In 1925 he befriended another young, struggling, would-be actor named
Walter Brennan. At one point they were even appearing as a team at casting
offices, and although Cooper emerged in major and leading roles first,
they would work together in the good years, too. Most memorably they
starred in
The Westerner (1940) together, where the general critical consensus was
that Brennan's underplayed performance as Judge Roy Bean had stolen the
film from Cooper.
