Clay O'Brien Cooper is an American rodeo performer and former child actor, who appeared in several Disney films during the 1970s.
Cooper was born in Arizona and began his interest in roping at a young age. His stepfather Gene O’Brien worked on the rodeo circuit and was a wrangler for television productions Bonanza and Gunsmoke. Clay was encouraged to join the Junior Rodeo Association where he was spotted by casting agents. John Wayne laid a hand his casting in his first motion picture The Cowboys (1972) calling him "one of the real ones" in terms of Clay's own cowboy background. He would go on to appear in Western genre productions.
He soon got first Disney with One Little Indian starring James Garner and Vera Miles. While also appearing in The Apple Dumpling Gang, Clay mostly appeared in television films related to The Wonderful World of Disney. Outside of Disney, he appeared in Climb an Angry Mountain, Cahill U.S. Marshal, and Mackintosh and T.J. as well as guest roles on Marcus Welby M.D., Gunsmoke, The Cowboys, and Little House on the Prairie.
By the late 1970s, Clay left acting altogether to pursue a full-time career as a roper. He would go on to appear in various rodeo championships throughout the 1980s.[1][2] In 1994, Cooper and rodeo partner Jake Barnes set the NFR average record of 59.1 seconds on 10 head; the same year, the duo also set the PRCA record for most team roping world titles (seven), a record that stood until 2004. In 1997, he was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
Filmography[]
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | One Little Indian | Mark |
| 1974 | The Whiz Kid and the Mystery at Riverton | Shoie |
| Hog Wild | Sterling Melborne | |
| 1975 | The Apple Dumpling Gang | Bobby Bradley |
| 1976 | The Whiz Kid and the Carnival Caper | Shoie |
