Pat Cooper facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pat Cooper
Born	Pasquale Caputo (1929-07-31)July 31, 1929 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	June 6, 2023(2023-06-06) (aged 93) Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Years active	1953–2013
Spouse(s)	Dolores DePaci (m. 1952; divorced) Patti Prince ​ ​ (m. 1964; her death 2005)​ Emily Conner ​ (m. 2018)​
Children	3

Pat Cooper (born Pasquale Caputo, July 31, 1929 – June 6, 2023) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his appearances in The Howard Stern Show, Imus in the Morning and Opie and Anthony. He also portrayed Masiello in the movie Analyze This (1999) and its sequel Analyze That (2002). Known for his short temper and anger outburst, he was often nicknamed the "Comedian of Outrage".

Life and career

His father Michael Caputo was a bricklayer 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 made reference to his Italian heritage in his stand up comedy routines.

Cooper started performing in the 1950s for primarily Italian-American audiences. His big break came in 1963 on The Jackie Gleason Show. Afterwards, he played top nightclubs such as the Copacabana, 500 Club, Latin Casino, Palumbo's, Atlantic City and Las Vegas Hotels and casinos. Cooper appeared 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, Liza Minnelli, and many others.

On May 2, 1969, Cooper and singer Jimmy Roselli premiered in their two-man show at Broadway's Palace theater in New York City. He performed at many celebrity roasts at the New York Friars Club 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 (where he had an open invitation to drop in whenever he wanted, and he eventually got so loud and angry he walked out of the studio), Imus in the Morning, and Opie and Anthony.

Billboard 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." 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.

Cooper made an appearance on Tom Snyder's 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 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").

Cooper 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 and in 2010, he co-authored with Steve Garrin and Rich Herschlag his autobiography called How Dare You Say How Dare Me!.

Personal life and death

Pat Cooper was married three times. He has two biological children (Michael and Louise Caputo) from his first marriage to Dolores Nola and one adopted daughter (Patti Jo Cooper) from his second marriage to singer Patti Prince. Cooper also has five grandchildren: two grandsons and three granddaughters. In 2018, he married his third wife, Emily Conner, who he met at the New York Friars Club in 2010. She was a theater producer and the daughter of Diane Decker, one of the original members of The Serendipity Singers.

Cooper lived in Las Vegas, Nevada after retiring. He publicly feuded with his children on his radio appearances and was estranged from all members of his adopted and biological families. He died at his Las Vegas home on June 6, 2023, at the age of 93.

Filmography