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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 5 June 2019
Tony-winner Chuck Cooper cheers Tony-nominee daughter, Lilli

By MARK KENNEDY beans and rice, all the evic-
Associated Press tion notices. The 'No, you
NEW YORK (AP) — If rising can't go to camp.' 'No, you
Broadway star Lilli Cooper can't have these shoes,'"
needs a bit of career ad- Chuck says. "I was willing
vice, she knows where to to gamble that it would be
turn: Her father has been OK."
there, seen that and done He is modest about his
that. achievements: "I merely
Cooper, who earned her refused to quit. I just kept
first Tony Award nomina- showing up. I kept dodg-
tion this month in "Tootsie," ing the bullets and I kept
is the daughter of Chuck showing up, and this is what
Cooper, the Tony-winning happened."
actor of some 15 Broadway Lilli, 29, was a shy child, but
shows. had the mouth of a sailor at
The chances that anyone age 4 and bossed around
makes it on Broadway are her older brothers. "This is
small. The chances that a child who we took swim-
an offspring makes it there ming and who would jump
as well are smaller still. The into the pool," says her dad.
Coopers recognize this. This April 12, 2019 photo shows actress Lilli Cooper posing for a portrait with her father, actor Chuck "I never taught her how to
"I don't know how it hap- Cooper in New York. swim. She just jumped in
pened. It's kind of crazy. Associated Press and swam. And so it was
We're constantly pinching with life."
ourselves. It feels very sur- Boy," and his daughter for advice," Lilli says, turning its include "SpongeBob They may love each other
real and very special," says plays the love interest in to her dad. "It's invaluable SquarePants" and playing but they don't sugarcoat
Lilli during a joint interview a retooled "Tootsie," Tony- the breadth of knowledge Elphaba in "Wicked." She's their opinions of each oth-
with her dad. nominated for best new that you have and experi- been on TV's "The Good er's work. In college, dad
She is the youngest of musical. ence that you have. I use it, Fight," ''Elementary" and in came to see a play Lilli was
Chuck Cooper's three chil- Chuck Cooper, 64, has had I think, on a daily basis, from Steven Spielberg's film "The in and later suggested she
dren and grew up in mid- a wonderfully varied ca- 'Should I audition for this?' Post." change something.
town Manhattan, a stone's reer, from Shakespeare to or choosing jobs, down to Growing up with a dad "At first, I was like, 'He gave
throw from Broadway and musical comedy. His stage like 'I lost my voice. How do whose job wasn't the tradi- me a note. He didn't like
dad's work. credits include "Caroline, or I get it back?'" tional 9-to-5 wasn't always me.' But then I was like,
"Backstage was my back- Change," ''Chicago," ''The Her dad says he also seeks easy, and the three Coo- 'No, he was being helpful.'
yard," she says. "I would go Cherry Orchard" and "Act out his daughter's help: "I per children witnessed the It was a note that I took
to his dressing rooms after One." On TV, he's been on lean on you, too, because attention their dad got in and I got better. So, yeah,
school and do my home- "The Good Wife," ''House of I can be kind of tough and a big Broadway show but I think we're brutally honest
work and take naps under Cards" and "Madam Secre- sometimes I think I need her also the months of unem- with each other and some-
his dressing station and tary." to help me calm down." ployment. times it can be like, 'Just lie
help the prop guys hand "I call him all the time to ask Lilli's Broadway cred- "They were there for all the to me!'"q
off props in the wings. So it's
just sort of like in my blood."
One of her grandfathers Missing Lewis Chessman found, could fetch
was an actor at Cleve-
land's Karamu House, the
oldest African American $1M at auction
theater in the United States,
and she has two older Associated Press discovered in 1831 on Scot-
brothers — Eddie and Alex LONDON (AP) — A chess land's Isle of Lewis. It is now
— who also have gone into piece purchased for a few held in both the British Mu-
the arts. pounds (dollars) by an an- seum in London and the
Chuck Cooper recalls the tiques dealer in Scotland National Museum of Scot-
moment he realized his in 1964 has been identified land in Edinburgh — but
daughter had the chops as one of the 900-year-old five of the chess pieces
for a life in the theater. She Lewis Chessmen, among were missing.
was in "Spring Awakening," the greatest artifacts of the The 3 1/2-inch (8.8-centi-
and he noticed her voice Viking era. meter) piece to be auc-
had beautiful focus and Sotheby's auction house tioned July 2, the equiva-
maturity. "I just sat straight said Monday that the chess lent of a rook, is the first of
up and the hair on the back piece is expected to bring the missing chessmen to
of my neck went up. I went, between 600,000 pounds be identified. It was passed
'Oh my God what have we ($670,000) and 1 million down to the family of the
wrought?'" he says. pounds ($1.26 million) at an antiques dealer, who did
This season on Broadway auction next month. not realize its significance.
marks the third time both The Lewis Chessmen are Sotheby's European sculp-
father and daughter were intricate, expressive chess ture expert Alexander Kad-
in shows at the same time. pieces in the form of Norse er said the find is "one of the This image made available by Sotheby's on Monday June 3,
Chuck Cooper recently warriors, carved from wal- most exciting and personal 2019, shows a newly discovered Lewis Chessman on display at
ended his run in the Tony rus ivory in the 12th century. rediscoveries to have been Sotheby's in London.
best-play nominee "Choir A hoard of 93 pieces was made during my career."q Associated Press