Her father, Ashley Cooper (born Cecil Augustus Robinson), was a draftsman who later became interested in theater.

[1] Known for her curly light blonde hair, she began to perform when she was only two and half years of age.

Cooper came to Los Angeles where she played leads opposite Edward Everett Horton at the Majestic Theater for about seven months.

[2] She had a leading part in the cast of They Took The Town, which opened in Charleston, West Virginia in October 1936. Cooper felt that her early screen performances were sub par.

She was signed by the Fox Film Corporation in the early 1920s and was later courted by both Paramount Pictures and Metro Goldwyn Mayer.