In For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Gary Cooper played Robert Jordan, an American teacher who joins Republican guerrillas in Spain during the Spanish Civil War to blow up a bridge. Directed by Sam Wood from Ernest Hemingway’s novel, the film follows Jordan as he falls for Maria, played by Ingrid Bergman, and as he faces the cost of war.
Cooper gave Jordan a thoughtful, romantic presence, and his pairing with Bergman became one of the great screen romances of the war years. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Katina Paxinou won for Best Supporting Actress.
For Whom the Bell Tolls remains a signature Cooper role because Jordan was a man fighting for a cause he believed in, and because Cooper played him with the quiet conviction that defined his career.