Background
Wilhelmina grew up in Oldenburg, Germany.
Wilhelmina grew up in Oldenburg, Germany.
Born Wilhelmina Behmenburg in Culemborg, the Netherlands, she was known professionally simply as "Wilhelmina," or "Willy" to intimates. She moved with her family to Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, in 1954. She became one of the most famous models of the 1950s and 1960s.
During her career as a model she was on the cover of 255 magazines.
She also holds the record for most covers on American Vogue, appearing 27 or 28 times. According to her obituary in Time magazine:
During her cover-girl days, Wilhelmina boasted that she was "one of the few high-fashion models built like a woman." And she was.
With her 5 foot 11 in., 38-24-36 frame, doe eyes, delicate cheekbones and mane of high-piled dark hair, she epitomized the classical, aristocratic look that she helped to make the style standard of the 1950s and "60s.
In 1967 they founded Wilhelmina Models, which became the other leading model agency alongside Ford Models, years before Elite Model Management and other agencies began. Cooper"s agency played a major role in launching the career of Naomi Sims, credited as the first African-American supermodel.
Sims began her modeling career in the mid-1960s but despite a breakthrough appearance in the New York Times fashion supplement in 1967, she found it difficult to get work. Sims approached Cooper and told her that she would send out copies of the Times supplement to agencies and that Cooper would receive a commission on any work Sims received from this.
Within a year, Sims was earning United States$1000 a week.
In 1968 she appeared on the cover of the Ladies" Home Journal and the following year she appeared on the cover of Life magazine. On 1 March 1980, Cooper died of lung cancer at the age of 40 in Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, Connecticut. Cooper was portrayed by Faye Dunaway in the 1998 movie Gia, which tells the story of Gia Carangi, a model who was discovered by Cooper and later died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. In American sitcom Ugly Betty, adapted from Colombian telenovela Betty Louisiana Fea, the antagonist Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa L Williams) is named as a tribute to Cooper.
Her nickname, Willy, and the fact that she became a successful businesswoman in fashion after being a model were attached directly to the character.