Wilhelmina Cooper

Wilhelmina Cooper
Born	Wilhelmina Gertrud Frieda Behmenburg Template:Birth date Culemborg, Netherlands
Died	March 1, 1980(1980-03-01) (aged 40) Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Model, entrepreneur
Years active	1958–1980
Known for	Founder of Wilhelmina Models

Wilhelmina Gertrud Frieda Cooper (born Behmenburg; 11 May 1939 – 1 March 1980) was a Dutch-American model who launched her career with Ford Models and eventually established the prominent Wilhelmina Models agency in New York City in 1967.

Biography

Wilhelmina was born in Culemborg to Wilhelm Robert Karl Behmenburg, a German butcher, and Klasina van der Straten. Her family moved multiple times during and following World War II before settling in Chicago in 1954.

While residing in Chicago, she developed an enthusiasm for fashion publications and embarked on modeling under the pseudonym Winnie Hart. After completing high school in 1958, she became affiliated with the Models Bureau.

A significant turning point occurred at the 1959 International Trade Show when Patricia Stevens recommended she lose weight and modify her stage name. Subsequently, Wilhelmina relocated to New York where Eileen Ford of Ford Modeling Agency insisted on further weight reduction prior to approving her for assignments in Paris.

In Paris, she adhered to rigorous dieting and graced the December 1960 cover of L'Officiel. Returning to the United States, she rose to prominence as one of the leading models of the 1960s. Her international portfolio included campaigns across South America, India, Hong Kong, and Europe, representing brands such as Coco Chanel and Christian Dior. Wilhelmina holds the record for the highest number of appearances on American Vogue covers by a model, featuring 27 or 28 times. At the height of her career, her annual earnings reached $100,000.

In 1964, she was acknowledged among New York’s top models by leading agencies in the New York Journal American series Private Lives of High Fashion Models, and was profiled in the Chicago Sun-Times article titled Wilhelmina: From Waller High To Haute Couture. Her Time obituary noted:

During her tenure as a cover girl, Wilhelmina claimed to be "one of the few high-fashion models built like a woman." Measuring 5 ft. 11 in. with a 38-24-36 figure, large eyes, refined cheekbones, and dark hair, she embodied the classic aesthetic that defined fashion in the 1950s and '60s.

On 5 February 1965, she wed Victor Bruce Cooper, a former executive producer of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, with whom she had two children.

Together they launched Wilhelmina Models in 1967. The agency rapidly emerged as a formidable rival to Ford Models and laid groundwork for future firms like Elite Model Management.

Death

Cooper passed away from lung cancer at age 40 on 1 March 1980 at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut.

In popular culture

In the 1998 film Gia, which chronicles the life of model Gia Carangi—whom Cooper discovered—she was portrayed by Faye Dunaway.

External links

• Wilhelmina Models