its times). pp. 162.]