Taft California Greetings from Pete Gianopulos, Class of 1942 The Taft Newsletter Jeanne Cooper, Class of 1945 -- Actress By Pete Gianopulos Jeannie Cooper was born in Taft, California on October 25, 1929. Her parents were born on a Cherokee Indian Reservation in Oklahoma. The mother's name was Sildeth (Moore) Cooper and her father was named Albert Troy Cooper. The parents came to California to work in the oilfields and settled in California. The family lived in South Taft at 219 Eastern Ave. Some neighbors still remember the Cooper family when they lived in Taft. Jeanne has two siblings, both older -- Albert, Jr. and Evelyn. She attended school in South Taft and entered Taft Union High School with the class of 1945. When her mother died when Jeanne was about in her junior year, the father moved the family to Bakersfield and Jeanne graduated from East Bakersfield High School. Her mother is buried at the West Side District Cemetery. Continuing her education she graduated from the famed the Pasadena Playhouse. She attended the College of Pacific in Stockton, California and performed in the Civic Light Opera Company and Revue Theater in Stockton. She is an Emmy Award nominated actress best known for portraying Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless. Jeanne Cooper joined the cast of The Young and the Restless in 1973 as Katherine Chandler, the grand dame of Genoa City. She has been nominated as Outstanding Actress in 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992. She received a Soap Opera Digest Award in 1989 as Outstanding Leading Actress and received the magazine's Editor's Award that same year. She received the MVP Award from Soap Opera Update in 1990. She was the recipient of the Woman of the Year award from the Pasadena Playhouse Alumni & Associates in 1989. I am told by Dorothy (Moore) Gardner, a long-time West Kern Oil Museum volunteer and a cousin of Jeanne Cooper's, that she had just heard that Jeanne had been nominated for an Emmy for daytime television this week ( April 27, 2008). Dorothy's father, Claude Moore, and Jeanne's mother were brother and sister. Jeanne has a wide ranging television career which has included appearances in the series of The Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, Maverick and Ben Casey, a performance for which he received an Emmy Nomination. She has appeared with her son, actor Corbin Bernsen, in a television series LA Law, (a role for which she received an additional Emmy nomination). She was also seen in many motion pictures: The Man from Alamo, The Boston Strangler, and Tony Rome. Her theatrical productions included On the Town, The Miracle Worker, Plain and Fancy, and a successful touring production of Plaza Suite. She also starred in Love Letters at the Cannon Theater in Beverly Hills, California. Cooper was married to Harry Bernsen, producer, but divorced. She is the mother of three children, Caren, Collin and Corbin and the grandmother of six. She lives in Los Angeles. Jeanne has blond hair, blue eyes, and stands 5'-3 ½". Corbin Bernsen in an article by Rick Bentley that appeared in The Bakersfield Californian on March 20, 1995, wrote that as a youngster his mother would always find time "to travel to the small community of Taft each summer to visit relatives. My fondest dreams were speeding up and down the hills around the town on dirt bikes." The visit always included visiting the grave of Jeanne Cooper's mother. Jeanne Cooper's sister, Evelyn, was married to Taft's Stan Barrett's bother, Everett Barrett. According to Stan, her sister now lives with Jeanne in Los Angeles. The Cooper's have other relatives in and around Taft. A list of those born in Taft, California: (Source -- Internet Movie Data Base) Sam Andrew (actor, composer) 18 December 1941, Taft, California, USA . Dennis Fimple (actor) 11 November 1940, Taft, California, USA, T aft High Class of 1958 Ronald Graham (actor) October 1935, Taft, California, USA Donald Redding (actor) 15 December 1948, Taft, California, USA Ryan Shuck (actor) 11 April 1973, Taft, California, USA Jeanne Cooper (actress) 25 October 1928, Taft, California, USA Kathryn Trask (actress) 4 June 1930, Taft, California, USA Eric Cardwell (other crew member) 22 March 1976, Taft, California, USA ... Hall of Fame DVD Disk Don Gillaspie of Chroma Teleproductions has produced a DVD of the recent second annual Hall of Fame event that is available that you can order for $20, which includes shipping and handling. The one hour thirty two minute disk is available from Don Gillaspie, P.O. Box 77, Taft, California. The four inductees are Pete Gianopulos, Doctor J. Dykes Johnson, Don Zumbro and Pete Magee.