In Sergeant York (1941), Gary Cooper played Alvin York, a Tennessee farmer and conscientious objector who, during World War I, single-handedly captures more than a hundred German soldiers. Directed by Howard Hawks, the film follows York from his life in the hills, through his religious conversion, to his service in France.
Cooper gave York a gentle, unassuming strength, and the film became a major success in the months before America entered World War II. The role won Cooper the Academy Award for Best Actor, his first.
Sergeant York remains a signature Cooper role because York was the ideal Cooper hero: a man of faith and humility who did his duty without boasting, and whose story was based on a real American hero.