In Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Gary Cooper played Longfellow Deeds, a small-town poet and tuba player who inherits twenty million dollars and moves to New York, where lawyers and the press try to take advantage of him. Directed by Frank Capra, the film follows Deeds as he decides to give his fortune to homeless farmers, and as he is put on trial for insanity.
Cooper gave Deeds a simple, sincere honesty that made the film’s message work. He was a man who believed in kindness over cynicism, and his courtroom speech in defence of the common man became one of Capra’s most famous scenes. The film won the Academy Award for Best Director.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town remains a signature Cooper role because Deeds was the ideal Capra hero, and Cooper played him with the quiet conviction that made audiences believe in him.