Anderson Cooper hears the voice of his actor father who died when the CNN host was just 10 for the first time in 30 years after recording of radio show was posted online

  • CNN anchor Cooper tweeted his delight at hearing his father's voice for the first time in more than 30 years
  • Wyatt Cooper died in 1978 during open-heart surgery when Anderson was just 10 years old
  • The Clocktower Gallery has posted the clip of Wyatt Cooper reading a chapter from 'Miss MacIntosh, My Darling' online

Anderson Cooper has tweeted his amazement at hearing his late father's voice for the first time in more than 30 years after a recording of a 1970s radio show was posted online.

Wyatt Cooper was an author, actor and screenwriter who suffered a heart attack while undergoing open-heart surgery and died on January 5, 1978, at the age of 50.

After hearing the recording of his father’s voice on Tuesday, Cooper tweeted: ‘Extraordinary. This is the first time I am hearing my father’s voice since I was ten years old.’

Family portrait: The Coopers photographed in their Long Island home in 1972. Anderson Cooper is seated by his mom, heiress Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper, while brother Carter is on their father Wyatt Cooper's lap

Family portrait: The Coopers photographed in their Long Island home in 1972. Anderson Cooper is seated by his mom, heiress Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper, while brother Carter is on their father Wyatt Cooper's lap

Journalist Anderson Cooper

Extraordinary: Anderson Cooper has tweeted his delight at hearing his father's voice for the voice time in more than 30 years

The death of his father while he was still a boy is a tragedy that Cooper says has been a major influence on how he has lived his life. 

He considers his father's book Families to be ‘sort of a guide on...how he would have wanted me to live my life and the choices he would have wanted me to make. And so I feel very connected to him.’

Cooper was born on June 3, 1967, in New York City, the younger son of Wyatt Cooper and heiress and New York socialite Gloria Vanderbilt.

Tragedy would strike the Cooper family again in 1988, when his brother, Carter, committed suicide by jumping to his death from the 14th-floor window of their mother's New York City apartment. 

Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper
Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper, blue suit, pictured with brother Carter and mom Gloria Vanderbilt in 1979 and, right, Cooper and his mom together in 2010


Just as his father's death had, Carter's death fueled Cooper's drive, and he would later connect the event with his correspondent career: 'I became interested in questions of survival: why some people survive and others don't ... Covering wars just seemed logical.'

The recording features Wyatt Cooper reading a chapter of ‘Miss MacIntosh My Darling’ by Marguerite Young.

It has been restored and resurrected by New York art organization The Clocktower Gallery and features on ARTonAIR, an online cultural audio archive.

The recording was originally carried out in either 1976 or 1977 for a series of WBAI radio programs focused on literature and radio performance, called The Reading Experiment.

As part of the series, 'Miss MacIntosh, My Darling' was read over a year-long period by Marguerite Young’s contemporaries from the New York City literature, music, and theater communities. All readings are underscored with soundscapes and music by artist Rob Wynne.

Socialite Gloria Vanderbilt photographed with her husband actor Wyatt Cooper at a Truman Capote party in New York, 1968

Socialite Gloria Vanderbilt photographed with her husband actor Wyatt Cooper at a Truman Capote party in New York, 1968

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