Merian C. Cooper, 1893-1973

Today marks the birth anniversary of Merian C. Cooper, who spent several years as the head of production at RKO studios in the early 1930s. It was during this time that the movie for which he's most famous, King Kong, was made. However, as I mentioned the last time TCM did a Cooper tribute, he got his start as an adventurer, and only got into moviemaking when he decided to make a documentary of one of his adventures, that being the annual migration of a Persian tribe in the movie Grass: A Nation's Battle For Life. If you didn't get to see Grass the last time I recommended it, I can say that it's highly wrorth watching.