I don't much like Gary Cooper

On this rainy Sunday I discovered myself to be filled with dissatisfaction.

It's Gary Cooper Day on TCM Summer Under the Stars. Yes, I know ... I know ... "Coop" is an American icon. He's the sheriff in High Noon! He's Sgt. York himself! Capra loved working with him. Actress and party girl Lupe Velez said he was a fantastic lover. And yet, whenever I see him on screen, I just yawn. I tried watching him today in some of his best work and ... I'm sorry, whenever confronted with Gary Cooper, my mind just goes to the happy place. I ended up watching the original Airport -- with Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin and, most delightfully, Helen Hayes -- for the first time since I was a little girl and had a delightful time.

Similarly I have picked up -- and put down -- biographies of two very different people: Barack Obama's mother (A Singular Woman) and Beatles' manager Brian Epstein (In My Life). I expected to be riveted by their stories. Yet neither one hooked me. Instead I picked up a funny and fluffy mystery, The Curse of the Spellmans.* Now I'm happy.

I'll give those two biographies a try again at a later date. But really, I'm giving up on Gary Cooper for good.

*Thanks to Kwizgiver for turning me on to this series.