Three Pals (Silent)

Three Pals is one of the few surviving features of the beautiful, Dutch-born Marilyn Mills, dubbed "The Queen of the Cowgirls" by fan magazines of the era. She acquired the nickname while co-starring with Dick Hattan in half a dozen Westerns for Arrow Productions. For a brief period, Mills was successful enough to have her own production company, first making Tricks in 1925, and then Three Pals in 1926. Three Pals is most important as one of the first on-screen appearances of the-then 24-year-old Gary Cooper. He got the role through Mills' father, who himself was a client of Cooper's father, a prominent lawyer and later Supreme Court justice. Cooper was so skinny at the time that Marilyn Mills recalled that he had to wear "five extra shirts" just to appear more intimidating. In less than a year's time, the laconic (and iconic) all-American leading man would be signed to Samuel Goldwyn Productions and starring in films of his own, beginning with The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926). As for Marilyn Mills, she retired from acting shortly after the release of Three Pals, at the age of 25. She died in Los Angeles in 1956, aged 52. Not much is known about her later years, but her death certificate listed her occupation as housewife.